Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

By: Eric LaRocca

Narrated by: Laurie Catherine Winkel

Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Sadomasochism. Obsession. Death.

A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s - a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

©2021 Eric LaRocca (P)2021 Fireside Horror

I’m not that easily disturbed

As a fan of horror I’m not usually disturbed by much, but this book left me speechless. Someone on tiktok recommended this book and I decided to listen and I can tell you I’m gonna be thinking about this for a long time. Not for the faint of heart (or stomach) but will keep you hooked the entire time.

Very intriguing but would work better as a book

The story is overall pretty interesting and well told however does not lend itself well to an audiobook format as it’s mostly exchanges between two people over email.

Something that annoyed me about the performance was that the narrator kept saying Ray instead of RE when talking about a response email. Example:

Subject: Ray: I’ve been thinking of you.

It was very annoying.

What the Actual f!

Well not what I would normally read, but excellent never the less.
It actually made my stomach turn, but I actually connected to this text in another level.
The power some people can have over other people is scary, and the length that some individuals are willing to stretch themselves for love and validation, is just weird.

Good!

Great book! It was riveting. The repetitive reading of the email addresses for each email was incredibly annoying though. Overall, very good!

Jesus Christ

I knew exactly what I was signing up for going in, because a friend warned me of the content, but I still managed to be completely left horrified.
An enjoyable horror experience, I'll be left haunted by it for the rest of my life, thank you.

it's okay I guess

I finished it relatively quickly as it isn't that long. everything happens far to fast to build any real tension and the format through which the messages are read is so repetitive it became like nails on a chalkboard for me. I actually contemplated not finishing it, but if was so short it'd be a waste not to. there's some disturbing imagery and dialogue, but the end didn't feel all that shocking to me. Overall it was okay but really fell flat.

Weird, people are weird. Lol

It was short, it wasn’t bad. Makes you wonder how many people out there do crazy on the regular and you don’t even know it.

Not to easy to swallow short story

This wasn't nearly as gross as the reviews I've read but it's a fun short listen.

What Have You Done Today to Deserve Your Eyes?

Rating: 8.5/10

This is going to be a pretty short and succinct review being that this is a 102 page novella, mostly revolving around text chat and emails – an epistolary novella in better terms.

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

I’d seen tons of people in the horror community either purchasing copies of this book or talking about how much they loved it, so I figured I would give it a shot. LaRocca, outside of being a mutual on socials, is relatively unknown author to me (hence my hesitancy to believe the hype) but friends whom I trust with book recommendations RARELY leave me disappointed.

What starts out as a seemingly normal email thread for the purchase of an antique apple peeler becomes a shared obsession that borders on possession. It is a tale of loneliness and the feeling of being wanted and loved, to the point where you are willing to risk everything for it. Throughout the back and forth between the two characters, LaRocca gives the reader glimpses behind the screen as to who these women are – though again, we ASSUME based on the synopsis that these are women, but it is the internet (and if it is on the internet, it must be true right?).

Sometimes, you never know if you are in the right audience for a read and this was one of those times. Sadomasochism ain’t really my thing, neither is body horror (thanks a ton, The Troop by Nick Cutter), but there was something about this one that I literally could not set it down. In saying that, if you do chance upon this little story, it is a 1-sitting type read. No way you can set it aside and come back to it. It is one where the pace and intensity continues to ramp up until the very end.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is a dark, heavy-hitting novella that is a borderline masterwork in epistolary horror.

it sticks with you

I'm not sure how to explain it, but this story really had a profound effect on me after reading it. It's been a day since I've read it and yet I still can't stop thinking about so many aspects of it.

[WARNING FOR SPOILERS]

Some of the lines in particular are what capture me the most. The constant mention of "what have you done to deserve your eyes?" and then the final line being ""I close my eyes and for a moment I wonder if I deserve them today" absolutely made me gasp when you realize what Agnes has done.

As disturbing as the events are in the book, I wasn't too put off by them, yet I felt sad for what happened to Agnes. She was lonely and easily taken advantage of and as the story progressed the anxiety I felt as Zoey pushed her further and further was oddly discomforting, yet made sense during the situation. The red flags were all there!

It is the strangest, most profound, yet "fine" story that I have ever read. I would rate it a 3.5 if I could, but I'd rather rate it a 4 instead of a 3 in that case.