Tag Archives: Neil McRobert

I picked up Good Boy on a whim from the new titles shelf at my local library. I’m working my way through two books that are 550+ pages each, so a slim novella seemed like a nice distraction.

“After a boy vanishes on the outskirts of a small town, a woman spies a mysterious man digging a grave in the exact spot of the disappearance. However, when she confronts him, the man’s true purpose is far more chilling than she could have imagined.”

– back cover

Coming in at 133 pages, I can’t get into the plot too much without giving away spoilers, but it’s been described as “IT meets The Fisherman.”The back cover boasts high praise from Stephen King, with additional endorsements from well-known horror authors in the front matter, including Rachel Harrison, Clay McLeod Chapman, Stephen Graham Jones, Josh Malerman, and Chuck Wendig.

Good Boy is McRobert’s first book, but he’s no stranger to the horror genre. In addition to a PhD in Gothic Literature, he hosts the “Talking Scared” podcast, where he chats up horror authors, going in-depth about the books they write, the books they read, and what really scares them.

This novella is part of a 6-book series called “The Northern Weird Project”, all set in Northern England. If the other 5 are anything like this one, I’m excited to read them all.

McRobert, Neil. (2025). Good Boy. Wild Hunt Books.