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Decorum at the Deathbed
With her husband barely clinging to life at home, Becka has taken to jogging. Running helps clear her head and her heart. But it's not until she discovers a free-standing confessional booth deep in the woods that she begins to clear her conscience.
As the days pass, and as her husband's condition worsens, Becka returns to the booth, finding it hard to stay away.
But what draws her there? Is it the clean feeling of confession? Or is it what might be listening on the other side of the grate?
Decorum at the Deathbed is the newest tale of psychological terror from Josh Malerman, New York Times best selling author of Bird Box and Malorie.
©2020 Josh Malerman (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.
As the days pass, and as her husband's condition worsens, Becka returns to the booth, finding it hard to stay away.
But what draws her there? Is it the clean feeling of confession? Or is it what might be listening on the other side of the grate?
Decorum at the Deathbed is the newest tale of psychological terror from Josh Malerman, New York Times best selling author of Bird Box and Malorie.
©2020 Josh Malerman (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.
Audiobook
Published October 29, 2020
4 people are currently reading
266 people want to read
About the author
Josh Malerman
91 books8,495 followersJosh Malerman is the New York Times best selling author of BIRD BOX, MALORIE, GOBLIN, PEARL, GHOUL n THE CAPE, and more.
He's also one of two singer/songwriter for the rock band The High Strung.
He's also one of two singer/songwriter for the rock band The High Strung.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
December 4, 2020
A unique novella-sized piece of psychological fiction.
Almost the entire story was from one woman's point of view, and almost all of it was a stream-of consciousness type tale. There's very little dialog at all. The narrator did a great job of pulling it off.
I wouldn't have minded a bit more meat to this story, but as it stands I liked it quite a bit!
Almost the entire story was from one woman's point of view, and almost all of it was a stream-of consciousness type tale. There's very little dialog at all. The narrator did a great job of pulling it off.
I wouldn't have minded a bit more meat to this story, but as it stands I liked it quite a bit!
November 28, 2023
Story 3 stars**
Audio 4 stars**
Narrator Hillary Huber
Audio 4 stars**
Narrator Hillary Huber
April 24, 2021
The narrator didn't help the story and it was hard to focus or not cringe with it. Not a bad short story, though.
August 7, 2022
As short stories go this wasn't bad.
September 16, 2025
3.75/5
The story’s a solid 3.5 but Hillary Huber’s narration, as always, is phenomenal.
The story’s a solid 3.5 but Hillary Huber’s narration, as always, is phenomenal.
October 31, 2020
Josh Malerman delivers again on the weird and creepy. He is fast becoming one of my favorite horror authors.
Becka finds a standalone confessional booth on her morning jog through the woods and is drawn to clear her conscience. And then things get... weirder. She can't help returning to the booth the next day and the next. Meanwhile, strange things are happening in the very same woods and Becka's husband is slowly dying at home.
The narrator for Decorum at the Deathbed does an excellent job for reasons I can't explain because I think it would be a spoiler, but I think she makes a wonderful voice for the main character. The audio production quality is perfect.
This short story packs a huge punch for how quick it is. I was left with so many questions and I know I will be thinking about this one for a long time. I already want to give it another listen to pick out all the things I'm sure I missed on the first time through. My greatest advice before going into Decorum at the Deathbed is to buddy read it with a friend because you will definitely want to discuss it.
Not a story for folks that hate an ambiguous ending. But it's an ending, it doesn't just stop in the middle of the story because the author got bored. :)
Overall, rating this one is hard because I don't like to give something so short five stars but I think it deserves it. Here, take them and get out of my sight.
Becka finds a standalone confessional booth on her morning jog through the woods and is drawn to clear her conscience. And then things get... weirder. She can't help returning to the booth the next day and the next. Meanwhile, strange things are happening in the very same woods and Becka's husband is slowly dying at home.
The narrator for Decorum at the Deathbed does an excellent job for reasons I can't explain because I think it would be a spoiler, but I think she makes a wonderful voice for the main character. The audio production quality is perfect.
This short story packs a huge punch for how quick it is. I was left with so many questions and I know I will be thinking about this one for a long time. I already want to give it another listen to pick out all the things I'm sure I missed on the first time through. My greatest advice before going into Decorum at the Deathbed is to buddy read it with a friend because you will definitely want to discuss it.
Not a story for folks that hate an ambiguous ending. But it's an ending, it doesn't just stop in the middle of the story because the author got bored. :)
Overall, rating this one is hard because I don't like to give something so short five stars but I think it deserves it. Here, take them and get out of my sight.
November 5, 2020
Listened to this while walking in the woods. :)
December 22, 2020
Josh Malerman is sick and twisted, and I love it! This is just a short Audible Original, and it was fine. Nothing too special, but since it was free, I have no real gripes. The narrator was great, but the story was lacking tension for me. I still plan to consume everything that comes from the ball of worms that is Malerman's brain.
June 29, 2022
I'm not entirely sure what didn't work here, but even as a Malerman fan I've gotta say that this actually felt too long, despite being a short story...? It had a central conceit that could've been great, but somehow landed with a thud for me. If you're a Malerman completionist, though, and you have an hour to spare, you may well enjoy it more than I did.
February 2, 2024
4.5 rounded down. Will certainly be reading more by Malerman... 👀
October 17, 2025
I appreciate the weirdness of the story. And the narration was very good.
November 23, 2020
Thoughts of a bitch narrated in a bitchy tone. Couldn't get any worse really.
January 7, 2021
A woman with a dying husband finds a way to get rid of herself of the guilt she has been feeling when she finds a confessional in the middle of the woods. She is thrilled to be able to confess one guilty thought or action at a time.
At first.
Good story overall. The narrator herself made it even better.
At first.
Good story overall. The narrator herself made it even better.
February 7, 2021
I don't see anything to recommend this story. The "twist" is obvious from the beginning, the real questions are never answered, and it's just an excuse to perpetuate the idea that "psychopath" - an actual personality disorder - is equivalent to "evil torturer and murderer." Also this book absolutely does not fit the "psychological terror" the blurb promises.
July 28, 2021
What the heckkkkk??? This is so odd and kind of delightful! Much like Bird Box/Malorie though I haven't read any other Malerman. This I must remedy! He writes horror but not disgusting horror. I can get onboard with that.
January 22, 2024
3 stars until the ending. I wanted a quick read on the airplane and wanted something else from Malerman. The narrator was good, Malerman always does something fun. Its no Birdbox or It Waits in The Woods, but it definitely felt like Malerman!
October 23, 2025
I’d like more, please. More about the husband’s sickness. More about the main character’s lack of conscience. More about the weird confessional.
Can’t fault a story that leaves me wanting more, though.
Can’t fault a story that leaves me wanting more, though.
February 25, 2021
Excellent and creepy!
September 18, 2024
I feel like this one was firmly “just ok.” Super quick listen, so it’s worth checking out if you’re intrigued.
August 7, 2025
Interesting…
Read
July 25, 2023This is another Audible by the writer of Bird Box among other others. We begin with our protagonist on a run. She’s trying to exorcize (she makes this pun too) bad feelings. Her husband has a chronic illness and she’s no longer feeling up to the task of caring for him. She’s kind of feeling guilty, but instead she’s feeling an awareness of the guilt she’s supposed to be feeling and what expectations on her feelings, but not the actual feelings. The resulting set of feelings involves her wanting a way to process or even express the very non-kosher thoughts she’s having. She happens upon what can only be described as a confessional booth in the woods. There’s nothing apparently exceptional about it and she can’t figure out what the “deal” is and it’s also abandoned. So she goes in and confesses her feelings. She not only feels better, she feels GOOD as a result. This euphoria causes her to not just confess more things, but seek out things to confess.
Thoughts: my wife always says “Brains make thoughts like butts make poops” and I think about this a lot. I don’t know if it’s true around the world (and it’s definitely true for me) but a lot of Americans feel that a thought is the same as an action, morally. Like if you think something unpleasant, you are guilty of that thing. I guess this story feels a lot of the same or might agree with me. I blame Jesus on this, or maybe Jimmy Carter, because thinking is NOT doing, and people need to chill with that.
Thoughts: my wife always says “Brains make thoughts like butts make poops” and I think about this a lot. I don’t know if it’s true around the world (and it’s definitely true for me) but a lot of Americans feel that a thought is the same as an action, morally. Like if you think something unpleasant, you are guilty of that thing. I guess this story feels a lot of the same or might agree with me. I blame Jesus on this, or maybe Jimmy Carter, because thinking is NOT doing, and people need to chill with that.
November 14, 2020
another horror story about blood-sucking women. it probably says more about men’s anxiety about women not willingly submit to serve men like loyal slaves.
right, women who think of themselves psychopaths
right, women who think of themselves psychopaths
October 31, 2020
Great story!!
November 17, 2020
Interesting story. Not so great narration.
September 14, 2023
Short but deep, dark & real!
With a side of a sad view at the growing loss of real love in today's society & a look at what today's love resembles. The trained sociopathy of avoiding "catching feels" like the disease that Lauren Oliver's distopian Delirium society believes it to be. Also, a look at the accompanying crisis of conscience.
"What bliss,
What bliss is this,
what bliss is this void now furnished like a booth"
Decorum at the Deathbed by Josh Malerman
"Damn her, lewd minx! Oh, damn her, damn her!
Come, go with me apart. I will withdraw
To furnish me with some swift means of death
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant."
Othello by William Shakespeare
"Ah, Death, the spectre which sate at all feasts! How often, Monos, did we lose ourselves in speculations upon its nature! How mysteriously did it act as a check to human bliss, saying unto it "thus far and no further!" That earnest mutual love, my own Monos, which burned within our bosoms- how vainly did we flatter ourselves, feeling happy in its first upspringing, that our happiness would strengthen with its strength! Alas! as it grew, so grew in our hearts the dread of that evil hour which was hurrying to separate us forever! Thus, in time, it became painful to love. Hate would have been mercy then...
death-producing, a distinct intimation that knowledge was not meet for man in the infant condition of his soul. And these men, the poets, living and perishing amid the scorn of the "utilitarians"- or rough pedants, who arrogated to themselves a title which could have been properly applied only to the scorned- these men, the poets, ponder piningly, yet not unwisely, upon the ancient days when our wants were not more simple than our enjoyments were keen- days when mirth was a word unknown, so solemnly deep-toned was happiness- holy, august and blissful days, when blue rivers ran undammed, between hills unhewn, into far forest solitudes, primeval, odorous, and unexplored."
The Colloquy of Monos and Una by Edgar Allan Poe
With a side of a sad view at the growing loss of real love in today's society & a look at what today's love resembles. The trained sociopathy of avoiding "catching feels" like the disease that Lauren Oliver's distopian Delirium society believes it to be. Also, a look at the accompanying crisis of conscience.
"What bliss,
What bliss is this,
what bliss is this void now furnished like a booth"
Decorum at the Deathbed by Josh Malerman
"Damn her, lewd minx! Oh, damn her, damn her!
Come, go with me apart. I will withdraw
To furnish me with some swift means of death
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant."
Othello by William Shakespeare
"Ah, Death, the spectre which sate at all feasts! How often, Monos, did we lose ourselves in speculations upon its nature! How mysteriously did it act as a check to human bliss, saying unto it "thus far and no further!" That earnest mutual love, my own Monos, which burned within our bosoms- how vainly did we flatter ourselves, feeling happy in its first upspringing, that our happiness would strengthen with its strength! Alas! as it grew, so grew in our hearts the dread of that evil hour which was hurrying to separate us forever! Thus, in time, it became painful to love. Hate would have been mercy then...
death-producing, a distinct intimation that knowledge was not meet for man in the infant condition of his soul. And these men, the poets, living and perishing amid the scorn of the "utilitarians"- or rough pedants, who arrogated to themselves a title which could have been properly applied only to the scorned- these men, the poets, ponder piningly, yet not unwisely, upon the ancient days when our wants were not more simple than our enjoyments were keen- days when mirth was a word unknown, so solemnly deep-toned was happiness- holy, august and blissful days, when blue rivers ran undammed, between hills unhewn, into far forest solitudes, primeval, odorous, and unexplored."
The Colloquy of Monos and Una by Edgar Allan Poe
August 9, 2023
I’m not a huge audiobook fan, I don’t know why, sometimes I just don’t get on with them, but this one worked a charm, the only issue I had with it was the narrator sounded a little robotic, a little like it could have been AI - but it’s small fry given the story.
The concept was brilliant, the idea large and insane, and it’s that which kept me listening, I was listening along trying to second guess the writer, but the thing with Josh Malerman is that there is no second guessing. I was blown away with the unique idea of this story, the way it explained out the gate and how it was brought to a satisfying conclusion which left me thinking ‘oh no you didn’t!’
Really enjoyed it, and also seeing as this is the only way to enjoy this story and wanting to read everything the good man has written, this was the only way to do this… and now it’s made me look into other audiobooks too (currently listening to Stephen King’s IT).
The bonus with this is that it’s also short and I listened to it within two hours, so it’s a short sharp shock of a story and worth checking out for sure, especially if you are a fan of Josh Malerman’s work!
The concept was brilliant, the idea large and insane, and it’s that which kept me listening, I was listening along trying to second guess the writer, but the thing with Josh Malerman is that there is no second guessing. I was blown away with the unique idea of this story, the way it explained out the gate and how it was brought to a satisfying conclusion which left me thinking ‘oh no you didn’t!’
Really enjoyed it, and also seeing as this is the only way to enjoy this story and wanting to read everything the good man has written, this was the only way to do this… and now it’s made me look into other audiobooks too (currently listening to Stephen King’s IT).
The bonus with this is that it’s also short and I listened to it within two hours, so it’s a short sharp shock of a story and worth checking out for sure, especially if you are a fan of Josh Malerman’s work!
November 21, 2020
This is only available via Audible (via Amazon) and I abhor audiobooks (my mind always wanders off while listening) but I'm a huge fan of Josh Malerman's so I had to join the Audible club. And this story was so good and intriguing (it kept my attention the entire time), that I may even remain a member.
A woman with a dying husband she's faked loving for 17 years goes jogging and discovers a confession booth in the middle of the woods. This marks the incredibly weird and odd start of a story that you MUST continue reading (errr, listening I mean) to find out more about this creepy booth and what will happen to this woman as she sheds her guilt.
This was a short story (1hr, 13 mins) but packed with a lot of storytelling. There were several events that occurred that left me with a feeling of wanting to hear more, more, more. The best stories do that to me. The ending is a shocker and one you won't see coming.
I'm a big Malerman fan and this is among his best short stories. Well worth the listen.
P.S. I loved hearing that Goblin was nearby.
A woman with a dying husband she's faked loving for 17 years goes jogging and discovers a confession booth in the middle of the woods. This marks the incredibly weird and odd start of a story that you MUST continue reading (errr, listening I mean) to find out more about this creepy booth and what will happen to this woman as she sheds her guilt.
This was a short story (1hr, 13 mins) but packed with a lot of storytelling. There were several events that occurred that left me with a feeling of wanting to hear more, more, more. The best stories do that to me. The ending is a shocker and one you won't see coming.
I'm a big Malerman fan and this is among his best short stories. Well worth the listen.
P.S. I loved hearing that Goblin was nearby.
September 3, 2023
I Confess I Have Mixed Feelings
I struggle to get my head around how I feel about this short story. The prose and some of the ideas are of a high quality, but I can't help feeling uncomfortable by the portrayal of mental health and the misogynistic tropes protagonist falls into. I struggle to really put my finger on it, but comparing this to gothic horror that uses many of the same conceits and imagery feels different. I think the explicit discussion of real mental health conditions and the melodramatic comparison of the 'hateful wife' and the 'innocent dying husband' just give me the ick. Like, I get that this is written to be titillating, in a similar vein to extreme horror and other potentially problematic media, and the doing it to do it and the enjoyment of it is not an issue, maybe this just isn't for me.
I did enjoy the writing style and performance, so I might give Birdbox a read at some point as I did enjoy the film.
I struggle to get my head around how I feel about this short story. The prose and some of the ideas are of a high quality, but I can't help feeling uncomfortable by the portrayal of mental health and the misogynistic tropes protagonist falls into. I struggle to really put my finger on it, but comparing this to gothic horror that uses many of the same conceits and imagery feels different. I think the explicit discussion of real mental health conditions and the melodramatic comparison of the 'hateful wife' and the 'innocent dying husband' just give me the ick. Like, I get that this is written to be titillating, in a similar vein to extreme horror and other potentially problematic media, and the doing it to do it and the enjoyment of it is not an issue, maybe this just isn't for me.
I did enjoy the writing style and performance, so I might give Birdbox a read at some point as I did enjoy the film.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews