Delilah S. Dawson's Guillotine is a remarkably timely work of "eat (or in this case, just straight-up kill) the rich" horror fiction. I dove into Guillotine just days after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, who made his millions profiteering off the death of his customers and his company's insanely high record of claims denials for the ill and elderly. And, of course, in another month's time we'll have the second Trump term, in which he and his cronies will once again begin strip-mining both our country and government for scrap, destroying as much of it as they can get away with for fun and profit.

Dawson explores our nation's late-stage capitalism in a microcosm. Our lead heroine is Des, a plucky red-headed college student with dreams of a bright and successful future in the fashion industry. The only problem is, she doesn't come from money and has none of the connections that would otherwise guarantee her a job at the prestigious Nouveau magazine. Her only choice is to begin dating Patrick Ruskin, son of the magazine's CEO, in the hopes of scoring a chance to meet his mother and win her favor. She's used to having to work for a living and doing dirty jobs, and dating Patrick just might be the dirtiest one of them all. But after months of plying him with her feminine wiles, she's invited to a weekend retreat at the Ruskin's Island. It's great news for Des, but incredibly bad timing since, soon after their arrival, the Ruskin's start getting murdered and Des is forced into a fight for survival.

Guillotine is a quick, nasty, and brutish affair, one in which Dawson clearly delights in dreaming up inventive ways to maim, torture, and dispatch her cast of ill begotten rich fucks. And it certainly is fun! Once the action gets going, the story screams along right on until the end, serving up a violent horror romp in the vein of The Menu by way of Ready or Not. Dawson's writing is clean and buttery smooth, and the scenarios by which her various billionaires are taken out of commission are nicely creative, all of which keeps the pages turning in rapid succession.

In between the bloody catharsis, Dawson lays out a multilayered case for class and gender wars, infusing the plot with topics like the #MeToo movement and striking a blow for the proletariat as they feud against the bourgeois Ruskins. And if any family ever deserved to have a war waged upon them, it's the Ruskins. OK, the Trumps, too, but the Ruskins are certainly up there! Not one single member of this family has any redeeming qualities at all, and the more Dawson peels back the onion of their lives, the worse they come off. All of which makes witnessing their comeuppance absolutely delightful!

Let's be clear about one thing: there is no such thing as an ethical billionaire. Dawson nails that point home repeatedly over the course of Guillotine's bloodbaths. The Ruskins are pure evil, generations of takers and users and abusers. And much like the real-life example of Thompson, it's difficult not to feel some measure of satisfaction at these human pond scum getting exactly what they deserve. Bring out the guillotine!

I adored this. Loved it. Could not say enough good things about it. I don’t know if it was also down to the mood I was in but I read this in 48 hours (on work days!!)

All the people saying it reminds them of Ready or Not are not lying, and its the best! It has gore, it has action and it has smug rich people who suffer a horrible fate. What else could you ask for!

Away to read Bloom by Deliliah. S. Dawson. I’ll probably be back in 2 days to tell you how much I liked that as well.

Thank you to @netgalley @titanbooks and @delilahsdawson for the e-copy and sorry it took so long to get this review up, its been a long year and I am tired.

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I absolutely flew through this revenge horror! It was twisted, gruesome and violent, which made it so perfect for October! I am really looking forward to reading The Violence now!

This is a swift, sharp little butterfly knife of a thriller. The setup is that a girl is dating a shitty old money white dude and she gets invited out to the family island for a weekend, except the family staff decides to kill the family that weekend, and our main has to figure out how to survive. Would make a solid incisive movie. Definitely worth a fun read over a weekend and enjoying the carnage.

good mystery about a couple and staying in a house and the other couple there. kept me on my toes . good mystery and figuring stuff out.

I am so thankful to Titan Books, Delilah S. Dawson, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this galley before publication day. I really enjoyed the dialogue and plot of this book and can’t wait to chat this one up with my friends!

GUILLOTINE by @delilahsdawson is a heart-pumping, eat the rich style revenge story and I was clapping along the whole way through. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher, @titanbooks for the e-ARC.

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Des is a struggling fashion designer in Savannah, GA trying to find a break. She hooks up with a young, arrogant heir to a large fashion fortune, Patrick Ruskin. They visit his family's private island estate where the help is to barely be seen yet alone not heard and the family is oddly only made up of Ruskin sons and their wives. As the weekend gets underway, Des realizes she has stumbled upon a decades-old class and gendered reckoning to expose the Ruskin family secrets and it is going to be bloody...

🔪🔪🔪

Brutal, unforgiving, and full of rage, this is a timely tale of class warfare where the odds will ever be in the favor of those who have toiled and broken their backs to serve the elite. Be careful to trust the complacency of those you have used and abused... There are some pretty juicy twists even if you already see them coming and the ending was pretty chef's kiss 💋 in my opinion. I loved how the punishment truly fit the crime in so many of the targets.

Read this one if:

🔪The unravelling of deep, dark family secrets gets your ears pricked up
🪓Eat the rich is a mantra you can get behind
🔪Class/gendered reckoning are on your bingo card
🪓You love a good bloodbath that you can't look away from

I of you liked the movie the menu you’ll absolutely love this unhinged version of it. I need more eat the rich books, this was highly satisfying!

4.5 stars!

I absolutely loved this. I don't normally read a lot of gruesome horror, but I absolutely ate this up. Guillotine follows aspiring fashion designer Dez as she tries to make connections in the world to help her achieve her dreams. Is it her fault that maybe one of those connections could come in the form of using egotistical Patrick Ruskin to get an internship with his mother, fashion editor in chief, Marie Caufield-Ruskin?

All seems like it's going well when Patrick invites her to his family's private island in the center of Georgia where Dez will get to meet Marie as well as the rest of the Ruskin family. But what happens when Dez stumbles upon a plot to eliminate the Ruskin 1%.

This book had all the energy of Ready or Not with the commentary on elitism and the fashion industry from The Devils Wear Prada. Don't get me wrong, this book definitely had some of the most gruesome scenes I've ever read, but it was also genuinely funny. I found myself laughing out loud at certain points, and I absolutely loved Dez.

I already was excited about some of the Delilah S. Dawson books on my TBR but this definitely made me move them up!

Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The premise and idea behind this was so interesting. Yet I felt it didn't deliver. The story felt like it was happening in the background as the main protagonist wasn't the main character involved in all the personal action which made it feel disjointed.

I LOVED THIS. I ate it up in one sitting. Delilah S Dawson is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine

This was… unexpectedly violent. I knew it was about abuses perpetrated by the ultra-rich, it wasn’t expecting the gore.

Dez is a young, unemployed fashion designer, and who is willing to do anything to achieve her goal. She wants a job, and when she meets Patrick Ruskin, she knows that if she endures his attention and inept, self-centred advances, she could use this to get close to his mother, Marie Caulfield-Ruskin, the editor-in-chief of an haute couture magazine, Nouveau.

With that in mind, she manipulates Patrick to secure an invitation to his family's Easter reunion at an isolated island. Dez is overwhelmed by the opulence, and increasingly disgusted by the restrictions (NDA, giving up her phone and wallet, etc.) placed on her, the not very welcoming family members, and their beyond rude treatment of staff. However, Dez is willing to overlook everything if it means she gets near Marie.

Then, during one evening's dinner, revenge is on the menu, and everything goes to hell.

The fury and the way it plays out is shocking in its violence and suddenness. It's easy to hate the Ruskins and their unthinking dismissal and exploitation of their servants, and their clear racism.

That doesn't mean Dez is a great person. Yes, her mother is a housekeeper so Dez knows to say please and thank you to the staff, but she's willing to use anyone and anything to move forward in life. Hiwever, I could sympathize with her, even if I wasn’t comfortable with her final decision.

This was a dark story, despite its delicate pink cover, and I enjoyed it as a fast-moving, unexpectedly gory, fun read. This was… unexpectedly violent. I knew it was about abuses perpetrated by the ultra-rich, it wasn’t expecting the gore.

Dez is a young, unemployed fashion designer, and who is willing to do anything to achieve her goal. She wants a job, and when she meets Patrick Ruskin, she knows that if she endures his attention and inept, self-centred advances, she could use this to get close to his mother, Marie Caulfield-Ruskin, the editor-in-chief of an haute couture magazine, Nouveau.

With that in mind, she manipulates Patrick to secure an invitation to his family's Easter reunion at an isolated island. Dez is overwhelmed by the opulence, and increasingly disgusted by the restrictions (NDA, giving up her phone and wallet, etc.) placed on her, the not very welcoming family members, and their beyond rude treatment of staff. However, Dez is willing to overlook everything if it means she gets near Marie.

Then, during one evening's dinner, revenge is on the menu, and everything goes to hell.

The fury and the way it plays out is shocking in its violence and suddenness. It's easy to hate the Ruskins and their unthinking dismissal and exploitation of their servants, and their clear racism.

That doesn't mean Dez is a great person. Yes, her mother is a housekeeper so Dez knows to say please and thank you to the staff, but she's willing to use anyone and anything to move forward in life. Hiwever, I could sympathize with her, even if I wasn’t comfortable with her final decision.

This was a dark story, despite its delicate pink cover, and I’m not sure if I fully appreciated the satirical aspects of the story, except for that spiky heeled Leboutin…..I can say that I enjoyed it as a fast-moving, unexpectedly gory, fun read,

Thank you to Netgalley and to Titan Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Titan Books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Female Rage! What a tale, what a story. No Rich man is ever safe when the feeble have been prayed upon too long. It was a bit slow in the beginning, but when the blood flowed nothing slowed down. The craziness of the rich, and the pain and suffering they inflicted were on the same level as they received in the end. Love love the author and her style. Can't wait for more.

Quite the gorefest!

This is a fun, satisfying horror read, a mix of "wow this family is creepy" and "that's some creative revenge."

'Bad things happening to bad people' is my favourite trope.

Dawson's Bloom was one of my favourite books of 2023, so I was naturally thrilled to hear she was releasing another blood-soaked horror novella. And what a novella it was! Dez is a fantastic character with Final Girl flair and I absolutely loved the way she interacted with her horrifying situation, the horrid Ruskin family, and the servants taking their revenge. This is a deeply satisfying read, especially given the state of the world in 2024, and I would HIGHLY recommend to any horror fans. It will definitely find a place on my 'best books of 2024' list.

Heed the content warnings that Delilah has kindly included at the beginning of the book so you know what you're in for.

Loved, loved, loved this thrilling and surprising novel psychological horror of betrayal, murder, revenge and justice! The ending is superb and perfectly fit Dez's character.

Dez joins her date, Patrick, at his family's estate, located on an island. Patrick's family are MEGA wealthy, eccentric, paranoid, extremely entitled and well-known. With a house full of servants, servants that look intriguingly similar to the Ruskin family, they decide to exact their revenge, holding the Ruskins hostage and hunting them down one-by-one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC.

If you've seen the movies The Menu and Ready or Not, this is basically the same but with a focus on high fashion. Dez starts dating Patrick for a chance to talk with his mother, an editor of a fashion magazine. On a vacation to a private island, complete with NDAs for her to sign, the servants start a revolt against the family, and Dez needs to decide where she belongs. Once the massacre begins, it is great. Each punishment is made specifically for that person, and each reveals another messed up truth about this elite family. Beyond that, it's very on the nose with its theme of eat the rich, and it doesn't do anything new with the genre. It's entertaining and quick, perfect for fans of slashers.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6902378838

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4c675aa0-06ab-47c3-a330-3d278997108e

Check out this review of Guillotine on Fable. https://fable.co/review/53fef19d-2914-4d9f-ba6b-1a3903076e44/share

4.5. THIS WAS CRAZY! Probably the most violent book I have EVER read. It seems like the author said “what are the craziest ways I can kill someone?” and put ALL of the ideas in this book back to back. It’s WILD. The creepy little details of the island and family in the first half were extremely well executed and added to the tension, and the payoff at the end was extremely satisfying! This just shows how crazy rich white people are. I LOVED this!

Ready or Not but with more female rage and creepy family vibes. Fashion major Dez starts dating a super wealthy guy just because she wants to meet his major fashion magazine mother (think Anna Wintour). He takes her home for Easter weekend and it's hella weird.
Things are really fucked up!
I loved this book so much and some of the kills shocked me! TW: very violent but oh so cathartic!!

Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC

4.5⭐️

What a fun ride! I was not expecting that turn of events. It was fast faced and brutal. I loved Dez as a character. She's tough, smart and sarcastic. I loved the dark humor. The themes of the book really reflect on events happening in media in recent years. Highly recommended.