Match BookThey Were Here Before Us: A Novella in Pieces
Eric LaRocca
2022 · 96 pages · Horror
How it reads
They Were Here Before Us: A Novella in Pieces is horror (fragmentary cosmic horror, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. It's a slow burn: character-driven, with a payoff that comes from accumulation rather than twists. It rewards attention and suits unhurried reading more than five-minute gaps.
It's set in several locations, in no single period, told through letters, documents or mixed forms. Its central concerns are nature, loss and grief and secrets. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. At 96 pages it's a single-sitting book. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something eerie
- you have time to settle in
- you want something to chew on
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or heartwarming
- you're reading in five-minute gaps
- you need a happy ending
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- horror
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- established
- Setting: place
- multiple locations
- Setting: time
- timeless or multiple
- Mood / feeling
- eerie
- Pace
- slow burn
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- short
- Narrative style
- letters, documents or mixed forms
- Publication era
- recent
- Popularity
- moderately known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- nature, loss and grief, secrets
- Ending style
- dark
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
- The Shadow at the Bottom of the WorldThomas LigottiShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
- The Wingspan of Severed HandsJoanna KochShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
- Wyrd and Other DerelictionsAdam L.G. NevillShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
The Salt Grows HeavyCassandra KhawShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, dark ending- The Worm In Every HeartGemma FilesShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, set in multiple locations
The drowning GirlCaitlín R. KiernanShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, slow burn
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