We Are Always Tender With Our Dead by Eric LaRocca

We Are Always Tender With Our Dead is a new horror novel from Eric LaRocca, centred around a cursed town, Burnt Sparrow, and what happens when three faceless creatures massacre a number of residents. Seventeen-year-old Rupert Cromwell is drawn into events by his father, and soon finds himself far too close to the dark cruelties that follow. It’s hard to say much more without giving too much away.

Having read most of LaRocca’s previous stories (liking some more than others as to be expected) and having a lukewarm reaction to his previous novel, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, especially as it is the start of a trilogy. However, I feel like this novel better showcases LaRocca’s skills in telling transgressive queer horror stories that explore human cruelty and trauma, whilst building up a sense of lore around Burnt Sparrow that I’m assuming will be continued in the later books in the series. The narrative is told from two characters’ perspectives, including a few horror stories told by those characters, plus some separate articles about Burnt Sparrow, and the narrative itself is episodic despite the overarching ‘plot’ of the three faceless murderers. By doing this, the book is able to delve deeper into some characters than you can in a shorter story, whilst still giving LaRocca space to weave shorter extreme horror stories and moments into the novel.

I’ll be fascinated to see what comes next in the series, as this one did feel like you were missing just that bit more about Burnt Sparrow, and the ending is quite sudden, with a lot of wider things left unanswered. The more extreme horror or splatterpunk moments in the book are quite brief, so whilst people should always take heed of trigger warnings at the start, I’d say that it isn’t as unrelenting as some other books I’ve read, and a lot of the horror comes from LaRocca’s trademark exploration of people’s choices and cruelty and the thresholds they are willing to cross. For me, this was one of my favourite LaRocca books, combining unnerving supernatural elements with the horrors of humans themselves, and using the novel length to weave in related stories.