Those You Killed

By: Christopher Badcock, Darklit Press

Narrated by: Thomas Gloom

Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling author, husband, father, junkie.

Elwood Cathis gave up everything for the needle. Desperate to rebuild a relationship with his daughter and ex-wife, he's come to Lake Chance, a once bustling vacation hot spot, now caught in the throes of a prolonged demise. Tainted and scarred by past events, it's a place that echoes his own existence.

Echoes....

Something echoes. It calls out, like a forgotten broadcast stuck on repeat. Something in the forest. Something infernal that only he and others like him can hear; the lost, the weak, the tormented.

Suffering with intense withdrawal and plagued by nightmarish visions, Elwood will confront the lake's dark past, and in doing so, uncover parts of himself he lost at the tip of a needle, and so much more.

A tale of love, loss, addiction, and memory, Those You Killed is the story of one man's inner turmoil becoming outer terror.

©2022 DarkLit Press (P)2022 DarkLit Press

Addiction is a demon

Addiction is not just a monkey on your back, it is a demon. In Those You Killed you get to join Elwood as he faces his demon and tries to get his life back. Elwood is an author that dabbled in drugs just to spark some creativity. It didn’t take long for the master to become the slave and Elwood lost his wife and daughter as well as everything he loved. Time to quit
Elwoods dealer actually helped him out and let him stay in a remote cabin to try to go cold turkey. Withdrawal leads to hallucinations that just seem too real, and maybe a bit familiar.
Reality comes into question when Elwood discovers the past of this little town and its history of disappearances.
This has a great cast of characters as you witness the transformation of Elwood from junkie back to someone who cares about people other than himself.
There is a cinematic climax type ending that will have you jumping out of your seat. Whether it is because you are mad or happy is something you’ll have to find out for yourself.

Bravo!

There are so many good things going on here. Beautifully written and performed. I am a very harsh critic when it comes to audiobooks, but this kept my attention the whole time!
This story really gets under your skin, especially for anyone who has had any issues with substance abuse, makes me shiver just to think about it. But what starts out as a week away to detox, becomes so much more. Keeps you guessing till the end. I can’t wait to see what Badcock does next.

Could have been great

The idea behind the story was a good one, and I feel like it could have been great, but it just doesn't quite get there. There are too many small details that are just wrong. Having been an addict myself, this book seems like it was written by someone who was close with someone who was an addict, but never actually personally experienced it. The protagonist of the story chooses to walk or swim or generally exert himself physically in ways that no junkie in active withdrawal would EVER choose to do. The withdrawal aspect seems like more of a minor inconvenience, rather than the all-consuming, brutal torture I know it actually is. Looking beyond that, he throws obvious British terms around despite the fact that the character is supposed to be from California. I highly doubt he would call heroin "scag" or a band-aid a "plaster." If you can look past these issues, the writing is competent, the story decent, and the narration exceptional. It's not terrible, but I am disappointed because the potential for greatness is there, but this falls short.