Note: I will keep this as spoiler free as I can, I will be mentioning one or two plot points from the first few pages but they are things you can find out by just reading the blurb. I also vaguely reference a couple scenes from later in the book, but I won't spoil any plot points.
I've given the book 2 stars, but please understand that it's mostly for the cover, it drew me in and I still have it sitting on my coffee table to look at occasionally because it's a stunning piece of art. Some smaller positives before I rip into this clusterf*ck of a story - LaRocca writes excellent prose, it's quite clever/quippy at certain points and has a poetic feel to it, I'm going to try reading other books of his, as I feel his style of prose didn't work in an epistolary but would strongly benefit a third person narrative. Despite this, I enjoyed the format of the emails and chatlog messages, I'd love to read more epistolary horror.
I know I literally just complimented LaRocca's writing style, however, it doesn't work at all in this format. The characters write so formally and poetically that it's hard to imagine them as real people sending casual emails to one another. Further detrimental to their characterization, they both write exactly the same, it was hard to remember who's email you were reading because they both speak like 20th century politicians. Every email (the parts written on the instant messaging platform were good, and believable) was written in the same format with the same language, it made no sense given that the characters were presented as totally people in very different socioeconomic situations, with very different upbringings, and living very far from one another. I really had to work to suspend my willing sense of disbelief, which is not something I want to be saying about a realistic horror narrative. The way the characters are written is painful and difficult to believe, let alone take seriously. I did eventually get used to it, but then the plot took a nosedive in to bullsh*t...
The protagonists ultimately become caricatured, hollow versions of their initial characterization and their actions are silly, unbelievable and straight up comical. The ending really, really tries to be unsettling, but because of how the characters have devolved into single personality-trait shells of what they were intended to be, it just comes off as goofy and try-hard. I actually had to stifle a giggle while reading the last page, but overall I just felt a wave of disappointment, the first few chapters of this book genuinely made me think it had potential to be an awesome read.
I was really excited when I heard this book was about lesbians, because you rarely find horror centered around lesbians that doesn't punish their queerness (I understand that authors don't do it deliberately, but the 'dead lesbian' trope exists for a reason). When I saw that this book was written by a straight man, I was skeptical, I've been disappointed many times, but I decided to give it a chance because I'd heard good things about it, I wish I had just trusted my gut instead. Throughout the beginning few pages (very minor spoiler coming) the author makes it abundantly clear that the main characters are lesbians, on a site for gay hookups, and it's written like this sneaky, sinful place full of horny queers doing weird gay things. The author makes a spectacle of it. As a lesbian myself, I felt very alienated by the way it was written, like my online lgbt spaces are some secret circus of depravity to be gawked at (I might be overreacting a little, but I didn't like how the site was presented).
Toward the final third of the book, the story really falls apart. The main character's downfall happens because she is a lesbian, because she desires something a lesbian can't have, and the plot ultimately punishes her for that and it's used as a big ~spooky scary~ twist reveal on the final pages of the book(I'm not sure if it was intended as a twist because it was about as subtle as a freight train, but it was written as though it was).
Similarly, LaRocca treats BDSM very poorly, the secondary protagonist is written as though she is highly experienced in it; unsurprisingly, the writer doesn't know the first thing about BDSM. The character's attitude towards BDSM and descriptions of it come off like a 14 year old writing their first fanfiction, it's poorly informed (and not in the camp-y horror way that can be a fun read, it's more...'Christian Gray but somehow worse'). There was a specific scene (the one that takes place in the forest near the river, for those who have read it) which caught me off guard, and I really enjoyed how sudden and jarring it was, however from that scene onward the author starts throwing violent or unrealistic scenes at the reader every few pages which spiral into complete nonsense.
Overall, this book was very disappointing, although, I think if the general concept and epistolary style were kept and the actual events of the story rewritten and extended into a much longer novel, this book could be a great read. It's a really unique concept and the chatlog/emails enhance the story tenfold, I just wish the actual plot was handled with more thought. I wish the characters didn't lose the traits that made them actual characters, and that weren't treated as tools to make the reader uncomfortable. It would be awesome if the ending didn't rely on lesbianism as a crutch for the final scare. Likewise, writing in a style that's accurate to human people who speak like actual, real, people in a modern, online setting, instead of people who sound like you put 19th century thesaurus in a spin-dryer and set it to 'intensive' would be a great start.
So i guess what I'm trying to say is...I wish this book was better because I really wanted to like it :(
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
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