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The Gypsy Moths
"Gifune is on my very short list of must-read authors. I wouldn't miss anything he writes!' -Richard Chizmar, author of Chasing the Boogeyman
Summer, 2017: Three troubled, middle-aged men return to their hometown to attend the funeral of a childhood friend, carrying with them secrets to a terrifying past that began forty years earlier.
Summer, 1977: Fourteen-year-old Frankie Boy Molinari and his friends are enjoying their last months of freedom before beginning high school in the fall. Life in the Massachusetts town of Samoset is quiet and carefree, until a swarm of Gypsy Moths arrive. Left unchecked, they will defoliate the town and cause severe ecological damage. But something far worse has come to town along with them, an evil hidden within the swarm. Frankie's father claims to have seen it, and begins to lose his mind, and soon, reality as Frankie knows it transforms into something much darker and deceptive than he ever imagined possible. With everything in his once stable world crumbling around him, Frankie and his friends form a ragtag band of unlikely saviors, and become the only chance their town has to survive an entity so primal and horrific, they may never fully escape it.
Shifting between the past and present, THE GYPSY MOTHS is a story of family, friendship, love, madness and loss, a coming-of-age tale with a shocking twist and an original take on a monstrous legend come to life.
Summer, 2017: Three troubled, middle-aged men return to their hometown to attend the funeral of a childhood friend, carrying with them secrets to a terrifying past that began forty years earlier.
Summer, 1977: Fourteen-year-old Frankie Boy Molinari and his friends are enjoying their last months of freedom before beginning high school in the fall. Life in the Massachusetts town of Samoset is quiet and carefree, until a swarm of Gypsy Moths arrive. Left unchecked, they will defoliate the town and cause severe ecological damage. But something far worse has come to town along with them, an evil hidden within the swarm. Frankie's father claims to have seen it, and begins to lose his mind, and soon, reality as Frankie knows it transforms into something much darker and deceptive than he ever imagined possible. With everything in his once stable world crumbling around him, Frankie and his friends form a ragtag band of unlikely saviors, and become the only chance their town has to survive an entity so primal and horrific, they may never fully escape it.
Shifting between the past and present, THE GYPSY MOTHS is a story of family, friendship, love, madness and loss, a coming-of-age tale with a shocking twist and an original take on a monstrous legend come to life.
- GenresHorror
200 pages, Paperback
Published December 8, 2021
3 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Greg F. Gifune
81 books352 followersCalled "One of the best writers of his generation" by both the Roswell Literary Review and author Brian Keene, Greg F. Gifune is the author of numerous short stories, several novels and two short story collections. His work has been published in a wide range of magazines and anthologies all over the world, and has recently garnered interest from Hollywood. His novels include The Bleeding Season, Deep Night, Saying Uncle, A View From The Lake, Night Work, Drago Descending, Blood In Electric Blue and Dominion.
Along with his short story collections, Down To Sleep and Heretics, his work has been nominated for numerous awards and is consistently praised by readers and critics alike across the globe. For seven years he was Editor-in-Chief of Thievin' Kitty Publications, publishers of the acclaimed fiction magazines The Edge: Tales of Suspense (1998-2004) and Burning Sky: Adventures in Science Fiction Terror (1998-2003), and currently serves as Associate Editor at Delirium Books.
The son of teachers, Greg F. Gifune was educated in Boston and has lived in various places, including New York City and Peru. A trained actor and broadcaster, he has appeared in various stage productions and has worked in radio and television as both an on-air talent and a producer. Earlier in life he held a wide range of jobs, encompassing everything from journalism to promotions.
The author of numerous novels, screenplays and two short story collections, his work has been consistently praised by critics and readers alike, and has been translated into several languages and published all over the world. Greg and his wife Carol live in Massachusetts with a bevy of cats.
Discover more about his writing at GregFGifune.com and UninvitedBooks.com.
Along with his short story collections, Down To Sleep and Heretics, his work has been nominated for numerous awards and is consistently praised by readers and critics alike across the globe. For seven years he was Editor-in-Chief of Thievin' Kitty Publications, publishers of the acclaimed fiction magazines The Edge: Tales of Suspense (1998-2004) and Burning Sky: Adventures in Science Fiction Terror (1998-2003), and currently serves as Associate Editor at Delirium Books.
The son of teachers, Greg F. Gifune was educated in Boston and has lived in various places, including New York City and Peru. A trained actor and broadcaster, he has appeared in various stage productions and has worked in radio and television as both an on-air talent and a producer. Earlier in life he held a wide range of jobs, encompassing everything from journalism to promotions.
The author of numerous novels, screenplays and two short story collections, his work has been consistently praised by critics and readers alike, and has been translated into several languages and published all over the world. Greg and his wife Carol live in Massachusetts with a bevy of cats.
Discover more about his writing at GregFGifune.com and UninvitedBooks.com.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 13, 2021
And he does it again! Gifune continues to put out some of the best horror books out there. If you love coming of age horror set around the 70’s snd 80’s with realistic well rounded characters, fantastic writing, pacing, and a great monster to boot, than this is the book for you. In between all the monster mayhem, Gifune also manages to weave in some great side stories dealing with alcoholism and small town racism. Right up there with Ghoul, IT, Summer Of Night and My Best Friend’s Exorcism. I loved it!
July 14, 2022
When a book makes you cry you know it's good. And that's exactly what this book did. I could barely finish it because I couldn't see through my tears. I want to reach into the book and give the characters the biggest hug.
October 25, 2022
The writing was terrific! This was my first Greg F. Gifune novel and I will definitely be back to read more of his works! The characters were done so great, the atmosphere was terrific, the dread of what was to come was amazing! I happened to stumble on this one when searching for horror fiction based on what I will call the Winnebago, just to be safe, and I'm so glad I found this one! I just couldn't find anything I didn't love about this book...but I do have one question...what really went on at that paper factory?! Curious minds want to know haha!
April 1, 2022
Greg F. Gifune has long been operating under the radar in the horror genre. Those in the know recognize that he is one of the top voices operating in the genre today and his latest work, THE GYPSY MOTHS firmly plants him there to stay. Gifune selects a very apt quote to kick things off: ‘I wished I knew what nature’s way was, because all that was happening in our family did not seem to be natural or normal.” – Richard Ford, Wildlife
In the prologue, set in the spiring of 1977, we learn of a string of peeping tom stories that had been sweeping the small town of Samoset, Massachusetts. 14-year-old Frankie Molinari remembers that time well because it was the summer before he was to begin High School. It was also the summer his father warned him that the thing watching the house that sometimes invaded his young dreams, was waiting for him.
The narrative within THE GYPSY MOTHS jumps between that summer of 1977 and 2017. Between the end of the innocence for Frankie and his friends and the now troubled middle-aged men who return to the place where everything changed that now must deal with the death of one of their own who never made it out of Samoset. Gifune has done a superb job echoing Stephen King at times in this novel, enough to give you chills. Frankie recalls playing Ouija with his Dad back in 1977 and watching that eerie planchette spell out I AM WATCHING. His buddy Shawn’s dad had warned them about the gypsy moths coming back that year, and not in an entomological manner. He warned them that the moths and something else had returned, and that they were both very hungry.
Shawn plays right into this as he tells his friends about seeing something that resembled a large buck with a huge rack of antlers, only this creature stood on two legs and towered overed anything he had ever seen in the woods before. People started to be reported missing that summer and teens, along with many adults who weren’t afraid to talk about their superstitions, believed what the returning gypsy moths were foretelling. Frankie does some research and believes the creature responsible for the fear that is permeating his town is called ‘the wendigo.’
THE GYPSY MOTHS is so well told, even with the time-jumping between 1977 and 2017 --- a gimmick that is overused in modern thrillers today --- and Gifune is able to maintain both the suspense and the native American legend at the heart of this horrific slice of blended ancient and modern horror.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for JournalStone Hell Notes
In the prologue, set in the spiring of 1977, we learn of a string of peeping tom stories that had been sweeping the small town of Samoset, Massachusetts. 14-year-old Frankie Molinari remembers that time well because it was the summer before he was to begin High School. It was also the summer his father warned him that the thing watching the house that sometimes invaded his young dreams, was waiting for him.
The narrative within THE GYPSY MOTHS jumps between that summer of 1977 and 2017. Between the end of the innocence for Frankie and his friends and the now troubled middle-aged men who return to the place where everything changed that now must deal with the death of one of their own who never made it out of Samoset. Gifune has done a superb job echoing Stephen King at times in this novel, enough to give you chills. Frankie recalls playing Ouija with his Dad back in 1977 and watching that eerie planchette spell out I AM WATCHING. His buddy Shawn’s dad had warned them about the gypsy moths coming back that year, and not in an entomological manner. He warned them that the moths and something else had returned, and that they were both very hungry.
Shawn plays right into this as he tells his friends about seeing something that resembled a large buck with a huge rack of antlers, only this creature stood on two legs and towered overed anything he had ever seen in the woods before. People started to be reported missing that summer and teens, along with many adults who weren’t afraid to talk about their superstitions, believed what the returning gypsy moths were foretelling. Frankie does some research and believes the creature responsible for the fear that is permeating his town is called ‘the wendigo.’
THE GYPSY MOTHS is so well told, even with the time-jumping between 1977 and 2017 --- a gimmick that is overused in modern thrillers today --- and Gifune is able to maintain both the suspense and the native American legend at the heart of this horrific slice of blended ancient and modern horror.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for JournalStone Hell Notes
July 7, 2023
A few of my faves on #booksta and #booktwt kept sharing this book as an excellent example of my FAVORITE genre of horror book: Coming-of-age Horror. They were not wrong!
Frankie Boy, Alex, Max and Shawn are best friends in a New England beach town, the summer before they start high school.
Although Gifune perfectly captures the joy, the sunlight, the comic books and wrestling magazines, the deep friendship of boyhood, he also reveals the darkness of familial dysfunction and small town anger.
Frankie Boy’s dad saw something in the trees and his mind slowly cracks under the horror. His mother becomes distant with disillusionment as her husband grows obsessed with an antlered monster. But then Shawn sees it too.
As the four friends struggle to learn what is real or imagined, as they learn that there is no one they can rely on for help, they enter the forest and face a primal evil spirit.
Great characters, real dialogue, the agony and ecstasy of adolescence and a truly terrifying monster. Gifune’s monster is enveloping with sight, sound, smell, tastes and feel. Those pages were so gripping I was RIGHT THERE. Very well-written and completely heart-breaking.
I finished this book on a flight home to JFK, sitting in my seat, crying like a gotdamn baby. Sniffling, snarfling, breath hitching, looking for a gotdamn tissue. Loved it. Loved it.
Frankie Boy, Alex, Max and Shawn are best friends in a New England beach town, the summer before they start high school.
Although Gifune perfectly captures the joy, the sunlight, the comic books and wrestling magazines, the deep friendship of boyhood, he also reveals the darkness of familial dysfunction and small town anger.
Frankie Boy’s dad saw something in the trees and his mind slowly cracks under the horror. His mother becomes distant with disillusionment as her husband grows obsessed with an antlered monster. But then Shawn sees it too.
As the four friends struggle to learn what is real or imagined, as they learn that there is no one they can rely on for help, they enter the forest and face a primal evil spirit.
Great characters, real dialogue, the agony and ecstasy of adolescence and a truly terrifying monster. Gifune’s monster is enveloping with sight, sound, smell, tastes and feel. Those pages were so gripping I was RIGHT THERE. Very well-written and completely heart-breaking.
I finished this book on a flight home to JFK, sitting in my seat, crying like a gotdamn baby. Sniffling, snarfling, breath hitching, looking for a gotdamn tissue. Loved it. Loved it.
December 20, 2022
Loved this book! The story, the characters and the setting was when I was growing up so I always have an affinity for good stories in that era. I love this author and the way he weaves tales. Highly recommended by me :)
May 27, 2023
4.5 review to come.
May 17, 2024
This is my first book from this author , but I found his writing to be fantastic. He had well rounded characters that you wanted to read about and to know what happens to them.
The gypsy moths follow a group of friends in two time lines 1977 and 2017 at it's heat it's a coming of age story in the same vein as it. Coming of age horror is one of my favorites and this didn't disappoint.
The only thing I find negative is that it made it seem like there is / was a bigger conspiracy in the town such as what is really going on at the paper factory and the men in dark suits.?? If there is other books from him set in the same town I would love to know and read them as well.
The gypsy moths follow a group of friends in two time lines 1977 and 2017 at it's heat it's a coming of age story in the same vein as it. Coming of age horror is one of my favorites and this didn't disappoint.
The only thing I find negative is that it made it seem like there is / was a bigger conspiracy in the town such as what is really going on at the paper factory and the men in dark suits.?? If there is other books from him set in the same town I would love to know and read them as well.
October 28, 2022
Ominous captivating, and powerful
I have yet to read a book by Greg Gifune that I didn't love. He's a natural storyteller, Gypsy Moths just might be his best yet. A coming of age story, its also scary, at times exciting, and full of genuine love and friendship. This is such a well rounded and compelling story. Greg is one of just a handful of authors who ALWAYS deliver the goods. He does just that with Gypsy Moths. This is another must read from this fabulous author. An amazing book.
I have yet to read a book by Greg Gifune that I didn't love. He's a natural storyteller, Gypsy Moths just might be his best yet. A coming of age story, its also scary, at times exciting, and full of genuine love and friendship. This is such a well rounded and compelling story. Greg is one of just a handful of authors who ALWAYS deliver the goods. He does just that with Gypsy Moths. This is another must read from this fabulous author. An amazing book.
March 5, 2025
Not his best, maybe
The characters sucked me in, the emotion written into this story got me a little choked up. The story is filled with realism that its hard to imagine that this is all made up ( was it ?). But to be honest, the plot sucked ! Maybe the characters and realism took away from the plot, or perhaps he didn't care . still love the author though. Ill be looking forward to my next selection of his.
The characters sucked me in, the emotion written into this story got me a little choked up. The story is filled with realism that its hard to imagine that this is all made up ( was it ?). But to be honest, the plot sucked ! Maybe the characters and realism took away from the plot, or perhaps he didn't care . still love the author though. Ill be looking forward to my next selection of his.
June 21, 2023
A good coming of age story. A bit reminiscent of Stephen King’s « It ». Very nostalgic and moving as every good coming of age story should be. The ending with the big showdown is a bit too typical and not very original but well done and offers good closure to the story.
Very beautiful writing about lost youth at the end of the book. A recommended read.
Very beautiful writing about lost youth at the end of the book. A recommended read.
January 12, 2022
Начиналось все весьма бодро, но под финал посыпалось, скомкалось, дописывалось на бегу. Судя по издательству, особых вложений в историю не предполагалось изначально, роман-местоблюститель в библиографии Гифьюна. Жду более основательной работы.
April 19, 2024
Fabulous coming-of-age horror at it's best.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews