Spread Me by Sarah Gailey

I think I first became aware of Sarah Gailey’s work when I read about her hippo riders in a review on tor dot com and thought “that sounds super fun!”  It was super fun, and after devouring River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow, I have always looked for new works by this author. I loved Magic For Liars and the Echo Wife, and Just Like Home was terrifying in a wonderful way. 

I was delighted when I got an audio eARC of her new book, Spread Me, from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was so so so so creepy! The protagonist is the leader of a small isolated research team that has been alone in a desert for years (except for the occasional excursions to a dive bar many many miles away). The characters make several joking references to Johnny Carpenter’s The Thing until they find something in the sand. Everyone but the protagonist gets sick - she instead gets very horny. Suddenly her crewmates are sprouting unexpected orifices and the protagonist is surprisingly aroused. 

My description does not do this justice. This book is no Tingler - not to throw shade on the great Chuck Tingle, just to clarify that this is not erotica, but instead a horror novel where the protagonist is erotically drawn to the monster in a fascinating way. This book is excellent and I highly recommend it to people who don’t shy away from horror.