It might have just been me but I found this story a little hard to follow along. I often had to rewind way back to even get a small grasp on what was going on

Everything The Darkness Eats is the story of hate, love, and disappearances both into oneself and in the world.

There were moments of this book that was so raw and honest that it was difficult to get through. In these moments, I felt so connected with the characters. The author does such a great job of making these scenes points of such great empathy--you know what it would feel like, what it would be like, even if you wish you didn't.
When you have such honest scenes like that, you want it to impact the book in some way, but the ending of this book kind of erases everything else that happens. It makes it so unnecessary. Granted, the point was to give the characters some kind of solace, but it seemed to trivialize trauma in a way, wiping it away as if it was nothing. For those who have been through that kind of thing, they know you can't simply wipe it away and trying to do that ruined the entire experience of this book for me.

I will say that the narration of this book wasn't terrible. It wasn't the best I've heard but it wasn't the worst. The narrator does a good job of switching between characters. They even added an extra gravel to their tone when switching to the old man, which I did enjoy.

Overall, because of the ending. I give this a 2 out of 5.

A string of mysterious disappearances in a small town has everyone on edge as they wait to see who will be taken next. The police are doing nothing, the residents are scared, and the darkness is coming.

This novel has the feel of a collection of short stories that are all interconnected. There is no single main character or group of protagonists, but instead there are snippets of various people’s lives throughout the novel, all of them coming up multiple times and all being related in some way.

I enjoy Eric LaRocca’s writing style. This is my third novel by him, and even though none of his books have received five stars from me, they have still all been great reads that I would recommend to horror fans. I will continue to read whatever new books he publishes in the future.

Even though I liked this book overall, I didn’t, however, particularly love the supernatural aspect of the story. There is a source of darkness that is said to be God incarnate in the world and it is maliciously evil, and I didn’t like seeing God being portrayed in that way. I’ve never been the biggest fan of reading about deities in fiction, even fantastical and mythological ones, but I prefer it even less when the god in question is our actual God.

Likewise, I enjoyed the first 60% or so of this novel more than the back half. Can’t really say why’s specifically—maybe something to do with the weird rituals toward the end? Either way, I still recommend Everything the Darkness Eats. It was compelling and eerie, and the characters were fun to get to know.

If you clutch your pearls at the idea of watching a horror movie, this probably isn’t the book for you. But if you have a standing subscription to Fangoria, Shudder, and anxiously await that time of year when you can vote for Chainsaw Awards, this is the one for you! The gory action didn’t really pick up until about halfway through, but that particular scene was only a description of something that happened. (I won’t give it away). I didn’t think it was overtly violent at all. There were a couple of scenes that were violent toward the end, but I honeslty didn't see aything that was gratuitous, as some of the other reviews state. I saw no more violence than any of the other many horror movies I’ve seen or books that I’ve read. I think I’ve seen worse in Friday the 13th. In any case, LaRocca is a very talented writer, and this book was very well-done. His writing reminded me a bit of early Edward Lee (without the sex), but I can absolutely see this author being on par with Clive Barker at some point in the future!

Huge thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

Everything the Darkness Eats was my second LaRocca (I have a third on deck this month), and I really enjoy his style of horror. I’ve seen him mix religious and magical realism elements into his writing well, and I love seeing those little blends into violence and darkness, especially in this book. The characters in this one were compelling and interesting and I was rooting for them, especially Ghost who has a little ghost of his own and a whole lot of grief.

I try to suspend my disbelief a little extra with horror bc some things aren’t meant to make sense, but unfortunately, there were small moments in one storyline and a huge moment in the other story line that were too unbelievable within the realm of the story for me to buy. And that second storyline honestly felt out of place the entire time, so while I’m glad it led to a (somewhat?) happy ending for those characters, I still struggle with its relationship to the book overall. I know this probably doesn’t make much sense if you haven’t read the book, so I still recommend you give it a chance and see for yourself how you feel! Just be wary some stuff may not add up. I loved the narration for the audiobook! Thank you Dreamscape.

I love Eric Larocca. I have this book pre ordered. I am so excited now. And its gonna be signed. This book is so good. Thank you netgalley.

Oof, this was WAY too violent for me!! For such a short book, it really packed a lot of despicable human behavior into it. I also reeeeally struggle with books that feature gay bashings. I’m refraining from rating this book on goodreads because this book was so far outside my usual tastes that I cant in good conscience rate it 🤷🏻‍♀️ thanks so much for giving me the chance to read it before publication!

Does this make you squirm? Does the author maybe take things too far? Do some things seem unreal or unlikely? YES, YES, and YES!!
To say you enjoyed a LaRocca is a bit off. It’s more appropriate to say you outlasted it. It’s an experience that affects you mentally and physically assuming you make it all the way through.
EVERYTHING THE DARKNESS EATS is no exception. No one questions a Dali, or an Escher. One may look on in horror at the painting, The Massacre of Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook!

Unfortunately I find myself placing this one into the DNF pile at 46%. This is not my first time with an Eric LaRocca. I really enjoyed Things Have Gotten Worse Since we last spoke. Everything the Darkness Eats was another story (no pun intended). This book is gruesome in its depiction of hate crimes and the emotional distress that is caused by them. It got to the point where it was just too much for me. Not to mention the fact that children encounter a pretty grotesque death in the beginning. This book made me feel very uncomfortable and while that is one of the aims of horror, this didn’t sit well with me. The writing wasn’t strong enough to make me want to keep going despite the fact that the actual content of the book had put me off.

I would read LaRocca again to see if it was just a fluke but I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who wasn’t looking for extreme horror that’s simultaneously super depressing.

Thank you to Dreamscape media and NetGalley for this audiobook ARC. Let me start off by saying I’m a big fan of Eric and his work! His writing is so well done and always gets under my skin in the best way. That being said, I didn’t love Everything The Darkness Eats. I did enjoy the narrator and I would love to listen to another book narrated by André.

I believe the reason I didn’t love this story is because it felt very disjointed. By the end I wasn’t even sure what I had listened to. Some parts were incredibly difficult to listen to, but I knew going into this book that it would be hard content to consume.

I’m still a huge fan of Eric and I will continue to read what he writes, this one just missed the mark for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I had so much hope for this. And maybe it's because I had high expectations that I was utterly disappointed in everything that happened.

At first, I was really invested in Crowley and Ghost, watching their two storylines progress. I liked the idea of everything happening, even if I wanted more of Crowley and what he was doing. But things started to become unbelievable to me, with certain events happening that didn't make sense (spoiler: he literally kidnaps a girl from the grocery store and the cab driver doesn't become suspicious when they bring her back and there's a bunch of police cars there? Like, really?) and there were things that happened that felt like the author didn't go back to make sure they flowed? If that makes sense? (Again, spoiler: the blind, little girl gets called into the doctor and the mother just lets her go by herself?)

But my major issue was the storyline with Malik, which, spoiler: his storyline ends up converging with Ghost and Crowley's and he's just... there? It added absolutely nothing to the plot, and things would've happened the same way with or without him there in that final scene.

Either way, I wanted horror, and ended up with a book that kind of felt like the author was trying too hard to make it horror while also including violence for the sake of violence.

Maybe it just wasn't for me -- don't get me wrong, the writing is very pretty -- but the story fell a bit flat for me.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book which I think is why I liked the book. The narrorator was very fitting for the vibe of the story itself but over all the book left me feeling.... unsettled.

The writing had some plot holes but it was short and straight to the point so I get it. If you're new to horror like I am, I think you'll enjoy this book/audiobook, but if you over think plot/ details then you may wanna skip this one.

TW: Homophobia, Cults, Death, Death of a Spouse, Gore, Kidnapping.

Narrator: Great to listen at 2x or higher, easy to listen to and to tell the differences in characters.

Also **SPOILER**:

I'm so confused on why the uncle left a blind child to wonder around a grocery store by herself? And also why the cab driver wasn't suspicious about ANY of it. But I digress.

Also, HEA in a horror novel? Odd but cool I guess,

Utterly disturbing and yet I can't stop thinking about it. I feel like this book will be haunting my dreams. I personally really enjoyed the author's writing style and now want to dive into the back catalog. (After I recover from this one) This cosmic horror story has 3 different POV's that all come together in a sadistic conclusion with a sliver of hope. While there are 3 different POV's, I felt like the audio narrator did a great job. The narrator really set the tone for the creepy uneasiness to seep into my mind.

If you want to be left wondering "What the f*ck did I just read?!?", I highly recommend. Be sure to check the trigger warnings for this book, there are a lot of brutal scenes.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book!

I read this via audiobook. The narrator's voice is soothing and stays even with appropriate tones throughout the book when needed.
The story is a complex web of a small town dealing with disappearances as the occult is moving in to the town all while the locals are letting their hate and bigotry get the better of them. We especially see the bigotry of the towns people when we are following the character of Malik. We also follow Ghost, who experiences more of the occult side of things. Then we also follow Crowley, who I can only assume is modeled after the occultist given what happens in the book.
We find out pretty early what is happening and the reader is not left to wonder what is going on. I feel like maybe somethings were edited out that may have made the story come together better in the end because some of the characters with the way they come together by the end and it made me think I missed something so I backed up the audiobook, but I didn't miss anything. I feel like maybe the author couldn't make the web come together the way he wanted or something got lost in the edited.
Either way overall I felt the story was worth the read and I mostly enjoyed it.

I think this is a good debut novel for LaRocca; however, I do prefer his short stories!

I had really high hopes going into this, but I ultimately felt let down by this one.

Things I liked:
- Amazing poetic prose
- Entertaining story
- I really liked Ghost and his character arc
- I thought the magical realism aspects were an interesting addition
- Quick read
- Great narration

Things I didn't like:
- There were some plot issues that didn't fully add up for me
- The pacing was off and at times the story felt dull
- Felt a bit YA in my opinion

This book was interesting. And odd. The part I enjoyed the most was the storyline with Malik and Brett. Their story was breaking my heart. I kept wondering how they were going to fit in to the Ghost storyline, and let me tell you, it wasn’t any way I would’ve guessed. I was so intrigued through the beginning of the book with the disappearances and everything. But when it got to Mr. Crowley bringing Ghost to his house, that’s where it started to lost me.

Thank you Dreamscape Media & Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook!

This story was a tough one for me to rate. And I feel like others may not understand the underlying message, mainly because it was so brutal and triggering. I feel like this story is about all of the hate, violence, and mercilessness that most humans exhibit in this world and how a single act of humanity can not only heal someone, but it can heal yourself for giving it.

The story follows three groups of people whose lives intersect. Ghost is a grieving man who has lost his family tragically, Mr. Crawley is a mysterious man with an ancient artifact, and Malik (a police officer) and his husband Brett live in a small homophobic town that doesn't want them there.

I enjoy Eric LaRocca's strange stories and writing. He has a point of view and a way of storytelling that is unique. This story takes you on a journey in which you have no idea where it's heading until you are there. It was very dark, gruesome, brutal, and sad. I only wish that Eric would have prefaced the story with trigger warnings, although it is a horror story, as it contains a very brutal rape scene among other dark themes that some may not want to read.

The narration was told by André Santana who has a very calming voice. I think he was perfect for this story, which was the complete opposite.

If I could give half stars, I would have rated this 3.5 stars.

My first LaRoca, even though I own 2 of his books of shorts. He’s been on my TBR list for awhile now and this didn’t disappoint. It’s very dark, and hits horrors that could be seen in everyday life, as well as some more supernatural elements. I listened to the audio (thank you Net Galley and Dreamscape for the audio) but wish I would have read the physical book. The narrator wasn’t bad, but I do think it was a bit slow and not animated as much as I’d like. At times I would think “this is boring” but it’s not boring, I just would’ve enjoyed reading it, more. I think this book would work more for ppl who want to read more dark, depressing, real life horror, as it’s not exactly action packed. But it still makes you think and I enjoyed the story.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Thank You Net Galley for a chance to read this ARC
I am a fan of this Author and will always give anything he writes. This story seemed a little all over the place and was not my favorite. I am not a fan of religious type horror and this has just a smidge of that. I think there could be more stories about Ghost though.