Publishers Weekly
07/22/2024
In this blood-soaked class warfare tale from bestseller Dawson (The Violence), Dez, a struggling college student with ambitions for a fashion career, romantically pursues the son of a fashion magnate all the way onto his secluded island mansion, intent on ingratiating herself with his family. She’s there for the Ruskins’ Easter weekend family reunion, but her stay quickly turns into a bloodbath as the pink-clad servers begin hunting the Ruskins for sport, exacting bloody vengeance for crushing, horrific incidents the staff has experienced at their hands. As the bodies pile up on the island paradise and Dez’s loyalties are called into question, she learns the price of ambition and must decide what she’s willing to do to ensure her survival. Dawson’s vivid prose and snappy dialogue brings the gory, stylized action to life. The narrative has difficulty maintaining tension, however, as the stakes are dialed up to 10 early on and the story struggles to find new places to go. Still, fans of The Menu and Saltburn will find a lot to love here. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Praise for Guillotine:
"Dawson’s vivid prose and snappy dialogue brings the gory, stylized action to life....Fans of The Menu and Saltburn will find a lot to love here." –Publishers Weekly
“Fast, fun, and frightening, Glass Onion meets Saw in this savagely on-point thriller.”
T. Kingfisher
“Deliciously brutal and stiletto sharp. Guillotine is the eat-the-rich horror you’ve been waiting for.”
Rory Power
“Gruesome and laced with a delightful sense of humor, Delilah S. Dawson’s Guillotine showcases the author’s brilliant nerve and clever wit. A compelling and intelligently written shocker.”
Eric LaRocca
“Guillotine is at once a vicious reckoning of wealth and power, and a feminist fever dream led by a protagonist you can’t help but salivate over. I would follow Dez Lane straight into Hell.”
Katrina Monroe
“Murderously cathartic—or perhaps cathartically murderous?—Guillotine continues to prove that Delilah S. Dawson is a must-read when it comes to sinister, twisted tales. Elegantly constructed, ticks along with thrilling tension, won’t you come take a trip to the island? (Also serves as an interesting companion piece to Bloom, but you didn’t hear it from me.)”
Chuck Wendig
“Sometimes the line dividing the Haves from the Have-Nots is as thin as a razorblade or blunt as a sledgehammer, but in Delilah S. Dawson’s cruelly capable hands, rest assured, it’s gonna hurt no matter what. Her taut novella testifies revenge is a dish best served flambéed, or sous vide, or pounded into an absolute pulp. In Guillotine, you gleefully get all three... and then some.”
Clay McLeod Chapman
“A pitch-dark, sharp-toothed romp with a rich vein of gallows humour, Guillotine is a gory, uncomfortable treat for anyone who’s ever wanted to eat the rich. Blending the glittering world of The Menu with the disturbing underclass of US, Delilah S. Dawson’s latest novel is another triumph.”
Ally Wilkes
“Guillotine is a tight thrill ride of horror you can’t put down.”
V. Castro
“Reading Delilah S. Dawson’s Guillotine is like watching poetry smash a bottle against someone’s face. Fast, stylish, very bloody, and unapologetically brutal, this is a straight razor of a novel that slices to the core of class resentment with power and grace. This novel will leave a slug trail of blood in your brain, and you’ll be happy it did.”
Gabino Iglesias
