The Saw Mouth

by Cale Plett

World English rights to Cale Plett’s YA novel THE SAW MOUTH have been acquired by Alison Romig at Delacorte Press in pre-empt, scheduled for publication the summer of 2026. A queer horror set in an atmospheric small town, in a not-quite-dystopian world one shade off from our own, THE SAW MOUTH follows Cedar as they arrive in Sawblade Lake a near stranger, with something sinister on their heels. A long, bent shadow that can open doors with its very presence but can’t have the one thing it wants unless Cedar lets it.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, LGBT, YA Horror, Queer, Dystopia, Fantasy

384 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication May 12, 2026

About the author

CALE PLETT is a nonbinary, genderfluid writer who lives on Treaty One Territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Their YA novels span everything from high school rock bands to nightmares in the woods to reality TV gone wrong, and their poetry and short fiction can be found in a whole variety of journals. Whatever genre they’re writing, they try to create spaces where queer characters can exist safely within their identities. Their karaoke is tuneless, and the last time their car was broken into, the only things left behind were their mix CDs.

Wavelength, a runaway popstar queer YA romance, was their 2025 debut novel from Groundwood Books (House of Anansi). Their second YA, a queer horror novel called The Saw Mouth, is coming out May 12, 2026 from Delacorte Press (Penguin Random House), to be followed by another standalone queer YA horror novel, Stranglehold, in fall 2027.

Cale Plett is represented by Amy Tompkins at Transatlantic Agency.

Follow them @caleplett on Instagram to stay up to date and for little glimpses into their life and brain.

Reviews

[Starr ❇✌❇]

obSESSED with this cover Evangeline Gallagher can't stop putting out bangers

[Gillian Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s something about horror that allows you to play around with writing craft in a way that hasn’t been done before. In The Saw Mouth, I felt like I was getting a completely new way of looking at very unique characters. Throughout, we have these broken fragmented sentences that feel like poems, beautifully underlying the dramatic and unnatural weight of the way that Cedar is experiencing the world. The atmosphere genuinely and immediately felt haunting and scary, which is sometimes a really hard thing to achieve in fiction. The narration feels so grand and complicated and intense. There’s also a very mysterious urgency to the prose, as well as the tendency to skip through the parts you might otherwise think we would linger in. I never knew where it was going to go, and that was exciting.
I don’t know what I was expecting from the story but to find out that it’s some sort of machine-dystopian apocalypse while taking place in a very deserted small town (rather than a modern city) is a very interesting intersection. I won’t spoil the way that this book is dystopian, but let me be clear that it is not your average dystopian plot line. It’s got grit, empathy, and brings a new way to look at the technology we use so recklessly.
And holy cow, last but not least, all the characters are also so complex and so so so interesting immediately. I love this 22 year old gunslinger sheriff who patrols the town and keeps everyone safe. Like woah okay, so random, but so great. I love the instant connection that Cedar and I felt with the side characters. I love that love and connection is such a huge part of this horror book. Normally I find that a character-specific story is rare in horror/thrillers, but the characters were the most important part of this story for me.
I feel very special to know that I’m one of the few people in the world who has read this gem of a book. Add it to your want to reads! :)

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley/the publisher/the author for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
✨
I had to check like five or six times that this wasn’t a sequel because absolutely nothing made any sense. It did not get better.
The premise of this book sounded so good. Think Stranger Things had a baby with Camp Damascus vibes. Technology became sentient and somewhat evil. A monster appears in a small town. A group of kids have to stop it.
At least, I think that’s what happened.
It was all so confusing. I genuinely have no idea what happened or why. What was the point of making technology evil? It didn’t add to the plot at all. And the monster? Biggest letdown of 2026. It barely made an appearance. Morgyn was also a huge letdown, partially because she was 20 kissing high schoolers, partially because she and her car were hyped up to be like the Winchester brothers but just…never went anywhere. I love the whole “small town where something is wrong” vibe. But this one was so boring and so confusing and so…bleh. Why burn the Church down? What the hell happened with TJ’s arm? What the fuck was up with the Mars landing that triggered Autumn? What was the monster???
I was left with so many more questions than answers.
Loved the enby rep, though. That was the only positive.

[Kai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my vibe.
I picked this up because I saw it compared to Compound Fracture, and while I can see where they're similar, it didn't have the parts I was looking for. I was expecting more transphobia, killing transphobes, and communism. Didn't get any of that in this.
In general I'm not the biggest fan of YA books. Horror as a genre tends to skip most of the aspects that I dislike, but unfortunately this story still felt very YA despite that. Not a problem with the book obviously, it is a YA story, but it's part of why it didn't hit for me.
I also wasn't a fan of the writing style. The kinda random shifts from standard prose to poetry felt more like what I would see a middle schooler doing because they think it's cool than a really useful style choice given the story.
Also the concept of faulty machines was interesting on the surface, but I didn't like the execution of it.
It wasn't a bad book overall, but it definitely wasn't for me. I'm sure many people will like it, I don't think it was a bad quality book at all, but I didn't enjoy it.
(I received a free copy for review)

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was really impressed by this story. Not only do we have a queer cast of characters (including but not limited to a genderqueer lead and multiple sapphic characters) but the dystopian qualities of this world are so well done. I loved Cedar, Ada, Lucy, and Papercut as characters. I think the plot could’ve been more developed, or at least, the pacing could’ve been better. Overall though, it was a refreshing take on dystopic horror.

[Ali Mckarsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was immediately drawn in by the lyrical writing and lush, gritty atmosphere. I was kept hooked by the propulsive plot. 10/10 would recommend for anyone who loves their horror with a bit of edgy beauty.