Pearl (preorder)

(preorder—to be published in early 2025)

Dust jacket and interior illustrations by Ben Baldwin.

Published SST Publications.

“Daring readers should find this tale of a malevolent telepathic pig to be a memorable experience.”—Booklist (starred review)

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

There’s something strange about Walter Kopple’s farm. At first it seems to be his grandson, who cruelly murders one of Walter’s pigs in an act of seemingly senseless violence. But then people in town begin to whisper that Walter’s grandson heard a voice commanding him to kill.

And that the voice belongs to a most peculiar creature: the pig named Pearl.

Walter is not sure what to believe. He knows he’s always been afraid of the strangely malevolent Pearl. But as madness and paranoia grip the town and the townspeople descend on Walter’s farm with violent wrath, they begin to discover that true evil wears a human face.

Signed Limited Hardcover Edition:

• Limited to only 500 signed and hand-numbered copies
• Personally signed by Josh Malerman and Ben Baldwin on a specially designed full-colour illustrated signature page
• Larger 6.14” x 9.21” trim size
• Printed on a heavier 100gsm acid-free paper
• Bound in premium cloth with coloured head and tail bands
• Featuring six interior illustrations including two printed in full colour on a special silk art stock & hand-tipped into the book
• Two colour foil stamping on the front boards and spine
• Offset printed and bound with full-colour endpapers
• Sewn binding for increased durability
• Ribbon page marker
• Dust jacket artwork and interior illustrations by Ben Baldwin

From Booklist (Starred Review):

“…But daring readers should find this tale of a malevolent telepathic pig (Animal Farm meets Carrie, perhaps?) to be a memorable experience. Although it’s very different in tone, the novel shares the same kind of racing narrative that made Bird Box (2014) hard to put down and is Malerman’s most accomplished work outside of the Bird Box series. It will likely be divisive and will probably be one of the most-discussed books in horror this year.”

From Library Journal (Starred Review):

“…this is a perfect, fast-paced slasher filled with violent, cinematic action sequences... Readers will be unsettled from the first shocking, bloody scene, and it ratchets up exponentially from there, not only because of the gore, violence, and tension caused by the monster, but also because of what the novel says about humanity.”

From Kirkus:

“Though the wild premise of the book is initially hard to take seriously, you quickly surrender to the creepy vibe and the Bird Box (2014) author's ability to keep you guessing. In one great scene, Jeff thinks he is being slowly crushed in a small room by a monstrously expanding pig. Part twisted fairy tale, part animal rights protest, part PTSD drama, and part Triumph the Insult Dog, the novel never runs out of unsettling doors to open. A strange, un-put-down-able thriller.”