No good deed - even half hearted - goes unpunished  

Depressive Horror people, that has to be a thing and if it is, this one is right up there with a handful of horrors that upon reflection just bring out the bleakness of a situation. My guy poor Phil Pendelton did not deserve that little shyte banshee-demon-offspring from hell. For all intents and purposes he was a good dude. Maybe that's why it's so damned depressing before it's horrifying.  A good dude tried to be nice-ish (read: sympathetic) and look at him now, teeth falling out, looking like the last spittle from an asylum in the underworld.

Worldbuilding/Plot/Storyline/Themes:
The underlying theme is obvious but so well done it's both horrifying and depressing. Hehe kids are hell?

Character Development/Favorite Character:
I hate that little gobshyte demon spawn. My ovaries shrivelled up and receded into the size of specs of dust particles reading this novelette.

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene::
Chapter 3: Aquisition. (The entire chapter)
"Don’t,” was all the self-defense he could muster.
“Yours now,” the woman said, though her split lip made it Yoursh now, her voice the sound of a rake through dead leaves," (That horrible exchange? Curse? Whatever it was the creepiest)

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes: 
"His own childhood had been a train wreck, and rather than emerge from that endurance test better prepared for parenthood, he suspected it had probably ruined such prospects for life." (Phil on kids  )

"He hadn’t needed to know her name. Hadn’t wanted to, and now that it had been given to him, it somehow made it worse. A line from a book he’d read in highschool popped into his mind: The nameless are easier to bury." (Phil before the storm )

Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
That devil child

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Horror books by 2025