Frightful Reads Friday A Deep Dive into The Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

Source: FantasticFiction

Welcome to Frightful Reads Friday, your weekly invitation to step into horror that cuts deep, bleeds slow, and refuses to look away.

This week, we descend into a small town cursed by grief, haunted by ritual, and stalked by an entity hungry for suffering. A tale that blends cosmic horror, emotional devastation, and queer trauma, Everything The Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca is not just a story — it's a scream muffled by politeness and prayer.

What’s It About?

In the quiet town of Henley’s Edge, evil has taken root. Disappearances, violence, strange behaviour — something festers beneath the surface.

Among the townspeople:

• Ghost, a queer man grieving a tragic loss, begins experiencing visions and supernatural visitations.

• Mr. Marsh, a sinister figure with disturbing motives, weaves ancient occult rituals into his plan to summon something unspeakable.

• Health inspector Brian Arlington, his partner gone missing, finds himself pulled deeper into a mystery that erodes sanity and self.

As the darkness feeds, the town becomes a wound — and something old, hungry, and indifferent begins to emerge.

This is a novel where trauma meets myth, and revenge cracks open a portal to oblivion.

Why It Belongs on Your Horror Shelf

Eric LaRocca is best known for the viral novella Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke — and here, in their debut novel, they expand their scope while keeping their signature dread.

Expect:

• Unflinching queer horror that doesn’t sanitise or apologise

• Eldritch terror rooted in emotional wounds, not just jump scares

• Themes of grief, abuse, faith, and vengeance that never flinch

• Characters that feel raw, broken, and tragically real

The horror here is not just cosmic — it’s personal. It doesn’t ask you to look away. It dares you to keep looking.

What Makes It So Disturbing?

• LaRocca weaponises language: Lyrical one moment, merciless the next

• The small-town setting is soaked in hypocrisy and rot — think Stephen King meets Clive Barker

• Ritual magic and myth collide with modern loneliness

• Queerness is not a subplot — it’s the pulse of the narrative, shaped by rage, tenderness, and survival

Best Read With:

• A room with the lights on

• A playlist of ambient dread and heartbeat bass

• A warning: this book explores grief, homophobia, and violence — and it doesn’t pull punches

Lines That Stick to Your Ribs

“God doesn’t live in this town anymore.”

“The only thing darker than the thing inside me is the thing I’m becoming.”

“Some doors shouldn’t be opened, but grief is the perfect key.”

Final Verdict

Everything The Darkness Eats is an unholy hymn to grief and rage. It’s a brutal, lyrical, and deeply queer descent into horror that feels at once mythic and intimate. Eric LaRocca has crafted a novel where trauma isn’t just part of the backstory — it’s the blood in the soil and the teeth in the dark.

This is horror that hurts — and horror that matters.