Scab Eater
By Vardin M. Frias
PsychoToxin Press, 2023
ISBN: 979-8872631149
103 ppg., Ebook
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Everyone has their own little vices. For Resse, he picks his scabs. Typical, right? Lots of people do it. Kids, mostly. But it’s not uncommon. What is uncommon is that not only does he pick them, but he also eats them. This may gross some people out – or fascinate them, depending on the people. But for New Year’s Eve, he and his wife made a pact: She would give up smoking and he would stop the picking.
And for a while, all is well. Until Reese is afflicted by “something” that brings up his old temptation to pick again. He struggles to keep his promise, even as whatever it is proceeds to destroy him from the inside!
This story was such an awesome read. I had a hard time putting it down. I was more fascinated by the troublesome thing that was marching its way through Reese’s body than I was grossed out. There was also the high gross factor of the delusional world his paranoia threw him into, compounded after he started taking his medication. (And even after he stopped taking it!)
Like every sensible adult, Reese tries everything to figure out just what is wrong with him. He is too nervous to tell doctors there is a “thing” in his body that has teeth like needles that creates a buzzing sound in his ears. Because of this, Reese is at the mercy of every kind of treatment for his perceived self-harm instead of anything that would solve the real problem.
The thing I could relate to with this book is all the gaslighting the doctors acted with when treating Reese. They took the clinical approach and the judgmental approach. It’s like no one was even LISTENING to what this guy was going through!
There’s always that fear of “something” getting into our bodies and wreaking havoc. This particular story plays into that fear. There were many times I was reading this book and started questioning every weird sensation I felt on my body.
Frias’ Scab Eater is like a new twist on The Thing – except it’s only one person who is infected by some strange creature we have no idea where it came from. We only know it has taken over one man’s body, and as this man loses his grip on reality, the horror of just how wicked this thing can be grips us tight until the awful twisted ending.
Five stars
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
