Luckily, the story inside is just as good, and just as mind-blowing, as that cover.
The Man towers above the local area, at least 90 foot high. It's head is tilted back and the mouth is open. A staircase winds around the legs and torso and leads up to the mouth. Whenever a person dies and is declared pure, their body is carried up by a man who has known no other work and deposited into the Man.
At his feet, more specialist workers tap the residue from all these bodies and provide the Bitters of the title, a preventative medicine that keeps the town healthy and illness free. This book gives a whole new meaning to Toe-tapping...
One of the carriers has noticed a recent increase in dead girls who've suffered violent deaths to be fed to The Man. Will his conscience override his duty to the Man?
This is high concept storytelling at its best. Warren's style is compelling and an easy read despite the sense of What-the-hell that permeates the first half of the book where we have learn what exactly the set up of this town is. She does an amazing job of building this surreal world and all its attendant quirks, whilst still moving the narrative at a cracking pace. And this is just a novella. She doesn't have much time to build this world. That it feels so complete and real is a masterclass in writing.
My only negative about this book is where we're told the girl on the bus is travelling without her parents, despite her mother being on the bus with her. That just needs one paragraph excising to fix the error and this book is almost perfect.
This is the second book I've read by Kaaron Warren (the first was Slights) and they're both easy 9 out of 10s. I really need to track down anything else she's written.
This is available through Cemetery Dance website Bitters, by Kaaron Warren: Cemetery Dance Publications
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