Book Review of BLACK RIVER ORCHARD by Chuck Wendig

BLACK RIVER ORCHARD by Chuck Wendig (Del Rey, September 2023) Hardcover,  640 pages. ISBN # 9780594158746 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website:

A small town is transformed by dark magic when a strange tree begins bearing magical apples in this new masterpiece of horror from the bestselling author of Wanderers and The Book of Accidents.

It’s autumn in the town of Harrow, but something else is changing in the town besides the season.

Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusual trees. And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: Strange, beautiful, with skin so red it’s nearly black.

Take a bite of one of these apples and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing—and become darker. 

This is what happens when the townsfolk discover the secret of the orchard. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples… and what’s the harm, if it is making them all happier, more confident, more powerful? 

And even if buried in the orchard is something else besides the seeds of this extraordinary tree: a bloody history whose roots reach back the very origins of the town. 

But now the leaves are falling. The days grow darker. And a stranger has come to town, a stranger who knows Harrow’s secrets. Because it’s harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     Wendig writes an epic horror novel of zombie-like provincialism set in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (a 90-minute or less drive from where I live), flavors it with a history lesson in apples and crafts a truly horrifying and gory tale.

     Lengthy books like this one (640 pages) can be daunting to attempt to read. Be prepared to commit a week or more to the task. Most of the chapters are very short, which helps at the beginning. It was easy to read a few and put it down. As I progressed within the story, I read in larger snatches and finally finished in a late evening marathon. I couldn't put it down.

     This features an ensemble cast of fascinating characters and by the time I reached the mid-way point of the novel I felt like I knew them personally and was vested in the town and what might happen to it. Wendig slowly builds the suspense, foreshadowing at first, then introducing some weird scenes which later become really creepy before the last third of the book when they are truly horrifying.

     I'm reminded of two Stephen King novels, SALEM'S LOT and THE STAND, which also feature ensemble casts and fully engage readers in slowly-unwinding and scary stories. Wendig's writing has often been compared to King's and it's easy to see why. BLACK RIVER ORCHARD also reminded me of the INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS films. 

     There is social commentary within this novel, and rightly so as the story is about the transformation of an entire community. It's there for those who want a bit more from their reading, but can easily be ignored and enjoyed as a pure horror novel. I appreciated the flavoring, and did not consider it author preaching. This is more of the show-don't-tell variety, except when Wendig's characters make it in-your-face. 

     The beauty of this novel is the unraveling of the unnerving crisis at its core, like the slow peeling of an apple. I'm not going to spoil it by previewing what happens in this review. Just make the commitment to a long story. You won't be disappointed. You may be frightened in all the best ways.