Brute

by Eric LaRocca

The Shining meets The Truman Show filtered through a tech lens in this splatterpunk horror novel from the award-winning author of Wretch, following a queer wedding planner whose past comes back to haunt him when he's forced to arrange his first gay marriage.

Ephraim Mayerling is a wedding planner unlike any other. It’s not just the all-black outfits or the strange, wide-brimmed hat he loves wearing. In the privacy of his cottage, Ephraim dreams of planning a different kind of event: an execution.

When Nicholas and Sebastian decide to hire Ephraim for their special day, it becomes harder for Ephraim to leave his “at home” thoughts where they belong. With a mysterious man hovering around town, seemingly everywhere Ephraim goes, everything threatens to come apart at the seams.

Genres: Horror, LGBT, Fiction, Adult

288 pages, Paperback

Expected publication March 23, 2027

About the author

Eric LaRocca (he/they) is a 3x Bram Stoker Award® finalist, a Shirley Jackson Award nominee, and a 2x Splatterpunk Award winner. He was named by Esquire as one of the “Writers Shaping Horror’s Next Golden Age” and praised by Locus as “one of the strongest and most unique voices in contemporary horror fiction.” LaRocca’s notable works include Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Everything the Darkness Eats, and At Dark, I Become Loathsome. He currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts with his partner.

Reviews

[litch! (cryptidcasanova) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review courtesy of an ARC provided by NetGalley

Devoured this in two sittings.

Ephraim, a wedding planner who lives in a picture-perfect cottage on the grounds of a beautiful garden estate, spends his time creating perfect ceremonies for those who seek him out to plan their big day. I found myself addicted to this character, from the description of his physical androgyny to the way his inner monologue contrasted so delightfully with his clients’ perceptions of his disposition. Early in the story, he explains his peculiar preference for dressing entirely in black by likening weddings to funerals, a test he utilizes to judge his compatibility with a couple from the jump.

Quickly, you’re made aware that Ephraim’s morbid proclivities are more than an aesthetic choice - he is plagued by a fetishistic obsession with public executions and secretly yearns to orchestrate one himself.

What unfolds throughout Brute is a bizarre roller coaster of sinister paranoia, trauma, and the feeling of displacement that so many queer people struggle to navigate within polite society. I found it evocative of Poppy Z. Brite’s Exquisite Corpse at many points, in a way I’ve never encountered elsewhere.

I had the immense pleasure of meeting LaRocca at an event celebrating the launch of their previous novel, Wretch, and I was thrilled to learn that the planned Saga Press trilogy would share connections with the character Porcelain Khaw. There are certainly whispers of Wretch within Brute that made me think, “Oh, oh!” in the moment, but I want more!! I can’t wait for the third installment. 🤞

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

The latest form Eric LaRocca proves that even when he’s not exceptional, he’s still interesting.

This story follows a fastidious wedding planner, the delightfully named Ephriam Mayerling, who leads a dark double life as a fan of human executions and collector of murder memorabilia in his spare time. When he’s tasked with planning the wedding of an idyllic gay couple, the barrier between these two sides of himself begins to thin and shred with harrowing consequences.

I liked some aspects of Brute, but I felt it lacked the cohesion of LaRocca’s other works. Without giving away spoilers, the story too felt a little disjointed and rambling. LaRocca’s books usually have a unified and simple, if often disturbing, cohesion to them that was absent in this title.
I wish the author had leaned more into Ephriam’s identity as a wedding planner as a morbid outgrowth of his severe mental issues and dark tastes. There’s some work in that direction towards the beginning of the book but it’s never really used to its full potential. A tremendous shame since it’s one of the most interesting aspects of the story.

While I don’t regret my reading by any means, this book didn’t exactly grip or shock me in quite the way I've come to expect from this author.

[Steph1216 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ephraim Mayerling is a wedding planner with a double life- he has an online following for his livestreams where he showcases dark artifacts. He has always had a fascination with dark and disturbed history and dreams of planning an execution. The book alternates between his past and present; from a budding attraction to violence and how it grew to his current wedding he’s planning for a gay couple. Many events between the past and present intertwine leading up to the big day that create a lot of twists and turns. I will say this book won’t be for everyone because it is dark. I found it completely different than anything else I’ve read and that’s why I found the story captivating. I had an idea of where it was all going and had to keep reading. I received an ARC copy of this book and am leaving a review voluntarily.

[twoey (rachel q.) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Eric LaRocca’s best work so far. You can really see them maturing as a writer with every book they put out. Eric is very good at writing characters that are fleshed out, that you truly feel sympathy for, before utterly destroying them. That is where the horror comes from. This is splatterpunk for sure, but LaRocca doesn’t have to rely on intricate, grotesque descriptions of blood and gore like other splatterpunk authors do. He can conjure up a sense of dread just by pushing the level of depravity that the characters in the book have, to the absolute recesses of humanity. It’s a very effective book, with a twist you won’t see coming. Gives you deep-seated fear that will make you want to hug your kids.

[Josh Escandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, thank you to Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for the free e-copy of Brute by Eric LaRocca for review. Brute was a fantastic addition to the extreme horror LaRocca has been turning out lately. The novel almost feels like a slow descent into madness based on the rendering of main character Ephraim as he tries to straddle his overwhelming private obsessions with his day-to-day life and job. I was completely transfixed the entire time as I kept reading ahead to see how Ephraim would continue trying to balance all the desperate sides of his life.

[Carina Stopenski · Rating 4 out of 5]

thanks to netgalley and saga press for a free arc of this title! deliciously dark and full of depravity, larocca continuously shows that he is a staple of the contemporary transgressive horror movement. the twists and turns in this one kept me on edge and the violence was done so artfully. however, there were a few moments where i felt like we were just a little too in ephraim's head and it got a little muddy. i did enjoy though!