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A review by roxiethebookslayer
Starving Ghosts in Every Thread by Eric LaRocca
4.0
Title: Starving Ghosts in Every Thread
Author: Eric LaRocca
Synopsis: Teddy has a secret.
She's so consumed with guilt that it compels her body to literally unravel unless she feeds off the emotions of others. Teddy’s parasitic condition is usually tempered easily and is invisible to most, unless she feeds from them. However, her insatiable hunger has already begun to threaten her safety. Trapped in her tiny Connecticut hometown thanks to a careless mistake which cost her a prestigious scholarship, Teddy grieves her father’s death and cares for her neurotic mother, Mercy, who is convinced scorpion venom is the only remedy for her own peculiar skin ailment linked to her daughter’s sadness.
Once an aspiring songwriter, Teddy now merely alternates between shifts at the local market and visits to the house of her eccentric neighbor, Mr. Ridley, for fresh scorpions to bring to her mother. It’s during one of her routine visits to Mr. Ridley’s subterranean grotto of exotic animals that Teddy meets an unusual young girl named Kiiara. Immediately enamored with one another, Teddy soon discovers that Kiiara is hiding a gruesome secret, too – a secret that will threaten to undo everything Teddy has ever known and loved, and violently touch all those who cross their path with disaster.
She's so consumed with guilt that it compels her body to literally unravel unless she feeds off the emotions of others. Teddy’s parasitic condition is usually tempered easily and is invisible to most, unless she feeds from them. However, her insatiable hunger has already begun to threaten her safety. Trapped in her tiny Connecticut hometown thanks to a careless mistake which cost her a prestigious scholarship, Teddy grieves her father’s death and cares for her neurotic mother, Mercy, who is convinced scorpion venom is the only remedy for her own peculiar skin ailment linked to her daughter’s sadness.
Once an aspiring songwriter, Teddy now merely alternates between shifts at the local market and visits to the house of her eccentric neighbor, Mr. Ridley, for fresh scorpions to bring to her mother. It’s during one of her routine visits to Mr. Ridley’s subterranean grotto of exotic animals that Teddy meets an unusual young girl named Kiiara. Immediately enamored with one another, Teddy soon discovers that Kiiara is hiding a gruesome secret, too – a secret that will threaten to undo everything Teddy has ever known and loved, and violently touch all those who cross their path with disaster.
Publisher: Self published
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Publishing Date: April 27, 2020
This is the body horror novella I didn't know I needed in my life. Before I even opened the book (which is signed! Thank you Eric!) I had this imagery in my head of a fine bone thin hand with wisps of paper thin ribbons unraveling at the fingertips. I started searching the book and online to find out where I found this picture because I wanted to draw it myself. Matter of fact, I will next to this little scorpion sketch I did.
There is no picture, that was just the image I came up with by reading the synopsis. Yes I will draw it soon.
Starving Ghosts in Every Thread takes a Romeo and Juliet style romance, grief and body horror tropes and twists them into a lyrically beautiful painted picture of pain, beauty and the tragedy of it all. Teddy is the most perfect character and I hope she is someone you all can grow to love too. Her grief, her guilt, I felt that. I am impressed this is LaRocca's first trek into horror fiction and I can't wait to read some full length prose from him!
Oh! I almost forgot and its probably the most important note: the LGBT+ rep in this story is AMAZING! I want more representation in the stories/genres I already read.
Thank you to Eric LaRocca for a gifted copy of "Starving Ghosts in Every Thread" in exchange for a honest review.