I really enjoyed this. It was haunting and completely gripped me from start to finish. Very cleverly done and I will definitely be recommending.

This story follows a young women, we never find out her name and that only clicked for me when I was about 50% in and realised I know how this women’s mind works but I don’t know who she is, after a party we’re her memory is hazy and as she’s trying to figure out what happens she meets Helene, who has had a bad experience with the same guy that the main character met at the party. Helene is someone your drawn to, and you can see why our main character is drawn to her. I don’t want to say more as I feel like I would be spoiling it.
I really liked this book, I thought it was well read and I related to the main character and her thoughts. Really good read

“Dead Animals” by Phoebe Stuckes is available now in hardcover, and on Kindle and Audible.

A young woman wakes after a house party with scratches and bruises - and a gap in her memory. As the violent truth comes back to her - a series of events she struggles to name - her anger grows.

Solace comes in the form of enigmatic, captivating Helene, who knows what the man at the party did, has suffered at his hands too. An act of violence demands one in return and Helene is planning revenge.

A crime thriller with splashes of paranormal terror, “Dead Animals” grips you from the start and drags you through to its conclusion, leaving you as battered, scared and confused as the narrator. An early contender for book of the year.

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Dead Animals is a short, creepy book about an un-named woman working as a waitress in a Knightsbridge restaurant. The sparkle and shine of the restaurant are contrasted against her "real life" in a small, grubby bedsit across the city, her bantering (bullying?) colleagues in the kitchen, and the abuse she is victim to after a boozy house party.

She meets Helene - a rich, captivating woman who was emotionally abused by the same man. She and Helene bond over their shared trauma and become closer as increasingly weird and creepy events occur around her. The author kept up the tension through the story, although there were events that I wasn't sure added much to the overall plot. I was also disappointed by the ending, which I had hoped would be the climax of the novel. Instead, it ended quite bluntly.

All in all, it was a weird, fun little book, that I enjoyed. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 here for the narration on the audio. I very much appreciated the clear and 'flat' reading from the narrator.

Thank you Sceptre and NetGalley for the advanced listening copy.

A wonderfully wild modern novel about the aftermath of assault. I was completely drawn in to the narrator, and believed every moment she spent milling about her workplace, watching for ghosts over her shoulder, and falling in the wrong kinds of love. Some moments here were truly terrifying, and while clearly meant to repulse, there was nothing sensationalistic about it. The horror of the things felt natural and needed. The narrator was absolutely perfect, with a sharp, clear tone, and just the right amount of edge to keep the suspense up.

The title and description sounds very intriguing, but the book was disappointingly one-dimensional in all aspects.

This is a superbly crafted, chilling audio book. Drawn in by the book’s blurb, I found a much more complex story than I expected. There is a smoothness to the narrative that lulls, and at the same time shreds your psyche. Definitely entertaining, yet harrowing in equal measure. Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton And NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

Thank you for the ARC audio of this book to the author and NetGalley.

I really enjoyed listening to this book. Dark and compelling I was gripped to the plot of where the story would go.

Complicated flawed characters, fast paced and a good dark and queer read!

Dead Animals is a dark story of navigating a far too often patriarchal society where women have to make complex decisions about what battles to pick, and how that frustration can grow in its intensity until we snap. When two women’s paths cross, two seemingly very different women who, however, have experienced the same horrific behaviour from the same man, an alliance/friendship/relationship forms. Do you comfort and support each other, or let that connection build your righteous need to make sure it never happens again?
 
A cacophony of subjective opinions on what happened, who is right and how people should pay for their actions that destroy others. How sad people gravitate toward each other, but sometimes it is intentional, to hone in on someone you can mould into what you need.

One of my favourite authors! Do I rejoice when a new book hits the shelves! Yes!
This immersive horror/chiller will have you debating over it for days! Fabulous

Enjoyed this book, really liked the writing style and I was drawn in, excited to see how it would all come to a conclusion. This easily could have been a 5 star book for me but unfortunately the story left many questions unanswered.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton + NetGalley for the ARC.

The cover and description of this book drew me in and the mysterious hauntings and narrator kept me hooked. A queer relationship with even queerer happenings was intriguing to read.

I wish the book was longer to see more development or aftermath of the toxic relationship between our narrator and Helene, as unfortunately for me the final two chapters feel rushed, not as fleshed out as they could have been. The build up is slow and intense, the quick sudden ending leaves an unsatisfying taste in ones mouth.

Other than that I really enjoyed this, the narrator is a really well written, interesting character with obvious flaws and weaknesses that add to her identity, which may be overlooked if written by someone else.

Wow. Just wow. That was really good and really well done. This book covers really dark, traumatic topics, so check your triggers please and take care of yourself.

Thank you Net Galley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for letting me review an ARC of this story. I listened to this on audio and really enjoyed the narration. I will be looking for her work again.

Dead Animals follows a woman trying to navigate life and pick up the pieces after she's been sa'd. She's struggling with PTSD and panic attacks after her attack. She tries to go about her daily life as normally as possible while being haunted by an constant presence. She can't describe the shadow she sees out of the corner of her eye, but it's there nonetheless. She finds solace in another, Helene, who also is a survivor. Helene wants revenge and our main character isn't sure how to feel about it.

I felt for our nameless main character on so many levels. As I mentioned above, there are a lot of triggers. This story hit me to my core and will stay with me for a long time.

Dead Animals by Phoebe Stuckes is a claustrophobic exploration of regressing into yourself in the aftermath of a violation. Being such a short book, there was minimal filler, and the plot moved quickly, allowing us to follow our nameless main character through her story.

There are many of its type, so I don’t feel this book offers anything particularly new on its topic, especially with the MC exhibiting signs of being haunted as a response to her trauma. I enjoyed the effortless prose and found the plot as a whole effective, particularly the elements of the main character’s vegetarianism being ignored and mocked by the chefs in the restaurant she works in, who hide animal fat in her food and force her into consuming meat. I think this was a really powerful tool to highlight the blatant disregard of a person’s overt preferences and desires, despite the instigator being very much aware of them, drawing comparisons to the assault.

Although the MC was quite unassuming, I think this worked very well to consolidate her personality. She is existing in the monotony of her daily life after her personal life has shifted, resulting in her being a shell of a person who tends to view herself from the outside of her body. This felt integral to building her identity at this point in her life.

There were times I felt a little lost, as the story became more abstract around halfway through and everything moved too fast for me to keep up with. Things become a lot clearer in the epilogue when everything is explained, as though the haze has been lifted and we are back in reality. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I also wasn’t a fan of the way the relationship between the MC and Helene progressed, hoping for more of a rich girl with a savior-complex than an abusive power-imbalance.

It’s already been mentioned, but this felt reminiscent of Eileen by Otessa Moshfegh, and it also made me think of All’s Well/Bunny by Mona Awad at times.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for the free audio in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, the author and the narrator for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.75⭐

A quick but dark novel that leaves some lingering feelings, focusing on the line between sanity/mind clarity and mental health struggles provoked by abuse and manipulation, as well as on how society perceives these matters.

😍 The good:
Short, but packed with depth, exploring toxic human relationships. The literary style and main character's perspective, narrated in an accurate way, were rather engaging and suitable to the tone of the book.

😅 The not-so-good:
The novel is heavy in style at times, making me lose focus on the key events and feelings of the main character. It was so short that it lacked some substance in some of the parts, and the ending was not as strongly executed as expected.

A story of haunting trauma, an attempt at overcoming it, and revenge.

This was a deeply interesting listen. The portrayal of trauma, the somewhat detached and still deeply terrified feelings and actions of the main character, the helplessness, how she doesn't seem to know what to do with herself at all without someone telling her.
Somewhere throughout the book i got the hint of a feeling that she might be a little autistic, but none of that is ever confirmed, so it stays confined to my speculations.

The horror in this was more weird than creepy or unsettling, which isn't bad in any way. It was the kind of uncomfortable that the real world, and real trauma bring with them. Never knowing what or who to trust, wary of everything, irrationally afraid of things. At the same time a carnal, irresistible desire, and want for things you wouldn't ever think about before the trauma.

The narrator of the audiobook was pleasant to listen to, even though her tone was mostly completely monotone. I suppose it is fitting with the detached feeling of the main character.
Especially since it's under five hours, i would definitely recommend this to listen to.
It has the potential to open the eyes of some people, while making others feel understood.

Absolutely ate this up. Beautifully written with a deeply empathetic main character. I’ve actually preordered a physical copy of this because I can’t wait to go through it with a highlighter and circle all the lines that punched me in the throat.

On DEAD ANIMALS we follow a young woman who lives alone in London working as a waitress. She's struggling in life - financially and psychologically speaking. One day she stumbles upon a rich woman and her life changed dramatically.
Honestly speaking, the synopsis reads more interesting than the execution itself, to me.
It's a very short book (at least the audiobook is very short) but with few characters I feel like the author should have developed them better. I'm not judging how the author deals with sexual assult in her work, but I wasn't drawn to the woman's struggles. Something was missing. Maybe it was the author's writing style that didn't connect with me or, most likely, the audiobook narration - which I'll say plain and simple: I did not like it. I've tried twice listening to the audiobook and DNFed both times. I managed to go through it all in the third time only.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free audiobook copy.

I've been sitting on this book for hours and I still don't quite know what the purpose of it was. All the characters were irritating. The main character was meant to have the typical quirks that are in horror characters but the author didn't highlight them enough or explain why the character was a certain way. It seemed like there was a build up to something throughout the plot which took ages but then the ending was rushed so it still was not fully executed.
2*

This is a fairly short read (4hr 40min audiobook) but with there only being 6 chapters (around 45 minutes each) with no clear divide (which I now realise was deliberate), the story seemed to drag a bit more. I liked the narrator and how her soothing voice contrasted the dark themes and content throughout the book.

Throughout the story we follow a woman trying to navigate her life after she wakes up following a party with many injuries and very few memories. Then she meets rich and mysterious Helene, a woman who suffered at the hands of the same man and seeks revenge while our FMC is plagued with nightmares and creepy occurrences which make the reader doubt what is real.

This book is dark and weird throughout and contains content that could be triggering, especially at the start and that unfortunately, many people will relate to. I did feel like the ending was a bit rushed but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the unique writing style and look forward to reading more from the author in the future.