Title: Tender is the Flesh

Author: Agustina Bazterrica

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Tender-Flesh-Agustina-Bazterrica-ebook/dp/B08285V3C4/

Summary

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore.

His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.

My Review

5/5 Stars

“Underneath it all, we’re just savages.”

Marina and the Diamonds said it best.

After finishing this book in two settings, that’s the thought that I’m left with.

Books like this are some of my favorite because they’re realistic. Scary realistic. The horror in this book comes from the idea that we’re not so far from entering our own dystopia. A world where survival of the fittest takes on an entirely new meaning. This story offers a lot of food for thought.

Page by page we’re drawn into Marcos’ world where horror is everyday life. At first, he seems to be one of the few who isn’t immune to the terrors of reality. Unfortunately, everyone has a breaking point.