Wretch - by Eric Larocca (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

From award-winning horror author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke comes a haunting and "utterly original" (Booklist, starred review) tech-Gothic thrill ride about sorrow, memory, and the unabashed complexity of love as a transgressive act.

After his husband dies, Simeon Link finds himself overcome by grief and seeking comfort in an unusual support group called The Wretches, who offer an addictive and dangerous source of relief. They introduce Simeon to a curious figure known as Porcelain Khaw--a man with the ability to let those who are grieving have one last intimate moment with their beloved...for a price.

"Immersive and compelling" (Library Journal, starred review), Wretch transports us to a world where not everything is as it seems, and those we love may be the ones who haunt us most.

Review Quotes

*"No one does this better than LaRocca...this is an utterly original story that will leave readers transformed."-- "--Booklist, starred review"

"In a few short years Eric LaRocca has already established himself at the vanguard of horror and transgressive fiction." ----Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie

"Unnerving, baroque, and deliciously grotesque, Wretch is a journey to the dark heart of grief you won't soon forget." ----M. L. Rio, bestselling author of If We Were Villains

"Hallucinatory, fiendish, and destructively beautiful, Wretch transports us to a world where not everything is as it seems, and those we love may be the ones who haunt us most."-- "--Capes and Tights"

*"The speed with which wondrous and horrifying ideas and concepts come up is as startling as the immersive and compelling body horror sprinkled throughout...a deeply compelling and thought-provoking read."-- "--Library Journal, starred review"

"Calling Eric LaRocca a horror writer kind of misses the point. He's not telling simple horror stories to scare his readers. Instead, he digs into the hidden places in their minds and brings the dark, wet things he finds there into the light. Wretch does that and more, creating a seamless brew of dread and beauty. He's a master of both body horror and elegant prose, which makes his tales even more unsettling, and Wretch pushes that even further. The book doesn't just pull you in, it ensnares you and doesn't let go until it's ready. And you'll love every shuddering moment of it."----Richard Kadrey, author of the Sandman Slim series

"Inviting, astounding, sinister. Desperation bleeds with love through the pages of Wretch until the two become inseparable, and by the time you notice their tide, you're already drowning. LaRocca presents grief thrown down twisted passages with no exit, only an ultimate black-hole center of universal collapse. A gripping, mesmerizing descent."----Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of A Game in Yellow

"Wretch takes Isherwood's A Single Man and sends it down the raw, thrilling path of body horror, combining a classy read with shudders galore."----Chuck Palahniuk, bestselling author of Fight Club

"A novel about the exquisite pain of suffering in the face of loss, Wretch is a chiaroscuro masterpiece which captures the nature of what it means to be longingly, abjectly human. A dark song, which is nevertheless filled with flecks of genuine light."----Brian Evenson, author of Last Days and Father of Lies

"Reading Wretch is akin to discovering the gospels of a cruel god, where suffering bleeds into the sublime. LaRocca's new testament is equally sacrilegious as it is transcendent, and I for one will forever consider myself an acolyte of his brutal body of work."----Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

About the Author

Eric LaRocca (he/they) is a three-time Bram Stoker Award finalist and two-time Splatterpunk Award winner. He was named by Esquire as one of the "Writers Shaping Horror's Next Golden Age" and praised by Locus as "one of the strongest and most unique voices in contemporary horror fiction." LaRocca's notable works include Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, At Dark, I Become Loathsome, We Are Always Tender with Our Dead, and Wretch. He currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts, with his partner.