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Vanity Kills cover art

Vanity Kills

By: Erica Summers
Narrated by: Jake Blagburn
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Summary

Haunted by his tragic past, Jack LeBlanc, a heavily scarred introvert, finds himself volunteering for the clinical trial of a miraculous new tissue-regeneration drug nicknamed Obsidian. Jack and the other test subjects soon discover that the medication is not what was promised. They’re about to find out the hard way that the pills have nightmarish consequences and that Jack’s pained conscience isn’t the only thing with teeth.

With every pill taken, one thing becomes more clear: the path to perfection will be paved with gore. From the author behind Bad God's Tower, Writhe, and Mantis comes a truly unsettling, Cronenberg-style body horror novel that will make your skin crawl and have you questioning every pill you take.
©2023 Erica Summers (P)2024 Erica Summers
Horror
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Critic reviews

"Definitely one of my favorite reads this year!" - Justin Boote, author of They Are All Monsters

"Summers drops you right into the story and refuses to let you look away." - Mia Coppola Faller, author of Buried Women Speak

"Vanity Kills is creative, terrifying, and beautifully written." - Nat Whiston, author of Feel Her Pain.

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Profile Image for Michael Myett
Listener received this title free

Hardcore revenge story with realistic characters…

This was my second try at a book by this author. The first book wasn’t really for me but I’m glad I gave it another go. This book was an excellent medical thriller/revenge story. It was fast paced and keep me interested. The characters were interesting, believable and the dialog was realistic. I don’t want to spoil the story by giving anything away but I will say you should definitely pick this one up if you enjoy horror. Heads up — this book can be a bit graphic at times so watch out for triggers.
I listened to the audio and the narration was very good and added to the overall effect of the story.

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Profile Image for Craig
Listener received this title free

A fast paced, gory listen

I thought this was a very impressive book, combining wince-inducing body horror with strong characterisation, and an interesting take on the medical sub-genre. I was initially unsure of how easy it would be to keep track of a fairly large cast of main characters as we are introduced to them at the start of the new drug trials, but Summers does an excellent job of making them all feel distinct, and fleshing out their personalities.

Vanity Kills is very well written, with impressive prose throughout, which only adds to the effectiveness of the gore once it starts. There were frequent moments in which the descriptions were so visceral and vivid that it was easy to imagine them playing on a big screen, and disturbing enough that you can imagine the likes of Cronenberg or Ducournau salivating to get the chance to bring those effects to life. Some of the best examples of body horror I can remember reading in a long, long time.

The narration from Jake Blagburn was excellent throughout, giving just enough personality to each protagonist to make it easy to differentiate between who was currently speaking, and to keep the listens interesting. The pacing of his reading combined with the fast nature of the plot made this absolutely breeze by for me, finishing the audiobook in a little over a day.

This is an easy recommend to anyone interested in medical & body horror, with a compelling story crafted around the more disgusting moments, and a few twists and turns that I didn't see coming.

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