Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson is a brutal, yet stylish burst of horror which is part revenge fantasy, part social satire, and was seriously hard to putdown. It’s dark, fast, and fiercely satisfying.
Thrift fashionista Dez Lane doesn’t want to date Patrick Ruskin; she just wants to meet his mother, the editor-in-chief of Nouveau magazine. When he invites her to his family’s big Easter reunion at their ancestral home, she’s certain she can put up with his arrogance and fend off his advances long enough to ask Marie Caulfield-Ruskin for an internship someone with her pedigree could never nab through the regular submission route.
When they arrive at the enormous island mansion, Dez is floored—she’s never witnessed how the 1% lives before in all their ridiculous, unnecessary luxury. But once all the family members are on the island and the ferry has departed, things take a dark turn. For decades, the Ruskins have made their servants sign contracts that are basically indentured servitude, and with nothing to lose, the servants have decided their only route to freedom is to get rid of the Ruskins for good…
I have wanted to read a story by Delilah S. Dawson for some time now. This includes stories of horror as well as those based in the Star Wars Universe. However, I never really figured out where I wanted to dive in. Enter Guillotine, a serious gut-punch of a novella…in the best possible way. What a freaking book to kick-off reading this author. Dawson doesn’t hold back, not even for a second, and what we get is a brutal, incredibly gripping ride that had me racing towards the finish.
Dawson’s writing is something special. The pacing is super quick with extreme stakes at hand. Every scene feels like it hits with a punch. Characters are extremely well-written, especially Dominique with a strong voice which is angry and almost real. While not perfect, it’s her imperfectness that makes her such a force to be reckoned with. As the reader, I can feel everything she is going through via her fear, rage, and horrifying transformation. Its wonderful.
As I am quickly learning with Dawson’s stories, Guillotine is not for the faint of heart. It’s ultra violent, super intense, and emotionally heavy…while also a bit cathartic. It truly taps into what I imagine the deep anger women feel about how they are treated in the world we live, but more over in the book how they are silenced, locked up and written off, then flips the script.
Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson is a story about survival which turns into something dark, weird, and extremely powerful. Like most of the horror books that turn out to be my favorites, it’s horror with something more to say. Guillotine is part brutal horror, part revenge fantasy, and fantastically brilliant.
Guillotine is available at bookstores everywhere from Titan Books. The audiobook, narrated by Elisabeth Ashby, is available via Libro.fm!
