Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig
Oct. 14th, 2023 01:35 pm
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.
I love Wendig’s writing, though most of his book that I’v read have been science fiction. But having read The Book of Accidents, I knew he could write horror, too. And, boy, can he. Who would have thought that apples could be so terrifying?
But they are, especially as some of the residents of Harrow come under their spell. But why some and not others? That question is a big part of the fight that those not taken in by the fruit must wage. It’s a bitter battle, as it’s often against people that they know and love.
There’s a fairly large cast of characters, which is something I’ve come to expect from Wendig. In that, his writing is very much like King’s and McCammon’s, two of my favorite horror writers. So no surprise that Wendig has been added to that vaunted list.
Something I found rather odd, the mentioning of two characters who play large parts in Wendig’s Wanderers and Wayward, making this book almost a prequel to those two. If so, the town’s problems aren’t over.

Mount TBR 2023 Book Links
( Mount TBR 2023 Book Links 1-50 )
51. Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner
52. Jackdaw (Jackdaw #1) by K.J. Charles
53. Blightborn (Heartland #2) by Chuck Wendig
54. The Harvest (Heartland #3) by Chuck Wendig
55. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
56. Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig


Black, red, or white cover
1. The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles
2. Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

OCTOBER- Spellbinding or Spooktacular
“Read a book that involves something spooky or magical or both.”
Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig