Ratings6
Average rating3.8
Reddit horror sensation Dathan Auerbach delivers a devilishly dark novel about a young boy who goes missing, and the brother who won't stop looking for him. Eric disappeared when he was three years old. Ben looked away for only a second at the grocery store, but that was all it took. His brother was gone. Vanished right into the sticky air of the Florida Panhandle. They say you've got only a couple days to find a missing person. Forty-eight hours to conduct searches, knock on doors, and talk to witnesses. Two days to tear the world apart if there's any chance of putting yours back together. That's your window. That window closed five years ago, leaving Ben's life in ruins. He still looks for his brother. Still searches, while his stepmother sits and waits and whispers for Eric, refusing to leave the house that Ben's father can no longer afford. Now twenty and desperate for work, Ben takes a night stock job at the only place that will have him: the store that blinked Eric out of existence. Ben can feel that there's something wrong there. With the people. With his boss. With the graffitied baler that shudders and moans and beckons. There's something wrong with the air itself. He knows he's in the right place now. That the store has much to tell him. So he keeps searching. Keeps looking for his baby brother, while missing the most important message of all. That he should have stopped looking.
Reviews with the most likes.
My favourite kind of books are those that are vague and confusing and fuck with your mind. I feel like those are the ones that I think about the most, because they force you to.
This book came so close to being that.
My primary issue with this book was that it was too slow paced. I felt like the part where Ben works in the store was dragged on for so long. After finishing the book I realised that the whole thing was inspired by personal events in the author's life which makes sense, but at the time, it really put me off.
As someone who really loves Penpal and r/nosleep stories in general, I still loved the vibe of this, although it was absolutely not what I was expecting it to be.
I've thought a lot about this book since I finished it, and honestly I'm still so confused. Lots of unanswered questions. But hey, it successfully wedged itself in my mind?