There are few perfect books in this world. Everyone has their own idea of what that is, which “ingredients” are absolutely necessary for a story to move the needle past the really good on the ratings meter and inch ever closer to that perfect score. For many of us, it’s a combination of characters and their development, pacing, plot, suspension of disbelief, and so on. But where we all differ is in the intangibles, those pieces of criteria that we love in our stories. For me, it’s a small town setting, where it feels like I’ve been there before. It’s using realistic children characters that I can empathize with in a coming-of-age arc. Throw them in horrific situation where they balance well with the realistic adults behaving… well, realistically to what’s in front of them. Sprinkle in some interesting backstories to round out the characters and make me care about them before we spread the red stuff and you’d be whipping up a story that’s right down my alley. Salem’s Lot. Boy’s Life. These are all examples of what I would classify as “perfect.” And guess what two stories Malfi’s The Narrows reminded me of as I was reading it? Exactly.
Stillwater, MD is trying to hold it’s head above water as torrential downpours have been flooding the area. The body of a hairless boy is washed up in the local culvert called The Narrows. No one knows who he is, nor is anyone from the neighboring towns have a missing child that would fit the description. Two pre-teen boys, Matthew and Dwight, decide to hike out to The Narrows to check out the dead body of a deer that was seen by a classmate, Matthew thinks he sees the figure of his father, who left his mother, sister and him a couple of years ago, in an abandoned plastic factory that resides by the bank of The Narrows. After a reluctant search of the spooky building doesn’t yield anything, the boys head for home. The next day, Matthew is missing and no one knows where he is. At first, Stillwater Deputy Ben Journell chalks it up as another case of a runaway kid that’ll come home after a day or two. But when Ben gets called out in the middle of the night to the scene of an accident where Maggie Quedentock claims she hit a pale, hairless boy on a desolate road, he’s not so sure anymore. Strange things keep happening and the small town isn’t the only thing that feels like it’s dying.
Malfi combines that pulpy 80’s storytelling and small town charm without suffering from any copycat syndrome. The Narrows is its own monster, and I’d hold it up against any other paperback out there. This is one of those stories that would make a fantastic movie with those wonderful tidbits of Salem’s Lot, The Fly, Fright Night, and Stranger Things all rolled into one. If it ever were, I’d be sitting right there on opening night.
5 De-brained cows out of 5