I’m a little conflicted on how to feel about this book. It’s absolutely extreme horror & really a disturbing read. Throughout I was audibly groaning at how gross some scenes were & needed to put down a few times. Definitely for more seasoned horror readers.

I feel like I would have given this a much stronger rating had there been so much less unnecessary racism, misogyny, & homophobia. The story itself is quite compelling; two college age boys, good childhood friends, stumble upon a depraved man living deep in the woods. When Rodger & Tooth go to investigate the terrorizing screams of a woman, they stumble face first into the most unimaginable days of their lives. There’s an underlying supernatural element that was a little interesting & left me guessing. The ending was well done - you could enjoy as a stand alone or read the next book in the series.

Unfortunately, it was challenging for me to cherish the friendship between the two boys because they really weren’t all that kind to one another. So many unnecessary, frankly gross, remarks about women, sex, & race. I found myself rolling my eyes at why this author thought these elements would add to the story whatsoever. In the throes of death or the fear of, I have a hard time believing someone would think “I’m so mad I’ve spent my short life as such a nerd!!! I wish I boned a bunch of chicks instead!!!!” Moments like these could’ve been much more emotionally compelling - connecting the reader to the characters had these moments been more thoughtfully written. Nothing about this really read as dark humor IMO.

Really thought this could of had great potential, but the “boys will be boys” way this story was written just gave me the ick. I’m honestly shocked to see that barely anyone talks about these topics in their reviews of this novel….

2.5/5