The way this was marketed was giving me folk horror vibes, which I enjoy, but half way through the book I realised that this story is splatterpunk, with women and corpses (of women) being violated for no reason which isn't my vibe. I didn't read further as there was nothing else happening to convince me to.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I have given up rating Eric’s books. I never know how I feel afterward. Eric LaRocca is an auto-read author for me and I’m always ready to be sickened once again. Eric has such a talent for writing stories that are fascinating in their brutality. The list of trigger warnings in the beginning of this book was impressive and I’m glad I read it so I wouldn’t be surprised. This book was gross. While the beginning was slow, it got so weird so fast. What kind of nightmare town is this?! I completely understand Rupert wanting to leave. Everyone was a wacko.

We get multiple news stories mixed in with the POVs of Rupert, a teenage boy who’s trying to get by and leave town after the death of his mother and Gladys, the wife of a influential and cruel man in town. Their lives will mix together after a family of faceless human like creatures invade town on Christmas and gun down townsfolk during a parade. What happens after will change Rupert and Gladys forever.

There’s a lot of interesting messages here. How grief and trauma can turn you into a monster. How hurting those who have wronged you can make you just as bad as they are. This is a trilogy of novels and while this story was weird and disgusting, it also kept my attention. I’d be willing to finish out the series.