Adult fiction, very dark humour. Now I’ve read this short book I would say the cover is absolutely perfect. The story I introduces us to Dez Lane, fashion designer, down on her luck as far as getting a first step onto the ladder of success. Because of this she is trying to use, not nice guy, Patrick Ruskin to gain access to his fashionista mother. Leading to a visit to the family home. This whole thing is probably a bad idea, as the Ruskins are not really welcoming. Dez’s thoughts of fashion soon go out the window, but I suppose, in the end, fashion does have its uses after all. Read the book, and you will understand what I mean. Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

I think Delilah S. Dawson is going to become a go-to writer for me. Guillotine did not gut punch me the way Bloom did, but it was still a super fast paced gory ride. It’s a shame that so much was revealed in the book summary, but I still enjoyed going on the ride with Dez to a nightmarish island and weekend. Dez is a very enjoyable main character. Her motivations were clear, and frankly understandable, and her creative smarts really benefited her. The deaths were plentiful and satisfying, and Dawson doesn’t waste a single word in her books. It’s so refreshing to read a tight thriller that’s just over 200 pages. I’m left wanting more, yet completely content with what I’ve read. Highly, highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for providing me with this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Glass Onion combined with the French revolution: I am here for it. There's some pretty gruesome murder scenes, but Dawson has a lot of fun with them.

3.5 maybe? This book really did nothing wrong, I just don't know how much it will stick with me.

I thought the tension in the first half was great. I could see the little movie scenes unraveling in my head everytime something creepy happened on the sidelines. Delilah S. Dawson creates a farfetched but immersive world reminiscent of Glass Onion or Get Out.

The second half of this goes crazy, in the best way. I mean, it's a full on slasher. While I never felt like, scared, it did gross me out in a lot of scenes. I do think the tension could have been ramped up a little more here, but there's only so much you can do in such a short book.

I did find certain parts a little repetitive, spoon fed to us. Some parts of the ending I enjoyed and others I wish had been left more open ended. Overall, I'm not rushing out to recommend this to people but I'd definitely read from Delilah S. Dawson again. If this sounds at all up your alley, I'd give it a read!

Thank you Titan Books and Net-Galley for an e-ARC.

Trigger warning for everything! I inhaled this book in a few hours because it was page turning, zany, gory, unbelievably crazy but addicting. Dez wants to make it in the fashion industry and she’ll do whatever it takes even date awful Patrick Ruskin. Patrick is Uber wealthy and treats woman poorly but is the son of editor in chief of a top fashion magazine. Dez gets invited to spend the weekend on the family’s estate on an island off Georgia. When she gets there she can tell things are off especially when she is asked to sign a non disclosure agreement. I don’t want to say anymore for fear of risking any spoilers but when this book was comped to The Menu and Ready or Not it definitely ring true. Read if you aren’t a sensitive reader and you want fast paced and out there in the most creative way possible.

Dez wants to be a designer so badly that she will do almost anything to achieve her dreams. Including dating skeezy Patrick to get an in with his mother, who just happens to own a popular fashion magazine. Gaining an invite to their private island (suitably dubbed just The Island), Dez finds it comes with a handful of very strict and curious rules including an ironclad NDA that must be signed upon arrival.

Things get more and more unsettling as Dez partakes in dinners and meets the rest of the family. The novel eventually turns into an eat the rich romp when the servants rise up and start killing the family in more and more disturbing ways.

Capitalizing on the recent influx of similar titles, Guillotine does a couple things particularly well. It is pure catharsis, a revenge book through and through with saw-like traps and trials for each of the members of the family. We learn before each death exactly what each person had done to deserve that death. There is satisfaction in the dying because they’re clearly bad people, but the book moves so quickly and we’re just told about the badness instead of shown and allowed to steep in it that it is hard to feel everything is warranted. The reader is just audience the same way Dez is audience, and maybe that is purposeful. A more compelling and interesting take would have been to tell the story from the servant’s point of view, but instead we are kept at a distance.

The one unrealistic thing about the entire book is Dez’s reactions. The servants have put up with awful torture and cruelty for years, their motivations and reactions seem warranted, but Dez just wanders through, not particularly horrified as gruesome death after gruesome death occurs for her viewing pleasure. There’s no shock, no real horror, she just continues on. Just sighs and accepts she’ll die next. There is no real fight in her until the very end, in a scene that truly made no sense to me at all.

ALL THE STARS.
Absolute perfection. The synopsis is bang on, I agree with the 'Ready Or Not meets The Menu' blurb, both movies I loved. Having given full marks to Dawson's The Violence I waited impatiently to be approved for Guillotine with high hopes.

Main character Dez is an instantly likeable underdog creating high stakes as she navigates an unbelievably brutal game of hide and seek on a beautiful yet sickening island estate.

The pace will give you the best whiplash, I read the entire book in one sitting, nothing could tear me away. The descriptions are vivid and jarring between the silent serene island and the extreme violent gore.

There's a page of content warnings to start, I skipped it but it is there for good reason of you prefer to check.

My second from Dawson and I cannot praise it highly enough, fantastic from the first page to the last.

Described as ready or not and The Menu, Guillotine gives us our protagonist, Dez. Dez is after one thing- opportunity. So she meets Patrick Ruskin, a boring privileged billionaire who risks her away to the family island; where she can finally meet his mother Marie and get the coveted design mentorship someone in her status usually has no chance at. As I’m launched into this book, it’s giving me Saltburn vibes in the way of old money and a manor in the outskirts. Also, what is it with rich people stories taking away all technology, I.e. cellphones? I’m starting to feel a bit overdone in that concept.

The first half of the book doesn’t give you much but try to show Dez is polite to the staff and how the Ruskins really are not. The back half of the story is just a good ole revenge story, especially if you’re looking for rich people comeuppance. Be prepared for some detailed, gory, and interesting deaths. A line in the book calls it “Saw for rich people” and it’s kind of fitting. Overall, the story was fun but I wish there had been more intensity built up before the reveal. Even though I wanted more from the first half of the story, the back half grabbed me and I finished it in one fell swoop. Pick this novella up if you want a gory fun horror story that plays out more like a horror movie with no backstory.

One of my favourite things to read are short, fun and very gory books and Delilah S. Dawson definitely deliveres on that front. I was hooked from page one and I absolutely loved the setup of the story. We have a girl who wants to make it in the fashion industry but has a hard time even getting in the door. One day, she meets a very wealthy guy who's the absolute worst but his mother is someone that could give Dez her chance. She decides to go with him to his family's private island. But things get unhinged as soon as she gets there. It was such a fun story, that reminds me a little bit of The Menu. However, what I loved about that movie, didn't work as well for me in this book. I feel like it was a little strange following the events on the island from our main character's perspective. I don't want to go into spoilers but that choice made the story a little bit repetitive and unrealistic for me. However, I just had a good time with this book. If you're one of the weirdos that loves a gory time with some girly elements, this book is for you!

"People without this kind of money, without enough money—they just keep on going, no matter what."

Horror is not a genre I lean towards, but I'm always up for trying something new. This was described as The Menu meets Ready Or Not.

There are trigger warnings(all off page), so please check them out before picking this up.

Dez Lane doesn't want to date Patrick Rushkin she just wants to meet his mother editor in chief of Nouveau magazine. Patrick invites Dez to his family's big Easter reunion at their ancestral home. With Marie Caulfield-Rushkin in her sights, Dez hopes she can fight Patrick's advances of long enough to ask Marie for an internship. Once all family members arrive and the ferry leaves, things soon turn dark.

Dark, gruesome and sharp, it packs a lot for a short read!

Guillotine is a short, sharp horror novel about a young woman who snags herself a chance to spend time with her heroine, fashion magazine editor Marie Caulfield-Ruskin, by dating her son Patrick, only to find that the private island retreat is going to be the site of revenge. Dez needs a job as she finishes college, but she's not privileged and applying to fashion houses isn't going anywhere. When she meets Patrick Ruskin, she realises that dating him might give her an in with his mother, but when that turns into an Easter weekend on their private island, things start to get weird. All the servants wear pink and mustn't be talked to, and their prize polo pony breeding hints towards the family's secrets that soon Dez must try and escape.

This is not subtle horror. This in in-your-face, eat-the-rich horror about going to an uber rich family's home and discovering their secrets, whilst the servants fight back, and it's great fun. The plot and pacing is very much like a film, which I do think is a good kind of horror novel: one that can be easily read in one go, not really a slow burn or explaining the backstory too much, but instead is filled with gore, revenge, and a memorable setting. It's easily compared to a lot of horror and thriller films because of this, making it great for people who don't want sprawling, long horror, but instead a fast-paced story filled with revenge set pieces that don't overstay their welcome. The ending is pretty predictable, but this isn't a book going for nuance and unexpected twists, because the rich people are just terrible.

I had a fun time with this book, which was gripping and dark, and delivered on the revenge set pieces. Some people might not like that it is so much like a film, down to not really dwelling on the characters, but I liked that it worked as that kind of narrative and didn't leave space for greater nuance around all the rich people covering up their terrible actions.

Guillotine follows Dez Lane who loves fashion and wants to get a job in the field. Unfortunately entry level positions seem to want years of experience so Dez decides to date Patrick Ruskin as his mother is the editor-in-chief for a fashion magazine. Patrick invites Dez to his family’s Easter reunion on an isolated island but things start to get weird a few days in with NDA’s being signed and strange behaviour.

I really enjoyed the first 40% of this but when the twist came I did start to lose interest. It had some interesting conversations but it was quite predictable. It was very gory/graphic though.

As a fan of The Menu and Ready or Not, I was OBSESSED with this book beginning to end. Highly recommend! Will purchase for libraries!

After reading BLOOM earlier this year and giving it a 5 ⭐️, i knew i wanted to read more by this author, and Guillotine only solidified my obsession. Guillotine is one hell of a ride, it’s messed up, in the best way, and incredibly entertaining. I adored our main character Dez. Smart. Interesting. and an absolute pleasure to follow around. when the horror kicks in, it’s delicious 👌🏻 the death are awesome and super satisfying! So was the ending. Well, done.
I’m not giving it a 5 ⭐️ just because it took me a little while to fully get into it, and with a book this short, that did break my enjoyment a little.
i would definitely recommend this one to anyone looking for a fun and quick horror story.

When Dez Lane maneuvers her way onto a billionaire island owned by the rich Ruskin family in her attempts to get close to Fashionista Marie Caulfield-Ruskin things take a turn for the worst with their servants finally having enough and hunting down their rich abusers. You’ll hear people talking about this book in the same breath as Saw, Glass Onion, The Menu, and Ready or Not. Honestly, I can’t argue against any of these comparisons. I think it definitely takes a lot more of the themes of The Menu and Ready or Not than Saw with a definite “eat the rich” tone. It’s a wild thriller that will leave you wanting to get to the next chapter as quickly as you finished the last. Dez is a great protagonist with her being this sarcastic person that you need to deal with the Ruskin family’s boorish behavior. If you want a fast-paced novel like that, I highly suggest Guillotine.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Titan Books for approving me for this early copy of Guillotine.

This book was WILD. I devoured it the same day I finished another book of her's, Bloom, which is also insane and I highly recommend it.

Guillotine follows Dez, who uses Patrick Ruskin, to get her in with his mother, Marie Caulfield-Ruskin, who is the editor in chief of one of the biggest fashion magazines. Patrick takes her on a weekend Easter trip to his family's island, makes her sign an NDA, and starts to realize this family is a bit insane, with their ridiculous and unncessary luxury. Once everyone is on the island and the boat has taken off, shit gets real. Dez comes to find out that their personal butlers have signed contracts that make them indentured servants, and for them to get out of their contracts, they will stop at nothing to get rid of the Ruskin's. As Dez and Patrick are on the run, more and more truths come out about the Ruskin's and Dez comes to the conclusion she wants absolutely nothing to do with Marie, this family, and the company.

It's more than just a gory, revenge story. It makes you realize how messed up the 1% truly are, thinking that they are everything and more than anyone else in the world, and how everyone below them doesn't deserve the love and respect they should receive.

The description of the book doesn't prepare you for the absolute wild ride this book takes you on. The servants pick off the family one by one until they're done. It's graphic and gory, but it doesn't make you want to put it down because you want to know what happens in the end. I was rooting for Dez the whole time.

****A ittle bit of a spoiler**** - She was spared in the end, but I thought she would be spared in a different way than she was. I truly thought she was going to get away from all of this because she was nice to the servants at the beginning of the book. She spoke to the servants, thanking them for everything they did to help her when realistically, no one on the island was able to speak to them.

The big reveal at the end makes you root for the servants. No, truly. The Ruskin's are a fucked up family who deserve all the horrid things that happened to them throughout the book.

I truly wish this book was longer, a second part where we see the servants get away and try to live life the best they can.

Overall, I truly loved this book. Delilah Dawson is easily becoming the queen of horror in my mind, and I can't wait to read the rest of her books.

This was compared to Ready or Not and The Menu, which are two of my favorite movies, so I knew I had to pick it up and I'm so glad I did. This book was dedicated to everyone who works service or retail jobs, and as someone who worked in retail in a fancier neighborhood, I can't count the number of times that I imagined rage quitting over the entitlement that some people had. And in some strange way, reading this novella repaired a piece of my soul.

Some of the characters were pieces of work, but I enjoyed following Dez as the main character. She's doing what she needs to do to get her foot in the door (at least in the beginning) and I can respect that. The family was wild though and honestly (mostly) deserved everything that went down.

This book was a wild and crazy time. My only complaint is that I wish this were longer. Besides that, I highly recommend this book and I think anyone who has ever worked a service job should read this too.

Big thank you to Titan Books and Netgalley for providing me with this eARC!

If you read the blurb, you know exactly what to expect. Very similar to, but much more engaging than Sarah Gailey's Eat the Rich. Although, you know, without the cannibalism.

Alas.

Weird that this is the second book I've read this month that takes place primarily on an island off the coast of Georgia. That doesn't have anything to do with anything, it just felt worthy of being mentioned.

If you don't enjoy gore, you'll have a bad time with Guillotine, but bloody as fuck is my absolute favourite, ESPECIALLY when it's assholes doing the bleeding.

This was a fun one. The plot isn’t a super new one, typical eat the rich fare which is always something I can get behind. I honestly had no idea where this book was leading for the first half. I assumed some of our less than likable characters would be meeting gory ends, but had no idea from which angle it would come from. When things ramp up it gets pretty wild fast.

The plot is fairly simple. Dez has struggled in life and is having a hard time securing a job despite a 4 year degree. Seeing an opportunity arise with the son of a fashion magazine, she’s whisked off to an island where things are *strange*.

The first half was almost a bit Black Mirror like with its rising creepiness and strange interactions. Everyone on the island is bizarre and as the tension climbs things just get stranger. I really enjoyed Dez as a character. The book has a nice satirical tone and definitely has an anti-misogynistic message which obviously won’t resonate with all readers. I really enjoyed The Violence by Dawson as well and can only hope life hasn’t been as cruel to her as it has some of the characters in her books.

Overall this is one of those books that goes FAST once the tipping point is reached. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who vibes with fast paced revenge-esque horror. There’s some fun kill scenes but most of the darker themes aren’t presented graphically in the book. I look further to reading more of Dawson’s work in the future.

A gruesome look at consequences, and the call to action when one finds themselves caught in the bloody crosshairs.