A review by enchantressreads
Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“Her world was darkness, and that’s often where the monsters felt most at home.”

Eric LaRocca is quite famous for writing messy, sad, grief horror. Everything the Darkness Eats is no different. We follow a few different points of view, all handling grief their own ways. Some worse than others.

Ghost Everling was in a car accident with his wife, Hailey, and she did not survive. It’s been three years, and he’s trying to navigate his new life with a ghoul on his shoulder telling him the accident was his fault. 

Heart Crowley is an eccentric elderly man who manages his grief by trying to control every situation around him. 

Malik and husband Brett are grieving the marriage they could have had, had they not dealt with the homophobia from the neighborhood. 

For most of the story, you have no idea how the three different stories connect, but in the end, boy do they connect. As always, LaRocca weaves a tale that takes you by surprise while hurting your feelings the entire way.

This story is not a fast story, unlike their other works. There’s a lot underneath the words, a lot of subtext. I actually would like to reread this story in the future to see if I can pick things out that I hadn’t seen originally. 

There were a couple slow parts, which makes this not quite a five star read, but enjoyable nonetheless.
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