Book: Penpal by Dathan Auerbach
Reviewed by Rallie X
Rating: 3.5/5
I was so excited when I found out u/1000vultures published his series! I loved the series when it was first posted to r/nosleep, it gave me such the creepy crawlies. Balloons was the OG first and I remember being terrified from it - I really, REALLY hate the idea of being Watched and Dathan Auerbach taps into that fear on such a visceral level. "Footsteps" similarly tapped into that terror with an air of just unsettling strangeness - what an incredibly strong start to this vaguely asynchronous archaeological excavation into the narrator's forgotten childhood.
For me, the only reason this isn't rated higher is because the ending gets really muddied and confusing. Auerbach's writing style didn't lend itself well to an overall conclusion to the story, and I had to go back and reread the final chapter just to make sure I wasn't missing anything (the timeline wasn't super clear and didn't make the most sense).
But overall, wow!!! I'm so glad I was able to revisit this, and I genuinely think anybody who likes creepy spooky stories about the terrifying things humans can do should pick this up for a nice (NOT NICE O_O) evening's read!
I was surrounded by trees and was smiling. But it wasn't just me. Josh was the too. I felt my mouth go dry as I realized that this was us from yesterday.