Thank you NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This wasn’t what I was expecting so I had to DNF it.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review*

A great thriller - I would recommend it!

I thought this boom was extremely well written and the author conveyed a growing sense of dread as the story progressed. I thought the ending to be a little rushed, but it was a great story overall.

Something was missing from this book.. I was drawn in by the premise and the eerie title, and felt promised a real horror factor but the pacing was too slow for my liking, and it felt like it leaned more towards mystery.

This caught my interest at first, but failed to hold it through the entirety of the novel. I found myself skimming the latter half of the novel. It wasn't bad, the writing style just didn't click with me and it leaned more mystery than horror for my tastes.

The knock-knock man by Russell Mardell.
Now, after the death of her former colleague, Ernie, Ali has returned home to face a past that won’t stay buried. Found in the disused office building where he worked as night security, Ernie’s death has been ruled as suicide. But not everyone is convinced. Wild stories are circulating about a supernatural presence in the building, an entity that might have attacked Ernie that fateful night.
A good read. Good story and characters. 4*.

Honestly, I might not have been the best person to review this book. Hindsight is 20/20, but I found it long and drawn out for no purpose. I would start it and get only so far before putting it down and starting another book because I was so bored with the content.

Thank you to NetGalley and RedDoor Books as well as the author for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
#NetGalley redDoorBooks #RussellMardell #KnockKnockMan

The concept of the Knock Knock Man is incredibly cool, but the first half of this book was difficult to get through. Way too much procedural police stuff to wade through before we get to the good stuff, which, for me, is the ghost.
Ex-police officer, Ali, is traumatized by her partner and friend’s apparent suicide. It seemed like an open and shut case. However, Ernie’s girlfriend, Maggie, is convinced that he was killed by a supernatural presence, namely, The Knock Knock Man. Ali agrees to work his overnight shift as a security guard in order to prove that there is no Knock Knock Man. This is a great story that took too long to get going. I felt like this story could have been cut by ⅓ and been much more effective. The characters were wooden and unlikable. The ending was unsatisfying.
The scenes in the dark building were creepy and atmospheric, which tells me that this author knows how to write a good horror story. I have no complaints about the author’s talent. I love the Knock Knock Man as a character and an idea. I would have loved to have seen more of that and heard more ghost stories. I do have to give the author credit for a good, creepy entity. The amazing thing is that the Knock Knock Man is introduced largely through second person accounts and still manages to be foreboding. Well done there!
Overall, I have to say that, while this book is certainly not bad, I needed more horror and less procedure. I still have this Russell Mardell on my radar though. Maybe I’ll get my horror in the next one.

This was definitely not what I was expecting from the blurb, it was not really as fast paced and twisty as I expected and I found it to be just an ok read overall

Unfortunately, I have been locked out of my netgalley account for a few months and was not able to see which books I had on my list or even know to check if they downloaded properly, in order to properly read and review. I do apologize and am doing a 3 for neutral. Will update once I’m able to obtain a copy and read!

There was something missing in this book. I wanted to love it promised a real horror factor but honestly nothing happens for so long and when something did, it was like okay...

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF - this was not what I was anticipating. Surely there is an audience of readers for this style of story but, I think I was looking for something truly blood-curdlingly scary.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Knock-Knock Man by Russell Mardell is an absolutely terrifying horror/thriller novel that will have you scared out of your mind. The story revolves around Ali, a disgraced police officer who is being called back to deal with the stories of The Knock Knock Man, a figure that appears when you hear two knocks. Is he a real monster or the figment of a kid's imagination? Will Ali be able to figure it out before the Knock Knock Man comes for her next?

Here is a chilling excerpt from the Prologue:

"He thought of two more things before he died. He thought of his dear friend, Ali, and his guilt at not telling her the truth of that night when he had the chance. More than anything, he wished he had done that. Not to give her closure, at least not anymore, but to give her a warning. Then, before darkness drew down, and Ernie finally let go, another thought came to him as soft as a whisper. It was the same thought he'd had every day for the last fifteen months.
I don't believe in ghosts.
It seemed a little stupid now."

Overall, The Knock-Knock Man is an unputdownable horror/thriller that will appeal to fans of The Chalk Man or the Unsub series. One highlight of this book is how scary it was. It was. There were moments when I was scared to keep reading but also scared to look away. The "Knock Knock Man" in particular is such a scary concept. I did take off 1 star, because the ending was sort of unsatisfying. I felt like the terror that was so major in the beginning of the book ended up fizzling out by the end. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers, I highly recommend that you check out this book, which is available now!

I love horror stories and it is by far my favorite genre. The Knock-Knock Man moved at such a slow pace that I found myself skimming and eventually losing interest. Very few creepy passages and not atmospheric enough to hold my attention.

This book has a great premise and I was excited to read it. Unfortunately I found the pacing too slow and the characters didn't have much depth.

Meh... I was truly expecting more of this book and it just did not deliver as expected. I am disappointed by the time I wasted waiting for something truly shocking to happen but well... I'm still waiting.

Knock Knock…whatever you do, do not look over.

The blurb really caught my attention. This is a balance between a detective mystery and a supernatural presence which is always good fun to read.

Fifteen months ago, Ali worked on a case that destroyed her and changed her life. She discovered the Knock Knock man. She is now a disgraced police officer and she works hard to forget what happened that night. But the past she worked so hard to bury comes back to haunt her when her best friend and colleague, Ernie, committed suicide. No one seemed to believe he would jump off a building and so Ali decides to put aside her past and investigate what happened. Is the Knock Knock nan a mere folklore or is something sinister waiting for Ali?

I find the pacing a little slow but I thought the plot was interesting enough for me to read till the end. The plot started off quite creepy (It was giving me Boogeyman and Crooked man vibes) but some parts fell a little flat for me especially when Ali was investigating Ernie’s death. I enjoyed reading about Ali’s past and how the Knock Knock man came about.

I also love Ali’s character. Despite what happened to her, she is still determined to seek the truth and stood by what she witnessed. Although the ending was not what I expected, I was glad that it ended that way! Can’t give too much away otherwise I will spoil the whole plot.

Thank you Netgalley and Red Door Books for the arc.

After Ernie Lipkiss is found dead in the abandoned office building where he worked the security night shift, his old partner Ali Davenport is called in. While police are ruling Ernie's death a suicide, his partner believes that he was murdered. She implores Ali to take on the night shift and prove that he didn't jump to his death, he was pushed, and not just by anyone, by the Knock-Knock man. This revelation throws Ali back fifteen months prior to the devastating events that ended her career in law enforcement and labelled her as a pariah. She takes the case because she is still haunted by the presence of the Knock-Knock man and is determined to uncover the truth once and for all. She knows that she saw him at the Deveraux Estate the night that a young man lost his life, and she intends to prove that he exists, whether man, ghost or other. She befriends a young ghost hunter by the name of Will who has video evidence of someone being in the building...but is it the someone that Ali is so desperately searching for?

I've been on quite a horror kick this year, so when I saw this one pop up on Netgalley I had to request it. The cover drew me in and I feel like it gives an unsettling vibe, which is what I've been searching for. I will admit though, this one really fell short for me, and I'm not sure if it's because I expected something totally different, or if I just got the wrong idea after reading the blurb.

There was some definite creep elements that popped up in this book, and I did have a couple of instances reading this before sleep that I thought maybe I should have picked something else. The first night that Ali is working the night shift in the building, I had chills and goosebumps from certain scenes which I feel shows that Mardell definitely has the ability to write a creepy and atmospheric story. I think what made this book rate lower for me is that it came across mostly as a police procedural than a horror, and that's just not what I was after. It felt like there was a whole lot of setup happening in the beginning, which I get, but it just seemed to drag on for so long before anything really happened, and I honestly really struggled with it. The pacing just wasn't there and it was a bit of a slog for me to get through.

The story, for a portion, is told through alternating chapters of present day and fifteen months ago, so we get the full picture of what happened to put the Knock-Knock man on Ali's radar and everything that went down at the Deveraux Estate which ended her career and turned her into a hot mess. I was really interested in the happenings at the Deveraux Estate and I kind of wish that the book had have been written about that instead of the events after. There was some great scenes in the Deveraux house that gave major creep vibes and I was pretty invested in them as it really drove home the question of - who or what is the Knock-Knock man? I spent a lot of the book not knowing whether he was a regular person, or a supernatural being, which I liked. And there was some touches on the possibility of occult involvement and secret societies. I kind of wish the whole secret societies thing was touched on a bit more because these people are mentioned a handful of times and we get a brief rundown of their organisation, but they don't really play a part except for one thing (IYKNK) and I felt like it was a thread that should have been followed a bit more to add a bit more excitement and mystery to the story. The legend of the Knock-Knock man was really well thought out and definitely terrifying, I was always afraid (and still am) of looking out a darkened window to fine a face peering back in at me, so that was a winner. I just wanted it to be more than what it was and I found that I was pretty disappointed when everything was revealed, all the steam kind of went out of the sails for me at that point.

The characters well written well enough, I didn't overly like Ali though, I know she was going through a lot and I love a flawed character but she had such a huge chip on her shoulder which just overshadowed everything else about her. I really enjoyed the character of Will and I'm sad that Ernie wasn't still around in the present part of the story because I really enjoyed him as well. The character of the Knock-Knock man was so well written, this really shows that Mardell has the great ability to write a truly unsettling, and scary antagonist which is no small feat. Being able to instill fear with a character that you only have glimpses of or are hearing about second hand is amazing, and I really applaud Mardell for that.

Overall, I feel like there were a lot of little details in the story that could have done with some more exploration and deeper diving to really round the story out a bit more. Small things like the repeated mention of the cat at the office building, I thought would lead to something or have more of a point, but it just sort of dead ended, the same with the church and the priest, which I found confusing as they were made significant in the story itself (to me anyway) yet lead nowhere and I still don't understand the point of placing so much significance on them. The same goes for the constant throwback to Ali's father and the beach house and the dress he bought her, it was just sort of there and didn't add anything to the story for me. I wanted more from the occult angle and the secret society and feel that they could have really added something extra to the story. It read more like a crime novel than a horror so it fell a bit short for me because that's not what I was looking for. All in all, it's not a bad story it just didn't live up to my expectations. If you don't mind a solid mystery that keeps you guessing and a spiky protagonist with a lot of unresolved issues, and some threads not being tied up or into anything, give it a crack.

I was super excited about this book! There is nothing scarier than something you cannot see terrorizing you! I was a little disappointed as it didn't fulfill all of my expectations. The characters were lacking a little depth.

The Knock-Knock Man by Russell Mardell is a very in-your-face story about a legend about a man or ghost showing up at a person's window and knocking twice and, if the person sees this man/ghost's face, they end up dead. But is it a ghost or a man? Former police officer Ali Davenport goes through so much just to find out what happened to her friend and former partner Ernie and if his death was really a suicide and to find out who and what this Knock-Knock Man is.

This book really had me from the beginning. It was so good, when I put it down, I always wanted to pick it up again and continue reading it. I always wanted to know what happened next. It is definitely worth the read. It's full of twists and turns and excitement. I would recommend it to all my fellow reader friends, for sure. I love this book. Thank you to Netgalley and RedDoor Press for allowing me the opportunity to read this.