Makes you think “how often do I actually check down there?”. Being… insane caused him to kill her. He “was bigger than most of the other kids in any grade,” was briefly close the the narrator but failed to make a connection, was obsessed with Veronica, and had good reasons for hating Josh. PENpal Audio Recorder Pen Tap and listen to talking books, posters & voice recordable labels. The theory that I came up with is that the stalker had noticed how Ms. Maggie always invited the narrator and Josh into her house for some snacks; that the boys would dock near her house and would have to return to that house in order to get home. Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of the horror/thriller genre. Once she was out of the way, he remained at her house for weeks until the police finally investigated the stench emitting from the house and discovered the grisly scene; which more than likely included tons of mutilated animals. A dog would bark at an intruder coming into the house and with a dog barking, the mother would have woken up to catch PP removing her son from his bed. « Horror Novel Reviews. He was inside her house (or nearby), then presumably was the one following the protagonist across the lawn as he walked toward home. She now knows what the PP looks like, and this is significant to what happens next. However, a six-year old boy also has limitations, which Auerbach occasionally forgets. The narrator doesn’t state that he noticed a difference in stride of footfall of the person walking behind him- Something that he would have given that the PP is a large man (possibly wearing shoes) and Maggie is a small, frail, barefoot woman. ( Log Out /  Have you looked into the interview I conducted with him? Perhaps that’s the narrator’s name? . Slenderman Video: Author Lee McGeorge Explores the Home of Slenderman! Penpal has a rather interesting origin story. Kinda like when Ridley Scott stepped up and said that Deckard was a replicant. The reason of Veronica is to show that the killer not only is obsessed with the narrator, but is also in love with him, hence why he killed the girl since the narrator was getting close to her. Constantly seeking adventure, always teetering on the brink of defiance, but undeniably kind and attentive, it’s easy to attach yourself to the exploits of this character – that possesses traits that actually remind me a bit of myself as a boy – both as an innocent kindergartener as well as maturing teenager. Better yet, Chris and John were never her sons, they were boys she had abducted before. Pen Pals can take up to a maximum of three schools, and the partnership lasts for one academic year. (I’m a ditz, sue me.). What’s in all those foul-smelling garbage bags that the police in haz-mat suits carry out of her house after she dies? Book Review: Penpal by Dathan Auerbach. Boxes darting out the door is also heroic in it’s own way. Copyright © 2021 During my quest for great fiction I’ve discovered some grand slams and some embarrassing strikeouts. Mothers may have been less hyper-vigilant in the ’80’s but they weren’t that nonchalant. , Joshua isn’t the narrator’s name. Now, I’ve taught kindergarten. It was phased out in the late 60’s, well before the Internet and cell phones. ( Log Out /  In Penpal, a man investigates the seemingly unrelated bizarre, Since Maggie frequently refers to the boys by her sons’ names, it makes sense that she’d refer to any grown man who approached her by her late husbands name. 14 reviews for PenPalWorld, 1.8 stars: 'I tried it for several months, and I could say it's a bad site: in fact I received a message from a guy who told me he had some sexual problems (he enjoyed making some taboo things I couldn't describe here), and a few young people who texted me for a week. Josh is (of course) the most significant character in the whole of these stories. Also, he should’ve explained why the stalker left the walkie-talkie (in a jacket, I believe) under the narrator’s bed. Ranking Every Stephen King Novel, From Worst to First! After checking out a few of the reviews I’ve posted here on horrornovelreviews.com, Dathan reached out to me with a personal request: would I be willing to give his novel, Penpal a look and, possibly a review? Josh then sees the PP (a death sentence throughout the stories) and is photographed by him. That’s why Ms. Maggie was out late at night, which the narrator said seemed weird and out of place. Since her husband died during a night run, it’s possible she is confused by the PP coming out of the woods at night and possibly believes that he really is “Tom” at first. . I too enjoyed this book (for the most part) but was a bit dismayed by the messy storyline, unnecessary filler, and confusing plot points. Penpal is a 2012 self-published horror/thriller novel and the debut novel of the American author Dathan Auerbach. In order to sign up all we ask is your e-mail address, birthday, sex, and country. When she runs through the home to walk along the front lawn as the narrator goes home, I think it’s a protective gesture. As far as the police report I was curious about that too…and would be kind of ironic to have them look similar, have the same name — could be why Josh was used as the substitute. HA There is a lot of confusion as to why the PP suddenly switches focus from the narrator to Josh (presumably at the end of “Boxes”). The text message that reads “I love you” in which the narrator (thinking he is responding to Veronica) replies “I love you too” is significant. (It reeked of death, so it must have been more than just one old lady. Maybe the creepy stuff in the beginning was actually Josh (misspelled name on the note) and he brought Alex along afterwards. These were my exact thoughts. ‎In an attempt to make sense of his own mysterious and unsettling childhood memories, a man begins to reconstruct his past. Even though it is implied that the narrator is the target of the PP, Josh is present in every interaction. Hello and welcome to the review of Pen Pal Book: the newsletter.Here's the basic information that I came across to: PenPal Book, Issue 29 "It is hard to find people who still like to do snail mail, so I have a newsletter I send out in January, April, July & Oct. When Josh attends the narrators birthday party, he seems only vaguely aware of what has been happening to him. Just, to me, choosing to be buried alive with Josh for no apparent reason seems… pointless. The key phrase here is this: Josh is present. It’s refreshing from the point of the lack of explicit slaughter and graphic violence that so many authors in the horror genre depend on today. Did he know himeself? That’s the best way to describe this book. Penpal a book report by Jannis Köhler The publication Table of content -self funding the publication created a "Kickstarter-project" raised 15.946$ -publication of the book in July 2012 Personal evaluation Chronological order Novel Personal 1 Footsteps Balloons 2 Balloons I’ve read the book and checked out MCP’s reading of it. I feel in order to make it seem more realistic the holes have been left unfilled but that just makes the story feel like its incomplete. The main characters of this horror, fiction story are , . PenPal by Dathan Auerbach is a hell of a ride. It’s significant that while Josh’s presence often protects the narrator, the narrators ABSENCE conversely endangers Josh. In individual, unconnected installments, it is effectively creepy and unsettling. The two are inseparable throughout the bulk of the book. I’ve heard the extremely prolific Dean Koontz, author of roughly 100 works (plenty of which were number one sellers) of fiction, bashed to hell and back over the last few, View Horror Novel Reviews’s profile on Facebook, View HorrorNovelRevs’s profile on Twitter, Thrift Store Finds: Save the Last Dance for Me, When in Paris, Revisit Gaston Leroux’s Timeless Masterpiece ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, Interview: Jack Ketchum Talks Horror Roots and New Book ‘The Secret Life of Souls’, 5 Horror Novels That Deserve a Video Game Adaptation. Review: Penpal (Dathan Auerbach) Posted on January 3, 2015 by Kirsty We want so badly to be happy – to live the kinds of lives that we always hoped we’d live – that we give gifts to ourselves by remembering things not as they were but as we wish they were This is telling. But the promise isn’t kept. It’s heavily implied at the end of “Boxes” that the PP followed the boys all the way to Josh’s house. “Yeah I got the feeling that the stalker was Mrs. Maggie’s son,”. When Miss Maggie said “Tom is home” and then died. if you look at the police report carefully you can see that it says witness on it. She could have been a sexual predator; a fact that the narrator’s mom felt was too complicated for the narrator to understand at his age. As for the police report with Joshua as the name, that is his friend Josh’s full given birth name. Jonathan Maberry, Ramsey Campbell and 16 Other Amazing Horror Authors Tell Us What Books Terrify Them! Josh is present when the narrator gets the phantom birthday card with those same words scrawled on it. Posted on August 30, 2012 in Authors A-L // 35 Comments. A good read for high-school students and below. PENPAL | Dathan Auerbach 07.11.2012 | 1000Vultures Rating: 5/5 stars. Could there be anything else in those bags? In general, the faults of Penpal are minimal. If not, maybe he was trying to be so clever the book would be discussed endlessly, and in that he was right that it would be analyzed more. -.- Oh and if the the Penpal was still having fun stalking the narrator with his text “See you again, Soon.” Why did he decide to die with Josh in the end? He could have taken it upon himself to end their suffering (as well as gain more experience) by chopping them up as well. In fact, this distance-writer is a twisted individual with an unexplained yet potentially fatal obsession. Because of the narrator’s use of the can-opener to coax Boxes out from under the house (as opposed to going under there himself), one has to wonder how long the cat had been trying to warn the narrator’s mother about the PP’s presence. When the narrator leaves the presence of Maggie’s house, it is Josh who lets him into the house (almost as if the two are “changing guard” over the narrator). Let's see, I published my first novella Hushed, a prequel to the Hushed Horror Thriller series, and my second novel, Whispering. Without consciously meaning to, Josh constantly stands in the way of his best friend and the PP. Buy Penpal by Auerbach, Dathan (ISBN: 8601400393642) from Amazon's Book Store. How many more did he take prior to his obsession with Dathan? This is a hauntingly rewarding novel that I’ll read again in the future. I quite literally was not able to put it down and stayed up hours later than I planned because I had to keep reading. Pen Pal has examples of:. I stumbled upon this book last autumn while I was scouring the internet for scary novels in anticipation of Halloween, and was immediately intrigued by the creepy-ass cover art. She could have had a split personality due to her age, which could explain why she seemed to act cold to the narrator that night until she entered her Alzheimer’s stage. I might’ve missed something, but I thought he was still around and in town throughout the length of the story. Five Reasons Drunks Will Always Survive Horror Stories. June 28, 2017 July 5, 2017 In My Humble Opinion: Book Reviews With Syd. When it becomes apparent that they won’t listen to her, she buys them the shark float (which- Bonus- makes a reappearance in the woods in “Footsteps”). Really late response lol, but the “Penpal” killed Miss Maggie. P.S. Anyways, despite her illness, Maggie seems to protect and care for the boys the best she can in her condition. Pointing this out in case anyone feels the stalker was duped/fooled into being placated. In an attempt to make sense of his own mysterious and unsettling childhood memories, a man begins to reconstruct his past. I just finished this book. Before long, it was adapted into illustrations, audio recordings, and short films; and that was before it was revised and expanded into a novel! I think there are a lot of holes in that theory, but there is a lot of merit to it as well…. But maybe she thought her son was her husband because of the age (due to her Alzheimer’s). Since the PP signed “See you soon”, I wonder what part Josh played in keeping his friend alive and if his death in the narrators place was intentional. She frequently offers to feed the boys after their lake swims. Maggie- Maggie’s story was one of the more confusing in the series. As characters enter the story and leave, it’s important to note how they “interrupt” or “block” the narrators’ encounters with the PenPal (PP). The fact that the last chapter is a muddled mess that seeks to “solve” the mystery did not end things on a high note for me. “The ending takes care of itself…” suggest that, just as in real life, many things add up only a long time later, especially regarding adult undercurrents when we were too young to notice or understand their interactions. The point of the eerie car is the fact that it is omenous and befitting for the creepy penpal. We know that the stalker tried to make Josh seem like the narrator by dyeing his hair and turning his attention to him when the narrator became unavailable. Here is a thought: Do we think the PP is Alex? Why were they briefly separated? And in my earlier post, I ask what was the significance of the shark float and the hole (where the spiders were) the boys saw when both got lost in the woods together? Maybe he picked up a thing or two from Ms. Maggie. I know I’m coming late to the party, but this past summer was the first chance I’ve had to read PenPal before Grad school started back into full swing. Adding onto the Ms. Maggie is a sexual predator theory, maybe she kept those boys trapped in her house. 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