Bite

Fast food

released OUT NOW! 374 pages | Paperback/ebook Author Ks Merbeth Publisher Orbit

The Hunger Games and Divergent cornered the “teenage girl coping in a post-apocalyptic society” market, but Bite proves the premise still has plenty of teeth. It does so by baring those gnashers in a blood-soaked, giddy grin. Where those books move through the ruins of the world wearing pristine uniforms and a frown, Bite gleefully runs around its Mad Max universe covered in dirt and gore.

It opens with our heroine, known only as “Kid”, catching a ride with a couple of miscreants, Wolf and Dolly, who are revealed to be “Sharks” – mercenaries who trade in meat, specifically human meat. When the folk in the next town realise what the gang are selling, all hell breaks loose. Kid finds herself joining the gang of cannibals before discovering that, in a world where men make their own laws, there are much worse crimes than a varied palate…

Like her leads, author Kristyn Merbeth breaks all sorts of rules along the way – the baddies are the heroes, the romantic interest is a coward, and the plot is fast-paced to the point of parody, but she never fails to entertain. If this is the first course, we eagerly await a second. Sam Ashurst

Merbeth first explored the idea at school, writing a story about cannibals falling in love in a post-apoc world.