
Member Reviews

"The Divine Flesh didn't have real feelings. Well, that wasn't true. She had three modes. Bored, psychotically happy, and oh-look-I-found-flesh."
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The Divine Flesh by Drew Huff is like if Oli's Bond (from The Bonds That Tie) somehow escaped from Oli's body and took over the world. Then turn up the "horrifying" dial to 10.
Jennifer and the Divine Flesh live together in Jennifer's body. They share time with Daryl, they traffic intergalactic embryos, they do drugs. That is, until the D.F. finds a way to free herself. Then she's out there just loving all of sentient life while Jennifer desperately tries to contain that love.
It's grotesque. It's horrifying. It's a lot. I loved it. As someone who is two months away from graduating medical school and has a degree in organismic biology, I am forced to believe that Drew Huff has autopsied many bodies. The anatomical descriptions are just way too accurate. Small town America meets religious trauma meets body horror. Read it.
Thank you to Dark Matter INK and @netgalley for the eARC. Super excited to add this to my shelf next week!
#thedivineflesh #drewhuff #arcreview

Some people have mommy issues, some have daddy issues, but everyone has God issues.
The Divine Flesh follows Jennifer, a drug addict who shares her body with an Eldritch God named "The Divine Flesh" or simply she/her. They get separated as entities and it's up to her and her ex-husband Daryl to stop her from breaking the world.
Simply put, this reads like a bad acid trip.
The premise of this book is what drew me to it, it's unique and intriguing. The execution is choppy and disappointing. The writing is all over the place and the plot is practically impossible to follow without rereading massive chunks of it over and over again. The pace felt incredibly slow and too fast at the same time, which I'll give credit to the author, that's the first time I've ever said that.
This was just a repetitive, confusing mess. Maybe this would be for you if you enjoy wacky books with little substance.
Thank you to NetGalley and Dark Matter INK for providing an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

Great book! It had all the fears of growing up. Make a choice. Turn the page or close the book. Enter the darkness if you wish!

Thank you to NetGalley and Drew Huff for the early read of The Divine Flesh!
I don’t know where to begin with this one—it throws you into the deep end of Jennifer’s world of drugs, chaos, and “shipments.” I was unsure at first and the writing took a bit to get used to, but once I just let myself be a part of this universe, I couldn’t get enough. It’s a love story as much as it’s a horror story as much as it’s a dissection of religion. What and who is redeemable? What is unconditional love? What is a god?
The body horror in this was the best I’ve read, absolutely brutal and visceral imagery. The characters were such a unique vehicle for this story. I want to read anything Drew Huff puts into the world!
My only qualms with this were that it probably could have been a bit shorter, some portions dragged a bit; and being tossed into the world so abruptly left me confused here and there, but part of me thinks that’s a point.
All in all, I can’t wait for this book to rock the world of many horror fans. I’ll be recommending to my horror book club immediately!

Such a weird yet intriguing book. Eldritch horror, the Divine Flesh, has resided in Jennifer's body for as long as both of them can remember. Jennifer, for lack of a better phrase, is a sort-of ex-junkie who deals in interdimensional cadavers and the eggs stuffed in them. After the dramatics of the Divine Flesh being in love with Jennifer's husband in name, Daryl, she decides to end it all and unleash the Divine Flesh onto Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Unfortunately, she doesn't die and realizes just how terrible the Divine Flesh is. Maybe there's a reason she kept Her for so long...
This book is certainly non-stop and shifts perspectives between Gods, mortals, and everyone in between. It's not quite cosmic horror but it's certainly cosmic fuckery. And I'm here for it.

Overall, this is a book that I wanted to like way more then I did. It seems right up my alley- but unfortunately it fell flat for me in a lot of ways.
I loved the body horror in this book- mutations outside of human understanding? Yes please! I also really liked the main characters, since they’re unapologetically bad people who are trying their best to claw out of the hole they’ve dug themselves into to become a better person. And, the conflict between Jennifer and the Divine Flesh was super interesting to watch develop, and I kept swapping between wanting them to join forces and having one side beat the other.
My problems lie with the execution. This book felt a bit too long, and that we could’ve gotten the same story with 50-100 pages being cut out, especially the POVs from other characters. I also struggled with the book sometimes having the characters say super explicitly what was happening instead of letting the reader figure it out.
I do recommend giving this book a shot if it sounds interesting to you as it definitely would connect with some folks more then it did for me! I will also be giving this author another shot since I feel I could like their shorter works.

I can honestly say this was the most wild ride I’ve been on in 2025 and I enjoyed every bit of it.
This book is truly beautifully disgusting and everything a horror fan wants. The sarcastic humor sprinkled in was fantastic. The storyline behind all the chaos was fun to follow.
So fun to read, honestly. Read with caution as it is definitely not for everybody!

My absolute favourite read of the year so far. As soon as I saw the book cover I knew I wanted to read this. I’ve never read anything quite like this and I mean that as an absolute compliment! Despite the subject matter, I often found myself laughing out loud and physically could not put this book down. Often I was questioning my own sanity at certain points in the book. If you’re a fan of the horror genre, specifically body horror along with any David Lynch and David Cronenberg fans, I highly recommend you read this. I devoured it within 2 days once I started. Absolute 5/5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for this eARC, it was truly an absolute pleasure to read this!

While this might not be the genre for me I will say that the book was a fast paced, well written exploration into Lovecraftian love, the "charm" of small town America, family trauma, and a god named Susan that I still don't quite understand. The book was also very long but that is also probably a me thing.

While the premise was nice, the writing was... not what I expected. I wanted more from the characters because I felt that what was on the front cover and the front flap was not what we were given.

I DNF’d this after Jennifer has sex with a grieving middle aged man to spite the Divine Flesh. This book seems excessively dark, even for a horror novel. It deals with a lot of heavy topics like drug addiction in a flippant way, and has little world building or exposition. I just did not care enough about what happened to the main characters to continue reading. I’m sure a specific type of person will enjoy this book, but I’m not one of them.

This book was absolutely insane and I loved every second of it. It really jumps right into the action and the story, the book is very fast paced which really works for the whole surreal style of storytelling. I highly recommend trigger warnings…If you are a fan of graphic and gruesome sci-fi horror, body horror, or splatterpunk, then this book may be one to check out. The language is very strong and controversial, which is the main reason why I am giving it 4 stars and not 5. I do think that it added to the story and really fit the characters, but it could be a shock still for people who may not expect it.
You’re following Jennifer, a drug addict and drug trafficker who is possessed by a goddess who calls herself The Divine Flesh. Jennifer and the Divine Flesh are both obsessed with their husband, Darryl, and the outlandish plot starts to unfold when they agree to meet back up with Daryl at the beginning of the book. You WILL hate some of the characters, and still root for them. Everything was just so intentionally over the top, that I could not look away.
The cover is also absolutely fantastic, and that’s what drew me to the arc. Thank you NetGalley and Drew Huff for giving me the opportunity to review The Divine Flesh!

Jennifer is cursed to share a body with a supernatural diety known as the Divine Flesh. When she shifts from dealing “normie” drugs to dealing in Mirror People eggs, she gets caught up with Susan, a former god and an eldritch drug lord, while constantly fighting the urges of the Divine Flesh sharing her body as a vessel.
A story about love, redemption, and the unknowable nature of God, The Divine Flesh will leave you thinking… what the hell did I just read? (In a good way.)
Thank you to Dark Matter INK for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This was not what I thought it was. Like I thought it was a girl possessed by this flesh eating parasite like something like a symbiote and that she had to cover up murders but this plot was just so out there it almost was impossible to keep up with the plot. There's this side plot with her husband and a bunch of crazy body horror scenes. Highly don't recommend reading if you have a weak stomach, this book made me a little sick sometimes. I think I was just too thrown off by the writing style and how the story went that I just didn't really like this one like some other body horror books I've read before. Still creepy and cool but maybe not for me.

A very, very strange book
I hadn’t read a lot, but I couldn’t help but dnf it. I really wanted to like it and maybe I should give this book another chance some other time. I really enjoy books with body horror and I thought this one is going to be another hit for me, but unfortunately it wasn’t. It was very underwhelming from the beginning and there was nothing that would make me want to keep reading. Maybe it just wasn’t for me. The whole concept of it is amazing though! And the cover obviously- gorgeous!

This book was quite the adventure. I love the Divine Flesh. It was kind of like a bad acid trip at times.

I really liked the premise of this novel and the cover is what drew me in, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was told through a visual medium, such as a movie, anime or manga. I love horror and unusual stories, but I just struggled to stay engaged while reading. The writing seemed very inconsistent, which made it hard to follow along, and the plot just wasn’t intriguing enough to grasp my attention.
I ultimately DNF’d at 25%, but that’s not to say that it’s a bad book. I feel like the right reader would really enjoy it, but unfortunately I didn’t. 😔

‘The Divine Flesh’ is a blend of science fiction and horror, with strong elements of cosmic and body horror. It follows Jennifer Plummer, an interdimensional drug mule and drug addict struggling with her self-destructive tendencies - oh, and the eldritch goddess called the Divine Flesh who shares her body and is in a relationship with her ex-husband, Daryl.
When Daryl is murdered by a group of small-town bigots, Jennifer and the Divine Flesh have to work together to find the culprits, but somehow end up separated at last. Now Jennifer, alongside a resurrected Daryl, is forced to reckon with the unleashed Divine Flesh and her plans for humanity…
The novel is set in Rosetown, Idaho - a small American town with a population of 5000 and a white supremacist conspiracy lurking beneath the churches. Our main character is Jennifer, but we also get a few different POVs: the Divine Flesh herself, Susan and Clay - an alien species called the Mirror People - and a couple of the townspeople. The story explores addiction, identity, justice (and how far should one go to get it), and transformation, all set against a backdrop of cosmic horror and the sheer insignificance of humanity when faced against eldritch beings. The writing is visceral and intense, with a dark tone of introspection, delving deep into the human psyche in all its gory brilliance and capacity for evil. The imagery is poetic and grotesque, and the body horror is superbly written to create a growing sense of unease as the narrative unfolds.
This is unlike any book I’ve ever read; I’m not a horror girly and this is sort of new territory for me. Fortunately, I’m pretty unfazed so I felt able to really appreciate the gory elements woven throughout. I was initially mildly confused for the first quarter or so, but I never felt worried - I always felt the author was in complete control and I would understand in time. And I did. As the threads began to pull together and the plot threads coalesced for the conclusion, I found myself fully immersed in the horror that had arrived in this small American town and desperate to see how this would end. This whole novel was a bizarre trip and I don’t think I’ll ever experience such a bonkers novel again. It is graphic and disgusting at times - but it never felt gratuitous. There was a point and a reason behind the vivid descriptions and imagery.
I’m not sure who I would recommend this to, other than those with a strong stomach. I would advise checking the trigger warnings for sure, but if you feel ready, buckle up and dive straight into the Flesh for a wild, fever dream experience that honestly I really enjoyed.

2⭐️
It’s weird and gross but kinda interesting the writing just lets it down the premise over all is great and the execution of some scenes are done well but the dialogue feels off and plots in the book don’t seem to be explored as thoroughly as they could have been, I’m sure a lot of people would find lots of enjoyment in this book and while it wasn’t for me I don’t think it was bad the writing style just didn’t align with what I like.
The writing is a bit weird it just jumps straight into things which is very confusing and the back and forth between the divine flesh and Jennifer and the divine flesh and Daryl just feels weird I’m not sure why but there just seems to be something about it that just doesn’t seem to connect, the interactions between all characters just seem flat and like people having a conversation for the first time I their lives. The writing of the divine flesh in general really throws me she just kinda really annoying more than anything not even creepy or anything just annoying honestly Daryl was more creepy than anyone else in this book to me
I feel like this book should have been split into 2 whether that be 2 novellas or 2 full books I’m not sure but it felt like the mirror peoples story couldn’t be expanded on too much because the majority of the book was centred around earth and what was going on with the divine flesh making it so that that had to be the main focus making it so the mirror peoples story couldn’t be a explored as it needed to be
Thank you to NetGalley and Dark Matter INK for the digital arc

This book is an absolute wild ride, and while I can’t say I enjoyed the audiobook narration the book was such an original and fun ride to take! I mean, a demonic flesh goddess lives shares your body and has sex with your ex husband because they’re in love with you?! SIGN ME UP. It is so weird and kooky and quirky, but it definitely deserves a better audiobook! I will say the prose can be a bit confusing at times. Sometimes you’ll read something and go, “what the heck did I just read” completely confused as to what just happened or what it means. BUT I loved the road the author took us down especially once the flesh goddess was separate from Jennifer. She starts going on her own reign of terror. And the best part is that the ending is open-ended, leaving us to believe that the reign of terror and destruction will continue, which is the type of future we can all relate to in our normal lives.