Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a truly classy, smooth horror, full of the bucolic, a bit of the suburbia, and a lot more of the fresh apple. Ah, yes, the apples. But what could make anything like a huge, sweeping horror novel about apples so SCARY?

Muahahahahahaha well, let's just say that Wendig is a treasure, okay?

I can't believe how much I got into all these characters, how my opinions of them kept changing, growing, or shrinking. Hell, I was actually on the side of those who turned out to be the worst even as they slid.

What a totally wonderful, rich, smooth horror. So sweet, full of fiber, with a lush texture. It's so good, we don't even need to make cider or bake a pie.

And on a personal note, we got some great fresh Cortlands and McIntoshes the other day and I ate about 5 of them as I read this novel. I totally recommend reading this book with some of the GOOD apples. And don't let anyone tell you that apples are all the same. They aren't.

If you do read this and eat some apples, tho, please take note of the color of the skin. It doesn't always mean that an apple the color of a ruby slipper is BAD, per se, but you might want to use your intuition anyway.

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