I Am In Eskew David Ward

Extremely good and actually scary. A nightmarish city twists banal unpleasantries like corporate jobs and apartment living into a hellish funhouse mirror of genuine horror. The narration is restrained and free of theatrics or overdone sound effects. Loving every minute of this show even when (especially when?) it makes me want to crawl out of my skin.

I've been listening to audio dramas for years and this is by and far my favorite. It is bleak and hopeful in turns and through the entirety of it, the motifs and symbols and thematic strands build into something amazing. I've listened to the entire thing several times but the last three episodes always get to me.
I know that a lot of people say that this is terrifying and I certainly classify it as horror. But I recently reccomended it to someone who normally can't stand horror and she loved it. Though conceptually bleak, with a ton of body horror and monstrosity, this doesn't use jump-scares or sexual tramua or any of the tropes which normally put her off of horror as a genre.
It is a brilliant story, which came to me at a time when I really needed a story like this one. It means quite a bit to me.

“A horror podcast? How does that work?”
“Yes”
“Yes”, a second voice says.