We Who Hunt Alexanders

Sanford (Plague Birds) centers this flimsy horror-fantasy novella around family drama, cycles of violence, and otherworldly appetites. Teenager Amelia is a ripper, one of a hidden race of predators who feed on violent men the rippers call Alexanders by transforming their mouths into a horrifying maw capable of swallowing entire bodies whole. Amanda is an anomaly, however, due to her ability to experience emotions other than rage; she alone among her kind is able to feel love. Now she and her ailing mother, Danjay, arrive in a new city that proves a hotbed of both Alexander activity and run-of-the-mill religious bigotry. After killing an Alexander, wiping the memories of the man’s wife and child, and moving into the family’s house, they must decide which humans (and which other rippers) they can trust as dark forces close in around them. Sanford handily brings his characters to life, and horror fans will have a lot of fun digging into both the mechanics of the rippers’ anatomies and the worldbuilding that supports the story’s central religious conflict. The plot feels incomplete, however, full of ambitious ideas that are hardly given enough time to establish themselves. Readers will be frustrated. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency. (July)