Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

3 reviews

erebus53's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I picked up this one at random because the title seemed interesting.
The story is weird, mysterious, supernatural, and bleak. It felt like there were actually 2 stories stitched together.

People are going missing, and one of the police officers investigating is a Muslim man who is getting flack from his husband for pulling long hours. They are a sweet couple, but continually on guard due to micro-agressions from their neighbours.. which escalate to macro-agressions and ultimately extreme violence, as someone in the neighborhood is trying to pressure the men into leaving.

The other protagonist is a depressed young man who is grieving the loss of his wife and unborn child in a motor accident that permanently damaged his own leg. He has this niggling voice that continually disparages him. It belongs to an actual demon (is it real?) with whom he has an oddly codependent toxic relationship. (Nowhere near as friendly as Calcifer in Howl's Moving Castle). One day he meets a fancy old man with a swanky mansion who offers wishes.. this gives me real "Needful Things" vibes. The guy is about as suspect as you can get even before he introduces himself as Heart Crowley.

Mumble mumble, magic, cult, demon / God, zealots, creepy, blood and rituals etc. (step 4: profit!... or prophet?)
Meanwhile sadistic homophobic violence, rape, multilation, and all that bad stuff
but that's ok because we have God locked in our cellar and he can make it all miraculously better.
Kinda liked the whole Clockwork Orange feel of stumbling into the mansion in the middle of the night though. ("HOME")


I liked that most of the characters are gay or pan. Interesting to hear the widow character voicing experience of biphobia. I realize it's supposed to be gritty and horrific but the whole rape angle just felt awful rather than creepy. I kind of feel like the whole story might have had more going for it if it was either a supernatural horror with a paranoid anxiety sufferer OR the horrible side of be what can happen to a sweet gay couple just trying to live their best life, but trying to tangle the two together is just not quite doing either justice.


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aparker89's review against another edition

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

4.0

A fast-paced supernatural mystery that will leave you begging for mercy. Not only will you feel sorrow, you can feel the slash of the knife. While you witness some truly horrific events in this story, most are not so far fetched as to be unbelievable. You feel for every person you meet and the evil lurking is both ethereal and too real! With any luck, you might finish unscathed. 
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micalyia's review against another edition

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

3.0

 It was uncomfy and dark and twisty. This book can be very triggering to check trigger and content warning.

It wasn’t scary but it was horrifying in the fact that it was just horrible how the characters keep getting knocked down by different situations 

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