I Believe in Mister Bones: Novel Review

This week’s book literally gave me weird dreams. I woke up one morning and the bottom of my foot hurt. My first thought was “Mister Bones!?”. Read on, dear reader, this review is spoiler-free. Just ask yourself, do you believe in Mister Bones?

The Author

Max Booth III is a writer, publisher, editor, and indie bookstore owner. They are the author of numerous works, including I Believe in Mister Bones, Abnormal Statistics, Maggots Screaming!, Touch the Night, and many others too spooky to name here. Their novella, We Need to Do Something, was adapted into a feature film from their own screenplay and distributed by IFC Midnight in 2021 after debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival. Their non-fiction has been published in outlets such as LitReactor, CrimeReads, the San Antonio Current, Film 14, and FANGORIA, and their short stories have been included in 50+ magazines and anthologies. They host three podcasts—GHOULISH, Decayed Tapes, and Dog Ears—and co-run Ghoulish Books, a publisher/bookstore hybrid, with their wife Lori Michelle Booth. Together, the two of them also co-founded the annual Ghoulish Book Festival. Additionally, Max serves as the head editor and publisher of Ghoulish Tales. Born and raised in Northwest Indiana, they now live in San Antonio, TX.

— Max Booth III’s website

You can check out more on Booth’s website, or follow them on Instagram or TikTok.

The Book

The email’s subject line reads: DO YOU BELIEVE IN MISTER BONES?

The recipient: Daniel Addams, one half of the Texas small press known as Fiendish Books, co-run with his wife Eileen.

Despite being closed for submissions, curiosity gets the best of him and he takes a look at the anonymous author’s bizarre manuscript—only to find himself obsessed with the titular Mister Bones, a mysterious entity rumored to steal your bones as you sleep, one by one, until he’s replaced your entire skeleton with an unknown substance.

But is Mister Bones real, and has Daniel unintentionally summoned him?

Or, as Eileen suspects, has he finally cracked from stress and lost his mind?

From the writer of WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING and ABNORMAL STATISTICS comes Max Booth III’s I BELIEVE IN MISTER BONES, a harrowing exploration of indie horror publishing, internet curses, and the universal terror of the human skeleton.

— Description from Apocalypse Party Press

Published by Apocalypse Party in October, 2024, I Believe in Mister Bones is a comedy/bizarre written by Max Booth III. With some heavy creepypasta/urban legend vibes, it also offers a unique, bare bones (bahdumtsh) look at the indie publishing world.

The Review

My podcast co-host Carson Winter heavily recommended this book to me. At first I wasn’t sure to expect from the title and description. I am so glad I read it.

It was bizarre, fun, and spooky. I had so much fun reading it! I originally read it as an ebook and I flew through it so that it felt like it wasn’t that long of a book. I liked it so much that when I was at Ghoulish (run by Lori Michelle Booth and Max Booth III) I bought the paperback and was so surprised at how actually hefty it was!

Besides being a book about an urban legend about a monster named Mister Bones, the book also offers a pretty candid view on the horror indie scene. It was refreshing and fun honestly.

The characters are a couple who runs a small press: Daniel and Eileen. Daniel gets a strange email and thus begins his descent into the horror that is Mister Bones. No one believes this creature is visiting him at night, stealing his bones.

There is a bizarre scene with a doctor working pro bono for people without funds, there’s pie (IYKYK), there’s a snapshot of the struggles of a couple trying to run a small business, there’s drama and there’s Mister Bones.

I feel like I can’t say too much more without spoiling it. I would just 100% recommend you pick up a copy – I would recommend the paperback, the formatting is divine.

10/10

x PLM