Monday, October 31, 2022

Review | Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca

Source: review copy provided by the publisher. This is a review of my reading experience.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes is a collection by Eric LaRocca.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca

Three dark and disturbing horror stories from an astonishing new voice, including the viral-sensation tale of obsession, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. For fans of Kathe Koja, Clive Barker and Stephen Graham Jones.

A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s—a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.

A couple isolate themselves on a remote island, in an attempt to recover from their teenage son’s death, when a mysterious young man knocks on their door during a storm…

And a man confronts his neighbour when he discovers a strange object in his back yard, only to be drawn into an ever-more dangerous game.

From Bram Stoker Award® finalist Eric LaRocca, this is devastating, beautifully written horror from one of the genre’s most cutting-edge voices.

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes combines three of Eric LaRocca's stories into one volume. I was excited to get this collection because I had heard great things about the titular novella Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. I was wanting to read that one, and the other two stories were a bonus.

THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE SINCE WE LAST SPOKE

Unfortunately, I felt like the horror in Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was there just for horror's sake. It wasn't developed or believable - it was just horrific.

Lots of people have enjoyed Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. That's why I wanted to read it in the first place, but in this story two strangers meet over an ad for an apple peeler and a few emails later things go completely off the rails in a way that I couldn't manage to suspense my disbelief, and I had absolutely no reason to care if any of this stuff was happening or not happening. Who were these characters anyway? They were agnes_in_wonderland_76 and crushmarigolds. You, dear review reader, now know almost as much as I do about these characters. I think the horror was supposed to shock me, but I had no emotional investment whatsoever.

Go into this one expecting horror - people horror, not supernatural horror - as the purpose of the story. You may love it. It's a fast read. I would have read it in one sitting if I hadn't required pizza. I'm intrigued enough to continue to the next story.

animal abuse, suicide ideation

THE ENCHANTMENT

Like Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, we are trust into a story without knowing anything about the characters. After making it more than halfway through The Enchantment, I'm going to put this aside and declare I'm not the target reader for this collection.

suicide, suicide ideation


3 comments:

  1. Oooh, lots of suicide in those CW's. Thank you for the heads up!

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  2. I really enjoyed this collection, and it didn't bother me too much that we only get to know the characters on the surface, since we are only reading their emails/texts. I think that made the story more disturbing for me for some reason. But I've read a few of his collections and some stories didn't work at all for me.

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