A review by kennedyjosinclair
The Black Farm by Elias Witherow

Did not finish book.

This book is terribly written. Like most extreme horror, it depends on the shock value of gore & rape to keep the reader intrigued, but the writing is barely mediocre and riddled with errors. The characters are flat and one dimensional with almost cartoonishly generic qualities. Female characters solely exist for the purpose for the male characters to have goals. People laud this book as horrifying but it is just horrifyingly bad.

Additionally, people always praise the concept but the concept strikes me as foul and a bit offensive inherently. The plot focuses on a couple that kills themselves but what the summary leaves out is they wind up in a purgatory like place of torture designed specifically for people who committed suicide all because god and the devil couldn’t choose what to do with those souls. If you have struggled with suicidal ideation or lost people to suicide, this book has nothing genuine or considerate to offer you. 

Suicide is used just as another trope for shock value and the plot doesn’t seem interested in acknowledging how fucked up it is to consider suicide a sin or something to be punished for. 

Shitty book. Im done giving these lame “extreme horror” books a shot.