By Shan Powell
Content warning: body horror, non-graphic mention of childhood sexual abuse
Such Sharp Teeth is a quick read, and a cozy, contemporary paranormal story. It’s not quite a horror novel and not quite a romance, but if you’re looking for chick lit with elements of both, you’ll want to check this out. It’s like a Hallowe’en beach read. The author, Rachel Harrison, is a graduate of Emerson College, where she earned a degree in Writing for Film & Television and wrote horror screenplays. Such Sharp Teeth is her most recent novel, and it reads like a Netflix special. Her debut book, The Return, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel.
Rory Morris is our protagonist. She has her life under complete control. She’s a big-city career woman with disposable income, a great wardrobe, and a penchant for anonymous sex with good-looking men. Her twin sister Scarlet is pregnant and about to become a single mother. When Scarlet asks Rory to come home to help out for a bit, Rory reluctantly leaves her fast-paced life to return to slow, boring, small-town mundanity. She meets her grade school friend Ian at the local dive bar, and after a drink and some reminiscing (when did he get so good looking?), she heads back home to her sister’s place. On the way there, she is bitten by a strange creature and her life is forever changed.
Rory copes with the increasing horror of her life with humour and sarcasm. She has to juggle with commonplace issues like her sister’s baby shower, healing a strained relationship with her mother, and, horror of horrors, the thoughts that she might actually be considering an honest-to-God relationship with Ian—all of this while learning to cope with her burgeoning lycanthropy. The transformation scenes are vivid and unique.
Such Sharp Teeth features a cast of female characters who look like they’ve got it all figured out but who are all deeply flawed. The interplay of their relationships is central to the plot. The characters are sassy, witty, and sardonic. The dialogue is rich with witty banter, and the story celebrates sisterhood and friendships while investigating female bodily autonomy, pregnancy, women’s right to anger, and childhood trauma. Such Sharp Teeth is emotional without being mawkish.
The author cites Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score as a primary influence. Such Sharp Teeth will appeal to fans of True Blood, Practical Magic, Wolf Like Me, and Sex in the City.