Epeolatry Book Review: Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson

Who hasn’t wished at some point to become rich or have more money? The wealthy are often looked at with envy and desire which in the film and literature industry makes them the perfect horror victims. They’re shown as selfish, morally corrupt, and able to get away with breaking the law because money grants them power. Great examples of ‘Eat the Rich’ films include The Menu (2022) and Ready or Not (2019), and in literature, you can add Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson to the list. 

Dez Lane is desperate to land a high-profile job in the fashion industry and she will do anything to make her dream come true, even dating the wealthy Patrick Ruskin whose mother is editor-in-chief of the Nouveau magazine. Dez figures if she can meet the mother, she can prove how talented she is, so she packs her bags to spend a weekend at the Ruskin’s luxurious ancestral home. But once she steps foot on the island, she discovers the family’s creepy dynamic and unnerving behaviour are the tip of a much larger secret. After tolerating abuse for so long, the servants band together and plan to get rid of the Ruskin family.

Dawson has a beautiful lyrical way of writing which I recall from her previous novella, Bloom. Guillotine doesn’t disappoint. The first chapter divulges Dez’s way of thinking, her hopes and wants, and provides empathy, but the idea of dating Patrick is quite a turn-off. Bordering on almost prostitution, (paying Patrick with sex to then eventually meet his mother), I found it difficult to keep reading as they went from the first date to the second etc. For a moment, I wondered if I would even care in the end about what would happen to Dez, but once they enter the family’s mansion, Dez stands up for herself and never loses her moral compass. 

Nothing on the island is welcoming. Not the servants, the family members, nor the polo ponies that they are breeding. Dawson handles the creepiness well with Dez reacting almost like the reader would. At times, the family’s clearly corrupt morals are sickening. When the servants turn against them, and as one by one the members die horrifically, it feels justified. But how they die is most intriguing. The servants take their revenge with horrible ways of execution imaginable and as a horror fan, I loved it. Not to mention that the gore is creative.  

While I was reading Guillotine, the Paris Olympic Games 2024 had begun, and in the opening ceremony, the metal band Gojira performed ‘Ah! Ça Ira’, a song about the French Revolution when the guillotine was the legalised execution method. The song wouldn’t leave my head (ironically), and that’s when I made the connection. Dawson’s Guillotine is like a modern retelling to that historical time period when France’s monarchy was abolished and executed. It fits and it is most likely the reason why the mother, whom Dez wishes so badly to meet and impress, is named Marie. 

*Spoiler Alert:

I expected Dawson to have an actual guillotine apparatus in one of the gory servants’ revenge scenes. After I had finished reading, I mulled it over, and then realised that the plot is a modern retelling. To me, what was so brilliantly clever, was that the apparatus itself seems to have been reworked as a modern form of execution. As this is a major spoiler for the ending of the book, I won’t give anything else away.

*End Spoiler 

Overall, Guillotine is a gruesome eat-the-rich horror for fans of the Saw film franchise mixed with The Menu (2022). It’s fast and brutal and dives into thrilling detail in regard to why and how each Ruskin family member meets their end, which delivers a well-satisfying revenge plot. As previously suggested, if Dawson did make Guillotine a modern retelling inspired by the French Revolution and the demise of Marie Antoinette, then it reflects it very well with so much blood and guts. You’ll think you’ve gone back into time’s harsh and gory era.    

/5

Available from Amazon and Bookshop.