Black River Orchard (2023) Book Review

Chuck Wendig’s novel Black River Orchard (2023) is a truly modern, small-town horror, evoking the best of Stephen King while summoning dark, twisted, and disturbing imagery that makes this story genuinely terrifying to read.

Set in Harrow, Pennsylvania, the Black River Orchard mostly follows the father-and-daughter team of Dan and Calla Paxson. Obsessed with restoring his own father’s dignity, Dan is staking his and his daughter’s future on an apple orchard dedicated to a single variety – one that social media-obsessed wannabe influencer Calla names “the Ruby Slipper”.

As more of the town tastes this incredible apple, the more they begin to change. At first, it’s a good change – their eyesight improves, they grow stronger, and can heal themselves miraculously from injury and disease. But gradually, the changes become more damaging; the townsfolk become more selfish, destructive, and abusive to those around them, particularly their loved ones.

A diverse cast of ragtag rebels joins forces to protect their town – and the world – from the dangers of this orchard. Along with teenage social justice warrior and internet addict Calla, there’s Emily, the young lesbian isolated in this small town with an increasingly abusive wife; John Compass, an elderly Quaker apple hunter with Native American heritage; and Joanie, the bold and beautiful teenage sweetheart of Dan, now in a loving marriage with a healthy dose of BDSM – which the locals do not appreciate.

You really do come to love these characters with their completely relatable flaws. They all have regrets or are trapped in some way, and even the apple-eating townsfolk are rich and varied. Black River Orchard makes some excellent observations about the dangers of nepotism and the willingness to put yourself and your ambitions above all others.

This book has a lot of very creepy ideas, but where it truly stands out is in its horrifically gory imagery. Wendig isn’t afraid of describing a grizzly death in extreme detail, and as the acolytes of the Apple cult become more dangerous, there are plenty! Later on, he brings in more body horror, creating misshapen beasts with apple seeds for teeth and red leathery skin – it’s impressive how he manages to make apples genuinely quite terrifying and disgusting.

In a lot of ways, writing modern horror is difficult. While once it was easy to terrify audiences with the concept of being alone with no means of communication, or unable to search for answers on the internet, it stretches disbelief too far in the modern age. Chuck Wendig clearly knows that the only solution is to incorporate modern technology into the horror itself—using the ability to live stream video and start Discord channels adds another layer of tension to proceedings and moves the story along in an interesting way.

Black River Orchard is a testament to Chuck Wendig’s skill in blending psychological horror with extreme body horror and violence in a way that’s impossible to put down.