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DEAD MALL
Cunningham Mall – Cleveland, Ohio, 1986
Opening 10 a.m.
The mall’s windows shimmered in the morning sun like a wall of malevolent eyes.
Its automated doors opened like a mechanical mouth waiting to be fed.
The freshly polished pink tiles reflected light inside the building’s bowels, making them look wet and glistening.
But not everything in the mall was new and polished.
Not everything was chrome and Formica and fresh with paint.
The mall contained darkness, black shadows where something lurked within.
Something that grinned from the grates in the women’s dressing rooms.
Something that lasciviously leered at the checkout girls.
Soon, it would start the killing.
Soon, everyone who’d done it wrong would pay.
It was time for the thing that stalked the mall to take its revenge.
DEAD MALL . . . It’s not just the shopping that’s going home in a bag . . .
Opening 10 a.m.
The mall’s windows shimmered in the morning sun like a wall of malevolent eyes.
Its automated doors opened like a mechanical mouth waiting to be fed.
The freshly polished pink tiles reflected light inside the building’s bowels, making them look wet and glistening.
But not everything in the mall was new and polished.
Not everything was chrome and Formica and fresh with paint.
The mall contained darkness, black shadows where something lurked within.
Something that grinned from the grates in the women’s dressing rooms.
Something that lasciviously leered at the checkout girls.
Soon, it would start the killing.
Soon, everyone who’d done it wrong would pay.
It was time for the thing that stalked the mall to take its revenge.
DEAD MALL . . . It’s not just the shopping that’s going home in a bag . . .
415 pages, Paperback
Published April 29, 2025
12 people want to read
About the author
David Irons
32 books118 followersDavid Irons was the kid who went to his room to watch and read horror when his relatives came round. It paid off. When he left his room, he became an award-winning filmmaker and writer living on the south coast of England. His films, colourful and stylish in design, have won awards at the Cambridge Film festival, Las Vegas VIFF festival, and LA Independent Festival for cinematography, editing, writing, and directing. '7 Winters Alone' - a sci-fi, horror short - was a winner in David Lynch's 2014 Short Film Competition.
In 2019 David had his first novel, Night Waves, published, followed by Night Creepers, Polybius, and The Bloody Tracks of Bigfoot in 2020 - 2021 from Severed Press. Since then, David has become a Splatterpunk award-nominated writer for his '80s summer camp slasher, 'Don't Go To Wheelchair Camp.'
The moral of this story is to be weird and stay in your room. It pays off in the end.
In 2019 David had his first novel, Night Waves, published, followed by Night Creepers, Polybius, and The Bloody Tracks of Bigfoot in 2020 - 2021 from Severed Press. Since then, David has become a Splatterpunk award-nominated writer for his '80s summer camp slasher, 'Don't Go To Wheelchair Camp.'
The moral of this story is to be weird and stay in your room. It pays off in the end.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 25, 2025
This one ran along the lines of "Phantom Of The Opera." Or better yet, "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge." That schlocky 80's potboiler. I guess with all this retro horror coming out now, the author decided that summer camps and zombies have been played out, so he went for the Mecca of suburbia in the 80's, the mall.
This was a pretty nice read at times, while at others it seems like we're on a treadmill. Like the characters remorse and lack of it for what they did to the slow nerdy kid. It just repeats itself. Also, that same kid when he becomes the mall killer, he makes a new friend that is pretty lame, to be honest.
The good parts are the authors handling of the 80's horror style. He does fairly well. He doesn't go over the top and spill the gore for no reason. The final showdown in the mall was a real pleaser.
This was a pretty nice read at times, while at others it seems like we're on a treadmill. Like the characters remorse and lack of it for what they did to the slow nerdy kid. It just repeats itself. Also, that same kid when he becomes the mall killer, he makes a new friend that is pretty lame, to be honest.
The good parts are the authors handling of the 80's horror style. He does fairly well. He doesn't go over the top and spill the gore for no reason. The final showdown in the mall was a real pleaser.
May 21, 2025
Something I’ve took from reading a few of David Irons books are this: Irons knows how to write a classic 70/80s slasher and he knows how to write the most repulsive antagonists/ villains!
Also fun fact, Irons gives a little story before the book begins explaining where this idea came from and that in itself got me intrigued for the story to come.
In typical slasher vibes, Dead Mall is set around a tragic accident that leads to chaos, murder and trauma. I won’t spoil anything here but here is my overall thoughts.
As mentioned, the classic slasher tropes and fan favourites all are used to great effect within the story. The writing itself is very well done and Irons gets creative with his imagery which really sells the horror and gruesome parts. Not for the faint hearted.
Regarding the plot, it follows the classic slasher story with some added flavour to stop you from predicting the entire narrative, keeping you on your toes, especially in the final act. Also not sure if intentional but the book feels like a two parter. The first half could easily be a stand alone prequel and the second half the main event. This isn’t a negative at all just something I found I noticed near the third act.
The only nitpick I have is there isn’t a solid protagonist that can be given legendary final girl status, nor do I overly feel the need to root for. However, I could also hypothesis the reason for this, but that’s for spoiler territory! On the other hand the main villain(?) could be one for the ages as the premise and description of the character is one that was etched into my brain and I could see on the big screen and definitely in more books. As mentioned at the beginning Irons has a natural flare for writing absolute a**holes of teenagers who are violent, cocky and psychotic, this seems to be a theme in the books of his I’ve read and I know he’s good because I genuinely hate those characters and can’t wait for their comeuppance.
Another solid book from David Irons and I can’t wait to explore more of his novels. I strongly recommend giving this book and his others a go as it reinvigorated my love for the slasher genre in an age which everything is reboots or carbon copies of more notable media.
Also fun fact, Irons gives a little story before the book begins explaining where this idea came from and that in itself got me intrigued for the story to come.
In typical slasher vibes, Dead Mall is set around a tragic accident that leads to chaos, murder and trauma. I won’t spoil anything here but here is my overall thoughts.
As mentioned, the classic slasher tropes and fan favourites all are used to great effect within the story. The writing itself is very well done and Irons gets creative with his imagery which really sells the horror and gruesome parts. Not for the faint hearted.
Regarding the plot, it follows the classic slasher story with some added flavour to stop you from predicting the entire narrative, keeping you on your toes, especially in the final act. Also not sure if intentional but the book feels like a two parter. The first half could easily be a stand alone prequel and the second half the main event. This isn’t a negative at all just something I found I noticed near the third act.
The only nitpick I have is there isn’t a solid protagonist that can be given legendary final girl status, nor do I overly feel the need to root for. However, I could also hypothesis the reason for this, but that’s for spoiler territory! On the other hand the main villain(?) could be one for the ages as the premise and description of the character is one that was etched into my brain and I could see on the big screen and definitely in more books. As mentioned at the beginning Irons has a natural flare for writing absolute a**holes of teenagers who are violent, cocky and psychotic, this seems to be a theme in the books of his I’ve read and I know he’s good because I genuinely hate those characters and can’t wait for their comeuppance.
Another solid book from David Irons and I can’t wait to explore more of his novels. I strongly recommend giving this book and his others a go as it reinvigorated my love for the slasher genre in an age which everything is reboots or carbon copies of more notable media.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews