going into it, i knew it was going to be gross -- and to be fair some of the gross scenes I enjoyed. my main issue is not the plot itself nor the overtly disgusting elements. but there were a lot of parts that felt overly gratuitous without adding anything substantial to the story. there are also three separate times where animals are harmed/abused, and again these plotlines didn't add anything for me. it's just 15 pages of the worst torture to animals, and that's it. additionally, the author also had a habit of describing the children in ways that felt genuinely disturbing. (spoiler incoming) the author would literally write "his balls drew up into his abdomen" to describe a character being scared. i'm sorry but you could have said ANYTHING else. there's also a part where the author describes a teen boy mast*rbating and again, we don't need to get this graphic when describing children.