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Vanity Kills
- Narrated by: Jake Blagburn
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
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Vanity Kills
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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.
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.
What listeners say about Vanity Kills
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Michael Myett
- 31-03-24
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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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Craig
- 12-04-24
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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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Chiara
- 28-04-24
Great body horror and thriller with characters you'll get attached to!
Another great story from this author! It's a thriller, it's a body horror and it also contains an important message underneath all the dreadful things happening. Thanks also to the narrator Jake Blagburn for making the characters real and for the perfect acting!
I was surprised more than once as the plot never went were I thought, keeping me on my toes. I found the writing really on point with every word serving a purpose, either in the moment or down the line. As for the characters, well I did sympathise a lot with all of them, and for all the horrible things, I couldn't not have an emotional attachment to them. And that's the thing in this story, even characters I know I should have hated, I just couldn't.
As mentioned, this is a body horror and whilst I agree that our society is losing control of what's really important, I know I probably would have acted the same way as Jack and the others, and I would have tried to tackle some mental and emotional scarring in the same way, thinking that would have solved the problem. What the protagonists find out though, is that some things can't be solved that easily and they learn an important lesson just a little too late.
Thanks to the author and Rusty Ogre Publishing for the opportunity to listen to it and this is my honest opinion.
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