Decomposition Book

Ava thought the great tragedy of her life would be getting stuck in a dead-end office job, but reality looks even grimmer when she goes on an ill-fated hike with two of her coworkers. Meanwhile, spiraling from a disastrous falling-out with her mercurial best friend, Savannah retreats to her parents' empty lake house in upstate New York. Her days blend together in a hazy swirl of clinically concerning overthinking and alcohol-until she chases her nightly bottle of wine with an Ambien and wakes up in the woods behind her house... next to a dead body. Unfortunately, Savannah is so down bad that this well-preserved corpse offers some compelling friend potential: after all, a dead person cant judge you, they're amazing listeners, and they're not going to leave. This particular dead person also comes with a handy journal detailing her last six months lost in the woods! Ava, as it turns out, is more than just a cold, lonely corpse. She was funny. She was smart. And Savannah has finally found someone she can talk to... As Savannah spends more time with both the Ava in front of her and the Ava of the journal, she begins to feel something for Ava she hasn't felt for anyone else-and there's a good chance letting go would haunt her for the rest of her life. Is Savannah finally losing her grip? Or has she found what she's needed all along?


Genre: Horror

"Raw and heartrending, Decomposition Book will seduce you with its tender yet terrifying love story. Horror fans will delight at the gruesome premise while other readers will be enchanted by van Os's deft prose and poignant emotional arcs. This is a masterclass in horror." - Kylie Lee Baker

"Told with delicious humor and surprising grace, Decomposition Book is a compulsively readable story of courage, of desire, of unrelenting love, and of what is left when one's humanity is stripped away--whether by loss, obsession, or rot. A marvelously strange novel, both unprecedented and unforgettable." - Kerry Cullen

"A slippery page-turner that's as profoundly beautiful as it is totally unhinged. Wickedly funny, brutally honest, wildly charming, and wholly original. An absolutely electric debut." - Rachel Harrison

"I'm obsessed. Sara van Os's narrative voice is so compelling and unique, I was eager to follow it to every deranged, dark place it wanted to take me. Unrelentingly entertaining, Decomposition Book is a wild ride you don't want to miss." - Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

"Intense, irreverent, surprising, raw. I relished every minute of Sara van Os's debut and - heart in mouth - will be coming back for more." - Natalia Theodoridou