Reviews with content warning for Torture - Everything the Darkness Eats

This is genuinely one of the worst books I have read from an "established," published author. The writing in the book was incredibly clunky with metaphors that not only didn't make sense, but felt like they were written solely for the sake of shock. There were also moments in the book where descriptions and explanations seemed to be entirely missing, with settings and situations coming out of nowhere. The story itself was lackluster, with the secondary main character only contributing the most minor presence in the following "climax." So much of Ghost's character and set up was shallow and unexplained, relying on supernatural nonsense to get the point across.

While I disliked the writing, what bothered me the most about this book was how LaRocca treated their characters. The book claims to be a queer horror novel, but the only part of it that seems genuinely queer is the secondary main character who services only as a conduit for violence. There is not a moment where Malik is happy, only witnessing his husband's hate crime, being kidnapped, sexually and brutally assaulted, and almost murdered. All for being gay. There is no other development to his character other than to have slurs thrown at him and have violence done unto him. Also, the "bad guys" in the story both are also queer or have experienced similar violence. I find it unacceptable and disgusting that LaRocca would take a character that does extreme sexual and physical violence to one of the only POC characters in the book and make their motivation be a past assault from another gay character. Furthermore, giving the main villain AIDS (at least hinting at it) for no reason other than to mention it adds to the image that people with AIDS are violent and dirty.

LaRocca also completely ignores his female characters. They are either stupid, pathetic, or fridged. There is not a moment with a female character where they have any real agency. They are dead to move the male main character's story forward or placed as a helpless damsel in distress in order to be protected.

I purchased and read this book because I heard many good things about LaRocca's other works and the horror they have created. However, after reading this book, I refuse to read anything else LaRocca has written or may write in the future.

Content Warnings

binneybooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

starsiren's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This is the first Eric LaRocca that I've read. I really wanted to like this, since it was very highly recommended by reviewers that I trust. The concept was something I could get behind, missing people, a cult, rituals, exploding heads, LGBTQ+ characters. But the writing itself came across as really simplistic and juvenile, while simultaneously overwrought with prose. Well, juvenile until graphic violence begins, that is. I generally have a pretty strong stomach when scenes like these appear, and it wasn't particularly the content of the scenes that bothers me. It felt like the characters upon whom the violence was meted out were only part of the story so that they could BE abused. Maybe I'll re-read it in a year to see if I still feel the same.

Content Warnings

zenzi2read's review

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

rebekahmccubbins's review

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I went into this book excited - I picked it up after seeing multiple recommendations in lists of queer horror novels. And I really wanted to like it. I'm genuinely confused as to how this book was published.

The author clearly enjoys flowery prose, which is fine when done well. But this was painful to read. Every third sentence was a simile or over-description, making it hard to keep track of what's actually happening in the story. The plot felt half-baked, and the details were confusing. I found myself constantly asking, 'why?'. The characters' motivations didn't feel reasonable.

And the extremely graphic violence against Malik and Brett felt uncalled for. Frankly, that subplot never tied in to a degree that felt justified. So I was left feeling that the author just... WANTED to torture and decimate a gay couple (confusing, because by all accounts, he is gay).

I can't in good faith recommend this story to anyone. If you do choose to read, good luck.

Content Warnings

illtakethenightshiftx's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Eric LaRocca is a great short story author and this novel felt like it should’ve been 3-4 separate short stories in the same anthology. Nothing felt cohesive and when the two main narratives came together it was so quick and didn’t make a lot of sense. Also, considering this audiobook was only about 5.5 hours long, it was so wordy!

Honestly, it felt like a draft that needed more work, between the use of language and extremely heavy-handed themes. The story as a whole was underwhelming and I didn’t find myself attached to any of the characters (which is a bad sign!). I’ve only been blown away/completely impressed by one of LaRocca’s short stories and found their other works underwhelming, so I honestly don’t know what I was expecting from this novel.

If you really like LaRocca’s work, you might enjoy this.

I also cannot stress enough, check the content warnings and read other reviews.

Content Warnings

hauntedantiqueshop's review

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

What an absolute JOKE. I’m truly at a loss with what to say about this unnecessary book but here it goes.

Imagine writing horrific sexual assault and then almost idolizing the attacker (calling him his God and seeing how attractive he really is is so fucking disgusting), making your readers that could get through it read it, to then haphazardly slap “don’t worry, God fixed it and they literally don’t even remember it now” at the end. Not to mention the weird ableism sprinkled throughout the book, mixed with utterly unreliable actions by almost every single character. Don’t get me wrong, ACAB all day long. But not a single officer in that department is fully investigating the disappearances of these people all over town or THE KIDNAPPING? The taxi driver is just cool with being an accomplice??

I can’t help but to think Eric LaRocca hates their audience and truly thinks of them as fucking idiots.

Content Warnings

chaos_tempest's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

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