#108 in Horror
The Ballad of Black Tom
- 154
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
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About the book
People move to New York looking for magic, and nothing will convince them it isn't there. Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic and earns the attention of things best left sleeping. A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 301 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 67% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Horror average of 7.5. That is how 7.6 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.6 | 18 | 6% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 283 | 94% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“oh i fucking loved this. the ballad of black tom is sharp, unsettling, and deeply compelling. lavalle was able to build such distinct, memorable characters in a such a short, little novella. tom, especially, was a great protagonist. clever and flawed and painfully aware of…”
“This was a fast read, but I think it does a disservice to Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos with reverse racism and over-the-top senseless violence.”
Frequently asked
How long is The Ballad of Black Tom?
It has 154 pages — shorter than 93% of the ranked books in Horror.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Horror — with scores between 7.5 and 7.6, closest to this book.
