This Delicious Death
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
From the author of the New York Times bestselling My Dearest Darkest comes another incredible sapphic horror. When four best friends with a hunger for human flesh attend a music festival in the desert they discover a murderous plot to expose and vilify the girls and everyone like them. This summer is going to get gory.
Two years ago, a small percentage of population underwent a transformation known as the Hollowing. Those affected were only able to survive by consuming human flesh. The people who went without quickly became feral, turning on their friends and family. Luckily, scientists were able to create a synthetic version of human meat that would satisfy their hunger. As a result, humanity slowly began to return to normal.
Cut to Zoey, Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine, four hollow girls living in Southern California. As a last hurrah before graduation they decide to attend a musical festival in the heart of the desert. They have a cooler filled with seltzer, vodka, and Synflesh… and are ready to party.
But on the first night of the festival Val goes feral and ends up killing and eating a boy in one of the bands. As other festival guests start disappearing around them the girls soon discover someone is targeting people like them. And if they can’t figure out how to stop it, and soon, no one at the festival is getting out alive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cottingham (My Dearest Darkest) weaves a fresh take on the zombie meta in this blood-curdling horror novel that takes place two years after an unusual pathogen is released from melting icecaps. High school best friends Zoey Huxley, Celeste Fairbanks, Valeria Vega, and Jasmine Owusu have all contracted the disease, called the Hollowing, which causes the afflicted, known as ghouls, to crave human flesh. Fortunately, scientists have invented SynFlesh, a lab-grown substitute that, when eaten, can stave off the ghouls' insatiable hunger. Thus sated, the quartet's condition isn't going to stop them from attending Desert Bloom, a music festival in the Mojave Desert. Upon arrival, the teens are invited to a party by one of the headlining bands. When Val suddenly disappears, the girls' search for her reveals that she has been drugged into a murderous frenzy—and has already consumed one of the bandmates. Centering variously queer and racially diverse characters, whose interpersonal and ghoulish challenges are portrayed with equal gravitas, Cottingham impressively explores solidly teen issues regarding self-image against the backdrop of a haunting mystery and mystifying illness. Visceral horror depictions, a climbing body count, and socially conscious prose elevate this jaw-dropping chiller. Ages 14–up. Agent Erica Bauman, Aevitas Creative Management.
