Guillotine
Published on 9. September 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-1-80336-835-1 (ISBN)
Description
The Menu meets Ready or Not in this dark tale of opulent luxury and shocking violence from the New York Times bestselling author of Bloom.
Thrift fashionista Dez Lane doesn't want to date Patrick Ruskin; she just wants to meet his mother, the editor-in-chief of Nouveau magazine. When he invites her to his family's big Easter reunion at their ancestral home, she's certain she can put up with his arrogance and fend off his advances long enough to ask Marie Caulfield-Ruskin for an internship someone with her pedigree could never nab through the regular submission route.
When they arrive at the enormous island mansion, Dez is floored-she's never witnessed how the 1% lives before in all their ridiculous, unnecessary luxury. But once all the family members are on the island and the ferry has departed, things take a dark turn. For decades, the Ruskins have made their servants sign contracts that are basically indentured servitude, and with nothing to lose, the servants have decided their only route to freedom is to get rid of the Ruskins for good...
Thrift fashionista Dez Lane doesn't want to date Patrick Ruskin; she just wants to meet his mother, the editor-in-chief of Nouveau magazine. When he invites her to his family's big Easter reunion at their ancestral home, she's certain she can put up with his arrogance and fend off his advances long enough to ask Marie Caulfield-Ruskin for an internship someone with her pedigree could never nab through the regular submission route.
When they arrive at the enormous island mansion, Dez is floored-she's never witnessed how the 1% lives before in all their ridiculous, unnecessary luxury. But once all the family members are on the island and the ferry has departed, things take a dark turn. For decades, the Ruskins have made their servants sign contracts that are basically indentured servitude, and with nothing to lose, the servants have decided their only route to freedom is to get rid of the Ruskins for good...
Reviews / Votes
Praise for Guillotine:"At once a bloodbath, survival thriller, and revenge tale." - Fangoria
"Dawson's vivid prose and snappy dialogue brings the gory, stylized action to life....Fans of The Menu and Saltburn will find a lot to love here."
Publishers Weekly
"First time reading Delilah S. Dawson and it definitely won't be my last! I loved this book so much...it was pitched really well as "The Menu" meets "Ready or Not" (two of my favorite movies) and it did not disappoint."
The Colorado Sun
"Fast, fun, and frightening, Glass Onion meets Saw in this savagely on-point thriller."
T. Kingfisher
"Deliciously brutal and stiletto sharp. Guillotine is the eat-the-rich horror you've been waiting for."
Rory Power
"Gruesome and laced with a delightful sense of humor, Delilah S. Dawson's Guillotine showcases the author's brilliant nerve and clever wit. A compelling and intelligently written shocker."
Eric LaRocca
"Guillotine is at once a vicious reckoning of wealth and power, and a feminist fever dream led by a protagonist you can't help but salivate over. I would follow Dez Lane straight into Hell."
Katrina Monroe
"Murderously cathartic-or perhaps cathartically murderous?-Guillotine continues to prove that Delilah S. Dawson is a must-read when it comes to sinister, twisted tales. Elegantly constructed, ticks along with thrilling tension, won't you come take a trip to the island? (Also serves as an interesting companion piece to Bloom, but you didn't hear it from me.)"
Chuck Wendig
"Sometimes the line dividing the Haves from the Have-Nots is as thin as a razorblade or blunt as a sledgehammer, but in Delilah S. Dawson's cruelly capable hands, rest assured, it's gonna hurt no matter what. Her taut novella testifies revenge is a dish best served flambeed, or sous vide, or pounded into an absolute pulp. In Guillotine, you gleefully get all three... and then some."
Clay McLeod Chapman
"A pitch-dark, sharp-toothed romp with a rich vein of gallows humour, Guillotine is a gory, uncomfortable treat for anyone who's ever wanted to eat the rich. Blending the glittering world of The Menu with the disturbing underclass of US, Delilah S. Dawson's latest novel is another triumph."
Ally Wilkes
"Guillotine is a tight thrill ride of horror you can't put down."
V. Castro
"Reading Delilah S. Dawson's Guillotine is like watching poetry smash a bottle against someone's face. Fast, stylish, very bloody, and unapologetically brutal, this is a straight razor of a novel that slices to the core of class resentment with power and grace. This novel will leave a slug trail of blood in your brain, and you'll be happy it did."
Gabino Iglesias
"Guillotine is a gruesome eat-the-rich horror for fans of the Saw film franchise mixed with The Menu (2022)." - Horror Tree
"Guillotine reads like a horror thriller, with visceral kills and an aesthetically over-the-top setting. Combining elements of films like The Menu and Ready or Not, it's an exciting "eat-the-rich" novel and a perfect revenge story." - Geek Girl Authority
"As hard hitting a horror title as you are likely to come across"-SF Book Reviews
"Guillotine is a brutal, campy, and delightfully over-the-top slaughterfest" - 1428 Elm
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 124 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
154 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80336-835-1 (9781803368351)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Delilah S. Dawson is the New York Times-bestselling and Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of It Will Only Hurt For A Moment, Bloom, The Violence, Mine, Camp Scare, the Blud series, the Hit series, Servants of the Storm, Midnight at the Houdini, several Star Wars books, and the Shadow series, written as Lila Bowen. As a child, she cleaned offices alongside her parents' janitorial service and once ate day-old birthday cake out of a bank's kitchen trash, so that's who you're dealing with. Find her online at www.delilahsdawson.com and on social media, @delilahsdawson.