The beginnings of this story held a suspenseful ambience and sense of dread upon being introduced to the cast of characters and the town of Harrow.

The setting and premise of this story was compelling and fascinating in its possibilities. The heart of the story revolves around an heirloom apple and its caustic effects. I enjoyed the symbolic nature of the apple being cleverly twisted to meet the needs of this plot and the dire consequences that follow.

With that said, the pacing of the plot and the characterization was exceedingly lengthy and impacted the drama and tension of the story as a whole. I appreciated the author's attention to detail and creativity, but this book did suffer from being prolonged a bit too far.

If you are a fan of Chuck Wendig, I have a feeling you will enjoy spending time with this story. If you are new to this author-like myself-then I would recommend getting a taste of this authors' style with a less lengthy selection of his work.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine via NetGalley for allowing me to respond to this book with my honest opinions.

5 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.


I may never look at an apple the same way again.

Dan Paxson’s father, Big Dan, wanted to be part of the ‘elite’ in Harrow. He was willing to do just about anything to be a part of the old boys’ club, but they wouldn’t have him. So when Little Dan has the opportunity to maybe become one of the special group, Crossed Keys, he will do just about anything to get in.

And it’s all due to his very special apple, the Ruby Slipper. Calla, his daughter, named it. It’s a black as night apple that tastes like heaven and makes the eater feel like a king. But it’s not just any apple. This apple has some baggage associated with it, as the apple aficionados are about to find out. Those who don’t eat the apple start to notice something really strange about those who do eat it.

Chuck Wendig does not disappoint with his story of a small town in Pennsylvania. Honestly, my skin was crawling during parts of this book. All in a good way. It was a fun filled horror fest of epic proportions.

Are you an apple lover? You might think twice the next time you purchase apples at the farmer’s market.

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. Black River Orchard is written by Chuck Wendig. It is told with short chapters but is way too long a story for me. The first part of the book was interesting but the 2nd part was a little slow and the third part finally picked up for me. I noticed that the author was from Bucks County PA and that's where I live so I stuck to reading the story as I was interested in the different names he used for places in Bucks County. Such as; Plumridge for (Pennridge), Quaker Bridge for (Quakertown), Ramble Rocks for (Ringing Rocks), Harrowsblack for (Harrows), Heacock Salvage Yard for (Haycock Salvage Yard) etc. I especially liked the shout-out to Owowcow Creamery, an excellent ice cream store in Ottsville, PA. There were several POV's from the owner of the orchard, Dan Paxson, Dan's daughter Calla, Joanie, Emily and John. It is a horror/fantasy book and I would have loved it more if it was my genre. But it was a fun read for me with all the Bucks County places being mentioned!

I love Wendig's sprawling, interconnected lives approach to horror, and I think he's at his best in Black River Orchard. Is it bonkers? Yes. Am I glad? Yes.

This is a truly wonderfully bizarre book. Although my personal preference says that this book was much too long (maybe more like. a 3.5 for me in the end) and had some overly eccentric characters, I really enjoyed the way this thriller/horror was narrated and found myself laughing on multiple occasions at the way the characters handled the situations. The length of the book also gave it the development that a lot of thriller or horror books lack. This was a really great occult fiction that kept me interested throughout the 600+ pages. While some of the scenes made it difficult for me to deem them necessary to the whole plot of the book, this was overall likened to some of my favorite Stephen King novels and would be an excellent creepy fall read!

An author who continues to deliver mind-blowing themes in his books and this one starring "apples" is no different. It will make the readers view apples in a different way after reading this one. It starts off with mysterious apples appearing in a small town that end up causing more weirder things with its residents. This was both weird and wild if that can be considered a category by itself. Even if this is not a genre you would enjoy, I would suggest giving it a try. The only issue was that it could have benefitted a slight trimming but I understand the author wanted to develop the characters more and ended up with this length.

This book has an interesting premise—a mysterious heritage apple makes the eater feel amazing, but at what cost? Unfortunately, this book has more horror than heart and dragged on for so long that I started to lose interest. It was missing something. It does have a neat found family element and a great note from the author. It was just too gory and bizarre for me to love it.

Thank you to Del Ray and Netgalley for a free copy of this book.

Holy bananas. This book was absolutely insane, but I loved it. It starts off a tad slow, but then it comes together and this chunker feels way less chunky. Wendig brings us to a small rural town where an apple is wreaking havoc. People are addicted and the effects are horrifying. The writing was fabulous, and I thought the character development was well done. Wendig also puts us in the past for some chapters, or interludes as they are called in this book. These fill in backstory of the apples and town we are in, which add a lot to the story.

For those who don't like gore, this will not be for you. For those who love a good horror novel I highly recommend.

An Apple a day........

Dark magic, red juicy apples, and the changes that they bring......

I was all over the place with this book. I loved The Book of Accidents and perhaps went into Black River Orchard with very high hopes. There were parts that I thought were brilliant and parts that I thought dragged a little. I found the part about the house cat and the barn cat to be endearing at first then it quickly turned creepy and horrible. I enjoyed how something so fresh, crispy, and tasty like an apple could bring about so much change in those who took a bite (or several bites leading to several apples). Characters I thought were good in the beginning turned on a dime.

I am hit or miss with Wendig's books. I either find them to be meh or love them. This book felt very meaty and long to me. I think this book could have benefited with some more editing. I also did not find this book to be scary but more horrific.

There has been talk about these apples/apple trees. It has gone back ages, and now the trees are back, and they are proving that the talk was not rumors but real, very, very real.

For me this was an okay book. Not bad but not great either. Many are enjoying this more than I did so please read their reviews as well.

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” - Genesis 3:2-5

In Harrow, Pennsylvania, a small town in rural Bucks County, lies a long-dormant apple orchard. The orchard’s owner, Dan Paxson, is determined to fulfill his deceased father’s wish to cultivate apples, and now it seems that dream is becoming a reality. For seven apple trees in the orchard have begun to bear fruit – an apple unlike any Dan has ever seen or tasted, with skin so red it’s nearly black and an indescribable flavor. Soon, the residents of Harrow are clamoring for Dan’s apples, addicted to the apple’s ability to make them feel like more than they are: better, faster, stronger (it’s turning them into Kanye!). But as the townsfolk are consuming the apples, the fruit seems to also be consuming them…

At more than 500 pages, Chuck Wendig’s Black River Orchard is definitely an investment, but it’s a worthwhile one. With its ensemble cast, complex plotting, small-town corruption and secrets, and hints of supernatural evil, it gave me Stephen King vibes a la Needful Things, but is still entirely its own original, powerful thing. Chuck Wendig’s incredible storytelling abilities are on full display as he sows the seeds of this dark parable, spreading the narrative across several diverse perspectives. His writing is so accessible, but the story he tells is complex and nuanced, using the apple as a catalyst to explore the nature of evil, generational corruption, classism, and discrimination, as well as several other timely topics. There’s so much fascinating history about apples, too, that makes me want to hunt for some heirloom varieties at the farmers’ market (if, that is, I can bring myself to eat them after reading this book).

Wendig’s plotting is deliberate; he spends the first half of the book setting the scene, creating an atmosphere so rich that the town itself feels like a character, and then introducing the cast of characters themselves and establishing that emotional connection that is so vital for the second half. And then in the second half, he really lets loose with the horror. The imagery is so vivid and visceral and startling as Wendig combines elements of body horror, folk horror, and psychological terror to put the characters we’ve come to know and love (and sometimes hate) through it. The conclusion is a long time coming given the book’s length, but it culminates so satisfyingly that you can see how important everything that came before really was.

We seem to be living in a golden age of horror where genre writers are, more than ever, writing scary books that are also incredibly emotionally compelling and socially relevant, and Black River Orchard is an excellent example of that. There this almost cliché horror trope of !!an evil apple!! but behind that initial concept is thought-provoking social commentary and deep themes surrounding grief, found family, and good triumphing over evil. It’s this really well-executed combination of vintage and contemporary that I’ll be thinking about for a long time – and that will have me side-eyeing the apples in my fridge for at least a little while. Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the early reading opportunity.

One of the best reads of the year, even though it was a bit long, the story did not lose my interest at all.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher. 4/5 star

Chuck Wendig’s Black River Orchard is a haunting, sprawling small-town saga following numerous personalities in Harrow, Pennsylvania. When I say sprawling, I mean this book is five hundred-plus pages covering months and years in time. Our cast of characters includes local orchard farmer Dan, his typical sassy teen daughter Calla, her track-star boyfriend Marco, married newcomers to the town Meg and Emily, now-returned local Joanie and her husband Graham, and apple hunter John Compass. And those are just the key players. Somehow, Wendig manages to wrap all these people and the subsequent, terrifying events they encounter into one neatly packaged tale filled with action, loss, sacrifice, courage, terror, and apples.

That’s right, Chuck Wendig has made the fruit aisle of my grocery store the last place I want to be. Born out of financial desperation, apple farmer Dan not only wants but needs to find a type of apple that will sell and sell by the crate. He’s trying to ensure that his daughter Calla can attend any college she wishes without the soul-crushing burden of student loans. Seemingly right on time, he discovers a “new” type of apple, one that tastes of paradise and promises the sweetness of an eternal tomorrow. Sounds too good to be true, right? You would be correct.

The townspeople of Harrow latch onto this apple with an animalistic desire; not only are they seemingly glowing after consuming the fruit, but they are “better” versions of themselves. Or at least they think they are. Of course, a handful of people simply don’t like apples or decide not to indulge in this fruity pleasure. Boy, are they better off for it. Wendig crafts this cult-like atmosphere with the natural progression of alienation of those who do not eat the apple. This seems deeply rooted in organized religious dogmas that are founded on the principle that those who believe and partake in these practices will be saved while those who do not will perish. The haves, and the have-nots.

Present events escalating, Wendig also includes numerous interludes that give readers a glimpse as to how the hell the town of Harrow ended up here. Normally, I hate to be pulled away from the action of a main plotline, but these asides are concise and meaningful. They’re spaced so well that it feels completely natural to be privy to this information given the circumstances of the present day.

Some would argue that the numerous jumps between characters and the focus on more of their perhaps “mundane” experiences at the beginning of the novel would be a drag or lull the pace of the story. However, I would argue that this is one of the book’s strongest features. Through these brief glimpses of life with each character, we learn what things were like before the apple and after the apple (B.A. and A.A. if you will). I’ve written before about how strongly I care for character development, and if you find yourself aligning with those values, you’ll love this book for the sheer amount of time you get to spend learning the intricacies of each character introduced.

Perhaps the strongest quality of this book is the sheer horror of it all. Small samples of disturbing imagery are injected into the plot from the start with the second half of the book spiraling into the full-fledged monstrosity of catastrophe. How Chuck Wendig was able to turn a seemingly inconspicuous member of the fruit family into something so terribly horrific is truly beyond me. Several scenes left me wincing and were filled with gory body horror that I refuse to spoil for anyone (you simply need to experience that for yourself). Most horrifying of all is watching the townsfolk lose themselves to the apple and the idea that their “dignity” can be restored through the transformation the apple offers. This is a central idea that Wendig capitalizes on: the idea of how deep the roots of our identity, or rather who we think we are in relation to who we want to be, reach. Do we measure up to who we think we are? How far will you go to achieve “perfection?”

Nothing short of a horrific saga, Black River Orchard is a story that embraces its terrifying weirdness with open arms. With a comprehensive backstory interwoven with the present narrative, Chuck Wendig has gifted us a gritty look into small-town persuasion and the horrors of falling to the masses. We are given many loveable (and hate-able) characters to empathize with and shake our fists at throughout the course of the plot without losing out on the action. A true example of balancing characterization and plot development, Black River Orchard will have me skipping the farmer’s market for the foreseeable future.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House Ballantine Del Rey for gifting me a digital ARC of the new novel by Chuck Wendig - 5 creepy stars!

Set in Bucks County, PA, fall is in the air, so that means it's apple time. Dan Paxson has found a new variety of apple, named the Ruby Slipper by his daughter, Calla. But this is no ordinary apple. It's addicting and changes people. Those who haven't eaten it know that there is something wrong, but can they stop what's happening?

My first Chuck Wendig book was The Book of Accidents, which I loved and I loved this one too! It's long, but it never felt too long because it's filled with so much - horror, suspense, Native American folklore, small town atmosphere, and enough interesting characters to keep everyone gossiping. It's good vs evil, and so very creepy. This is the perfect book to read this fall!

On a personal note, I am so sad because Chuck Wendig is in my local bookstore NOW talking about this book and I would have loved to been there! My elderly mother lives with me and I couldn't get away, but I would have loved to hear him talk about this book.

Thanks to Del Rey Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

I have to admit the first thing after finishing I wondered over Chuck Wending's sanity.......cause dang it all having this story in your brain waiting to get out.......holy moly. At the same time, it's another winner as it Chuck once again creates characters who you immediately feel connected to and this is what makes his books so fantastic to read, these characters are your neighbors, friends or acquaintances and so you feel you know them. And then as slowly as fog creeps along the ground the darkness, that itchy feeling at the back of your neck begins and you know that you are in for one helluva ride. It builds and builds, and the intensity, wrongness and utter creepiness just take over and even though you shiver and cringe you just can't stop reading. One of my favorite things though was as these characters are going through literal hell, you are also learning about heirloom apples and how they are found and grown again, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of that. The weaving of local and regional history through his stories is something I always find so interesting about these stories and this one is no different. I really want to check out some local heirloom apples now!! If you are looking for a spooky season read, this absolutely fills the bill and will make it so you never look at apples the same again.

The writing in this book was impeccable. Although it took me a month to read, I could not stop thinking about this book. It was the perfect fall read, and I was not expecting this book to turn into what it turned into. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can not wait to read more books by Chuck because his writing style is literally amazing!

Special thanks to Random House Publishing, Ballantine Books Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I like Chuck Wendig. Loved The Book of Accidents. Holy bunch of characters! Like a lot! But I liked it. It was long, but short length on the page, so it doesn't feel like like 500+ pages.

I'm not gonna give anything away about the book, I'm sure you all know that its about apples. But I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying I enjoyed this book. I am still thinking about it. Its strange and weird, even creepy. I recommend this book. There's so much to say really, great book for a book club. Lots to discuss.

My only problem, it had a very slow point in the middle, but the beginning, and the end make up for it. If you haven't read a Chuck Wendig book, I suggest you start now!

Not since the Adam and Eve (or maybe Snow White) have apples played such a major role in causing chaos. Dan Paxson is an apple farmer…are at least he’s trying to be one, trying to fulfill his father’s dream. Things are rough for him as a single dad trying to make ends meet for him and his daughter. He’s hoping to make a name for himself with his new apple, the product of his tiny seven tree orchard, which his daughter names The Ruby Slipper. It’s a dark red apple, so dark it’s almost black. But one taste and people are hooked. But it’s not just that they taste delicious, no there is so much more to these apples. They start to have some amazing effects on people. I don’t want to reveal too much, but let’s just say people really love these things and want more and more. As with most of Chuck’s books, this is a fairly hefty volume, clocking in at over 500 pages with some fascinating characters and multiple interconnecting storylines. I honestly didn’t think a story about apples could be so gripping, but you won’t want to put this one down. And you may never look at an apple the same way again, lol. I also think if you’re a big fan of Stephen King you’re going to find this one has a very Needful Things vibe to it. I’d like to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Black River Orchard.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R39WLZSZEUCUSF/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

I’m a big fan of Chuck Wendig’s, but I just couldn’t get into this one, so it’s a dnf for me. I encourage readers who are fans of his and other popular horror authors to give this one a chance for themselves, as I think I’m in the minority, and will continue to look out for his new work!

I want to thank the publisher and net Kelly for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.Dan and Calla live in a small town in Pennsylvania and that’s where Dan grew up with his dad big-Dan he’s growing apples and doing his best to fulfill his dad‘s dream. Big Dan committed suicide because someone who he considered his friend and who little Dan considers his nemesis Clout acted as if he was helping big Dan, but he had ulterior motives. Little Dan was just lucky to get the property back. When he start selling his apples that Calla named Ruby slipper everyone loves them and cannot get enough well everyone except for Calla and a new resident name Emily her and her wife recently bought a house next to the river she not only cannot eat apples she’s also afraid of water this is why she decides to conquer her fear and go sit in a kayak next to the dock when the kayak gets loose she tries to grab a hold of the dock and she fell in the water. Thankfully she had on the life preserver and this is why she found herself a little down river by a tree but it didn’t explain why when she took her foot out of the river it had a skull attached to it. This is what brings John Compass to the area and he becomes good friends with Emily something her controlling wife Meg doesn’t like. There’s so much more to this but I haven’t even told half the story there’s also a woman named Joni who I didn’t like at all she had a horrible attitude and I know she was supposed to be likable but I didn’t like her whatsoever. I did like her husband Gram he seem nice there’s a lot more to the story as I said then I put in this review if I wrote everything that was in the book it would be a whole Nother story on its own this book is super long but so worth reading those magic murder small-town politics not to mention the gossip and so much more this is a great great novel and one I definitely highly recommend this is an awesome awesome read. I haven’t even mentioned what happens when you eat the apples nor did I mention Calla’s boyfriend who she calls Eminem who broke his leg and heal very quickly. There’s just so much to this book there’s no way I could do a good summary just know if you love supernatural with great storytelling then you definitely want to read Black River Orchard

I usually do not read the acknowledgements at the end of a book but this time I was drawn to this section. What I read about how the author came up with this story is nothing short of true imagination. He claimed that everyone has weirdness in them and we should all embrace it. I could not agree more especially after reading this book. The premise started out simple; the search for apples. Then the story becomes something so much more. I saw in this story corruption: of people, land and animals. I also saw how someone must have some darker parts to them to lose all sense of right and wrong. I saw evil try as hard as they could to get their way. I read about families that could be supportive or destructive depending on how sides were chosen. I read a book that shows how perseverance works on both sides of evil vs. good. I saw hope and belief that people can change and be either better or worse. I read how easily people can be waged to believe in something/someone even when the belief goes against everything they stand for. I read how family is what one makes it either by blood or the trauma one has been through. Most of all I read how humans really do not know the full extent of what goes on around us….whether by our choosing or forces we do not know about.

This was by far my favorite horror book so far this year. I think that this made me believe that even the unbelievable could become believable.