The Savages by Matt Whyman

Standalone. Hot Key Books (June 2013) Own

They'd love to have you for dinner . . .

Sasha Savage is in love with Jack - a handsome, charming ... vegetarian. Which wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that Sasha's family are very much 'carnivorous'. Behind the family facade all is not as it seems. Sasha's father rules his clan with an iron fist and her mother's culinary skills are getting more adventurous by the day. When a too-curious private detective starts to dig for truths, the tight-knit family starts to unravel - as does their sinister taste in human beings . . . .

The Savages are unlike any family around. They have a secret that keeps their family bond so great. Food dominates their lives. They always sit together for dinner and celebrate every so often with a feast. Titus, the head of the family, wishes to keep the traditions passed down to him from his parents. When his eldest daughter, Sasha, announces she's going out with a vegetarian he knows that no good can come from this relationship. The reason being not only is Jack a veggie eater (a most despised type of consumer of food) but The Savages like their meat on the human side.

I was thrilled to discover this book and start reading something so different then what you usually find on bookshelves. Just to be made clear the family are cannibals but they don't like to be called that. They eat human for the nutritional value and the taste that you can't get out of your mind. They don't eat people all the time - No, only on special occasions. This story has very dark humor attached to it if you can tell. It was deliciously wicked. Only towards the end was it a bit too harsh and grim for my tastes but it's when everything suddenly is built up that I saw the very real things they did and ate. It wasn't all talk anymore but reality - it was pretty scary.

This story centralized on family. Family is very important to Titus who takes down companies for a living. He doesn't know it yet but someone is investigating him to see if they can catch him doing anything illegal. His wife, Angelica, is a very sharp woman who with a single glance can leave you feeling cold. She racked up quite a debt because of her shopping needs which leads to her having to rent out the bottom floor of her home for magazine ads every so often. Katya is the youngest child; she's just beginning to get all her baby teeth so soon she will be ready for her first feast. Ivan is the middle child who tries to seek attention by pulling pranks. But, his pranks go too far. He's very into the whole eating people so no wonder he has such a dark humor and attitude about people. Finally, Sasha (my favorite Savage) is coming into her own and begins dating a boy who her parents don't approve of. She's so very sensible, logical, and mature in some ways. She's also very relatable because who hasn't had parents who embarrassed them in front of friends or the like? Or who hasn't wanted to challenge themselves or separate themselves from the mold? I just adored her - the way she thought through things and knew her own mind was refreshing for a teenage character. There was still some teenage attitude but it was all for a good cause and it didn't bother me at all.

You already know in the beginning of the book that it got out that they ate human flesh. The rest of the book is an account of the events that led up to their secret being revealed. There is a lot of discussion of food in this story. At some points in the story there were characters that thought themselves better because they were Vegan or Vegetarian which might bother some people but there were people who were not so extreme trying to see start a new eating lifestyle. I think the story was made for a good laugh at the way we feel about food and what people eat - Carnivores vs. Herbivores and the like. It was interesting to see the extreme side of that type of discussion. I found The Savages to be funny in its own way but sometimes downright scary. What I really loved about this story was the variety of characters and how they thought and spoke their minds. Again Sasha was my favorite character but the whole entire family was intriguing and made this book worth reading.