Guillotine is a short, sharp horror novel about a young woman who snags herself a chance to spend time with her heroine, fashion magazine editor Marie Caulfield-Ruskin, by dating her son Patrick, only to find that the private island retreat is going to be the site of revenge. Dez needs a job as she finishes college, but she’s not privileged and applying to fashion houses isn’t going anywhere. When she meets Patrick Ruskin, she realises that dating him might give her an in with his mother, but when that turns into an Easter weekend on their private island, things start to get weird. All the servants wear pink and mustn’t be talked to, and their prize polo pony breeding hints towards the family’s secrets that soon Dez must try and escape.
This is not subtle horror. This in in-your-face, eat-the-rich horror about going to an uber rich family’s home and discovering their secrets, whilst the servants fight back, and it’s great fun. The plot and pacing is very much like a film, which I do think is a good kind of horror novel: one that can be easily read in one go, not really a slow burn or explaining the backstory too much, but instead is filled with gore, revenge, and a memorable setting. It’s easily compared to a lot of horror and thriller films because of this, making it great for people who don’t want sprawling, long horror, but instead a fast-paced story filled with revenge set pieces that don’t overstay their welcome. The ending is pretty predictable, but this isn’t a book going for nuance and unexpected twists, because the rich people are just terrible.
I had a fun time with this book, which was gripping and dark, and delivered on the revenge set pieces. Some people might not like that it is so much like a film, down to not really dwelling on the characters, but I liked that it worked as that kind of narrative and didn’t leave space for greater nuance around all the rich people covering up their terrible actions.
Fiendfully Reading 
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