What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

Eric LaRocca has a way with words that I find disturbing, enthralling, and endlessly enjoyable to read. He's easily an auto-buy author for me, and he's just getting started!

With this story Eric turns his talents to the epistolary form; a medium that is underutilized, likely because it's so hard to get right. I mean how well can one create complex characters, inspire awe and dread in the reader, and convey a full range of emotions only through written correspondences (in this case emails and chat messages)? In this case, the answer is VERY well. Very well indeed.

The basic premise is that one character is wanting to sell an antique apple peeler, and the other character is an interested buyer. What follows is a tale of loneliness, codependency, and sadism that starts out innocently enough and turns into something truly horrific by the end. Eric takes his time with the pacing, allowing us to really get to know these characters and be pulled into their web of communication. And the times he shows restraint from graphic details only serve to make the times he doesn't that much more disgusting and alarming. Seriously, there is one scene in particular where I almost put the book down.

I loved this story, loved the way it was written, loved these sad characters, and loved the disturbing twists along the way. Highly recommend!