Little Girls: A Ghost Story by Ronald Malfi

Book: Little Girls: A Ghost Story

Author: Ronald Malfi

Release date (if applicable): June 30, 2015

Synopsis: After her Alzheimer suffering father commits suicide, Laurie is forced to return to a home that she escaped to get it ready for sale. Accompanying her are her husband, Ted, and 10 year old daughter, Susan.

Immediately, weird things begin to happen that causes Laurie to question her sanity, her past and the safety of her daughter. What has Laurie suppressed that caused her to leave her father's home and never look back? What does it have to do with a room at the top of the stairs that she was never allowed to go into as a child and where her father jumped from? Maybe Susan's new friend, Abigail, can help Laurie to remember, but will that knowledge come to late?

My rating: 3 Stars

My Opinion: As in typical Malfi fashion, I found this book to be solidly written with well developed characters and a storyline, but I didn't find it up to the creepiness factor that has made Malfi one of my favorite indie writers.

Unlike his other works, I found this book wrapped up a bit too neatly and cheesy for me. This is not his usual forte. I have a quote in one of my previous Malfi reviews that states that his books end with red ribbons...blood red. Not this one. It had that "HOLY COW" Malfi experience at the 90% mark, but then fell at the ending.

All of this author's other books have garnered no less than 4 stars from me, so I felt kind of let down on this one. I feel I had almost overhyped my expectations for this book given the description of it, that I had waited a good 4 months for it to come out and just look at that cover. Who couldn't get hyped up over that creepy cover? In the end, I would still recommend this one, but I would encourage others to not miss some of his "POW" reads for me, such as Floating Staircase.

Source: Netgalley for Publisher

Would I recommend? : I would recommend this book to readers who don't necessarily enjoy or are sensitive to horror writing, but enjoy ghost stories. I would recommend FLOATING STAIRCASE, THE MOURNING HOUSE AND CRADLE LAKE first, but put this one on my list of Malfi books with the caveat of it being lighter than his other works.

Stand Alone or Part of a Series: Stand Alone