I'm so sorry everyone. I knew the guy had issues but I did not think he would ever come up with Tommy Taffy: Daddy issues. I just wanted them to read I Scream from a Black Square et al.
Same exact problems as Tommy Taffy. Same bitch characters. Same beating you over the head with the abuse, no subtlety at all. It's the literary equivalent of watching a cartel execution video. You come to satiate your morbid curiosity, to bear witness at the worst parts of humanity, and you come out of it disgusted, depressed, and downtrodden. If the author ever intended anything more than that, then it's been lost in the execution
Hunter is right, the dad suddenly turning evil feels more stupid than scary. Honestly it makes the family look like a couple of beta bitches for not doing anything substantial. If the abuse occurred over the course of months or years, it would be more believable, but the author establishes that it wasn't the case. Why even have the father at all, if you can achieve the same effect with some rando home intruder breaking in and doing all this shit. It could happen to anyone, anywhere, and at any time, and the event would leave an impression that lasts years. I'm sure more people would be receptive to that idea, and you even could keep the weird torture porn...
It is funny how all their criticisms of the story can be applied to Tommy Taffy as well. That story wasn't deep either.
Also here's another thing I've noticed about Elias's writing style: poorly-written female characters. Nearly every woman and girl in his stories thus far have been either meek and helpless, entirely nonexistent as characters, or straight-up villains in the case of Feed the Pig. Any case, they're usually the first ones to face the brunt of whatever monster or creature is the focus of the story.