Meat [Paperback]

Joseph D'Lacey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2008

A nightmarish vision of a very twisted food chain—you’ll never look at meat in the same way again

 

Abyrne is a decaying town, trapped by an advancing wilderness. Its people depend on meat for survival, meat supplied by the processing plant on the edge of town. Meat is sanctified and precious in Abyrne, eaten with devout solemnity by everyone. A feud smolders between the town's religious and secular powers—whoever controls the food supply controls everything, and conflict is imminent. But a handful of people suspect Abyrne is evil, rotten to its religious heart, and they are prepared to sacrifice everything for the truth. What goes on in the meat processing plant? Where does meat really come from? The townsfolk are hungry. The townsfolk must be fed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Joseph D'Lacey rocks!' Stephen King 'an irresistibly intense debut novel' The Harrow 'Bloody Books have introduced us to an author that will be massive' Simon Key, Big Green Bookshop 'Page-turning horror' TQR Stories 'I'm not vegetarian but I'm tempted to become one. That alone speaks volumes about the power of this book' Fatally Yours"

From the Author

Meat was my first published novel - number six of nine I've written so far. It was a disturbing and difficult book to write in ways I didn't anticipate.

I intended to write something bloody and unsettling. The process of slaughter was always going to form the central theme. I wanted the book to have authenticity and authority and that meant - for a change, in my case! - some research. I did it much of it online, viewing many hours of factory farming, animal transport and slaughter footage. Some of it was 'authorised', the better part of it was clandestine. I read articles on modern methods of relieving many kinds of animals of their flesh. How to keep them healthy until slaughter, how to slaughter them without ruining their flavour, how to slaughter them at high speed, how to minimise cost and maximise profit.

The taking and eating of flesh is a business on a scale no one likes to think about. In business, especially corporate business, making money comes before animal welfare. Anything approaching respect for animals is way, way down the list of priorities.

Suddenly, here was a new dilemma: was I writing a horror novel or was I making a point about the moral issues involved with farming animals for their flesh? I couldn't just ignore everything I'd discovered. Similarly, I didn't want to browbeat readers when I should have been entertaining them.
I tried to navigate a channel between my thoughts.

It didn't go well at the start. About a third of the way into the first draft, disgusted and repulsed by what I was creating, I stopped. I was having real problems holding the horror of it in my mind. It wasn't until I told Bloody Books about the project and they expressed serious interest that I started writing again - this time with the possibility of publication urging me on.

And so, MEAT was published in Feb '08 and people started reading it. 90% of the feedback I've received from the public and reviewers has been incredibly positive. Some people were merely entertained - the most important job of a fiction writer fulfilled. Some people were happily horrified. Some people gave up eating meat. And a few interpreted the novel as me preaching a vegetarian doctrine - those few didn't like it!

I hope you'll take something enduring away from the tale. I did: I'm now a vegetarian...

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 346 pages
• Publisher: Beautiful Books (February 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905636156
• ISBN-13: 978-1905636150
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,419,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joseph D'Lacey was born in London and has spent most of his life in the midlands. He is the author of MEAT, Garbage Man and The Kill Crew.

"My mother warned me never to tell stories that aren't true. It's been great fun ignoring her advice."

MEAT earned Joseph The British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer in 2009.

By day he runs an acupuncture practice - sticking needles into people and making little dolls scream. Between victims he writes all manner of disturbing fiction.

He lives in Northamptonshire with his wife and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MEAT...once you're hooked you can't put it down, February 12, 2009

By 

Michael Henshaw - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meat (Paperback)

I was hooked from the first page and before I knew it I was pounding through the pages, barely remembering to breath. The story maintains a brisk pace as the full horror of the town of Abyrne, a claustrophobic and wretched cage, is revealed. Despite the tempo, D'Lacey takes the time to develop all his characters providing both depth and frivolous embellishments, which allows the reader to empathise with their pitiless lives and chronic fear.

This grisly tale left an indelible mark on my psyche, but don't think this is just a superficial attempt to use sickening detail to carry an empty narrative. There is much more to this thought provoking tale, which not only enjoys some brilliant and recognisable insights into fear, but also asks you to consider what for you is an `acceptable' level of suffering.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, scary, unputdownable, May 16, 2008

By 

Geoff Nelder "Geoff Nelder" (Chester, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meat (Paperback)

This book isn't for the timid, and if you are, take your Gaviscon before settling down to read one of the few books that might change your life. To a vegetarian, the title might put you off; if you eat meat, you may be afraid of being lectured. Neither is the case. I'm vegan and didn't think anything about slaughterhouses or animal empathy could shock me, but I am dazed. Meat doesn't set out with a philosophical agenda, it is a great story, with plenty of action, characters, a post-apocalyptic setting and several threads. I'm not going to summarise the plot. It's enough to say that Harry Harrison's novel, which became the cult film, Soylent Green is for pussy cats compared to Meat.

I confess that I didn't initially like the short sections as the story unfolded from the point-of-view of several main characters, but with the pace so rapidly page-turning it isn't a serious complaint. Indeed, there are some fine literary moments inside the narrative. D'Lacey cleverly forces characters to not just step back to contemplate their actions and consequences, but to somehow reach inside, and then outside their psyche in a way I've not met in other novels. For example, speaking of that elusive spark in someone's eyes, but then when they die: `how could you not wonder where that light went?'

I hate Joseph D'Lacey because he's created phrases I'd wish I'd written. For example, we've all been to a works' dance where: `The music had a stretched, laboured sound to it, but it made the workers jump and twitch nevertheless.' He has a gift for inverting concepts that is envious. Savour this example:
`She stopped moving and listened hard. The silence was alive: like someone downstairs was listening for her, not the other way around.'

I am impressed that the end isn't easy to predict even though there is no plot dependency on a twist. Let's say that in my animal activist days, I nearly achieved in practice on the odd livestock farm, and still dream about what this book achieves with a whole futuristic town. This gutsy ambush is delivered cleverly, but not without gallons of gory blood, sometimes friendly blood.

Meat is horror, gruesome, and it has a message, whether or not you accept it. It is compelling reading, and it will haunt me forever.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing, June 8, 2011

By 

BarkLessWagMore (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Meat (Paperback)

I've read many horrific things and thought I'd read it all but this one truly frightened me because I can see things going this way in the case of an apocalypse or other such disaster, with those in a position of power taking advantage of those without. Call me gloomy but I don't have a lot of faith in man.

Meat is very thought provoking and reinforces my belief that raising animals in horrible conditions for meat and profit is wrong (though I'm not a full vegetarian this book may just push me and others over the edge).

It was haunting read,horrifying and unforgettable. It dragged a bit for me at the midway point when the focus shifted but overall it was one of those books I hated to put down when life interrupted.