Slow Decay (Andy Lane)

Andy Lane (2007) Slow Decay.

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Slow Decay has one of those book covers that I don’t feel good to look at. It cries body horror and pain.

In this story the problems between Gwen Cooper and her spouse Rhys Williams are getting bigger. One of Rhys’ old co-workers (a beautiful young woman) is left homeless for a while and she moves to live with Rhys and Gwen. It’s not a secret that she wants to invade their relationship. While all this is happening, Rhys is getting on a dieting medication to get more attention from Gwen and Gwen is occupied in Torchwood investigation of a people eating other people as an epidemic.

The story is built around Gwen and Rhys. Gwen finds out that the wave of cannibalism is caused by a dieting pill sold by aliens, but she does not know Rhys is taking the same medication. The pill makes people starve until they start to eat each other.

Owen gets involved with one cannibalist-dieter who is kept in Torchwood dungeons. This infatuation has a bloody and horrible ending.

Andy Lane has written a fluent story with very brutal and inhumane murders in it. There’s a lot of disgusting eating going on, too. This is the third part of Torchwood book series and plotwise it’s lighter and simpler than the first two. I’m not a huge body horror fan so this left me feeling a bit queasy.