AUTUMN VS SUCCULENT PREY

The main Character in Wrath James White’s “Succulent Prey”, Joseph Miles, Proposes that the Urge to Murder is Caused by a Communicable Disease and Autumn Leaves is Almost Convinced!

TITLE: Succulent Prey

AUTHOR: Wrath James White

GENRE: Psychological Thriller

PAGES: 278

A brief synopsis: Joseph Miles is a university student who is experiencing insatiable bloodlust for human flesh. He is determined that his affliction is caused by a communicable disease, spread through the exchange of bodily fluids, and following that logic, must have a cure. Joseph spends his time torn between his feelings of love for his girlfriend/captive Alicia, his increasing cravings to mutilate and eat people, and his trauma over his past. Joseph himself is a survivor of a child rapist, leading him to believe that his attacker may be responsible for his murderous rampage, something like a ‘head vampire’. Joseph hopes that if he kills his attacker, the curse will end and he will be ‘normal’. But is all as it seems? Is his attacker truly the original monster? Or is it someone perhaps closer to home, someone Joseph never would have suspected? With the police and two of his professors hot on his trail, Joseph doesn’t have a lot of time to experiment.

Do you think it is possible that the urge to murder, mutilate, and even cannibalize, could be caused by something as simple as a virus? Joseph Miles does. He maintains that “it’s a progressive disease that in its initial stages may manifest as only the need to inflict pain and humiliation but eventually builds to murder, mutilation, and finally to necrophilia and cannibalism. It may…be the very disease that spawned the werewolf and vampire legends.”

An interesting theory, isn’t it? It could help to explain many cases of serial killers, particularly those who went on to have sex with or eat the corpses of their victims. Consider killers like Jeffrey Dahmer, Armin Meiwes, and Alexander Vladimirovich Bychkov. Wouldn’t it be something if their behavior could be explained by having caught a virus? It seems especially possible in cases of killers who suffered sexual or physical abuse during their childhoods, being infected by their attackers with a curse that would lie dormant in their system until the time was right to ‘make an entrance’.

The problem I have with jumping on board with this theory entirely is that there is a lot of evidence which shows that many of the most extreme killers were not themselves victims or abuse, at least not the kind that would make transmission of a virus like this possible. Also, as we see in “Succulent Prey”, this theory leaves no room for the consideration of a genetic predisposition to violence. We learn, as Joseph does, that these traits are not easily defined, much less explained and cured.

I don’t want to give away any more about the story because it has some very unique twists and turns that readers should get to experience for themselves without spoilers. I urge you to give this book a try. It is very layered and more complex than the average scary story, in my opinion.

If you enjoy “Succulent Prey”, I recommend the sequel, “Prey Drive”. Wrath James White is truly a horror master!

Autumn Leaves is a Canadian author and poet. Her poem “Siren’s Song” was published when she was 15. Autumn is in love with the dark and has an affinity for all things horrific and disturbing. Autumn is also an avid horror reader and book reviewer. Her favorite author is Jack Ketchum. She lives with her children and army of fur babies on a small island off the coast of Maine.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.