Man Eater

by Ally Wilkes

From the Stoker-nominated author of Where the Dead Wait and All the White Spaces comes a feminist Gothic horror novel in which a botanist searching for a rare orchid encounters an inhuman presence lurking in the jungle shadows…

1901. Minerva Sandford is an adventure-seeker, a botanist—and a reluctant wife. Part of a family of exotic plant-hunters, she chafes at the lack of autonomy in her chilly marriage and is horrified by her sole “purpose” being to produce a male heir. She leaps on the rare opportunity to accompany her husband Guy and cousin Dickon into the fevered Amazonian jungle, searching for the fabled “Man Eater” orchids. No matter what the cost.

As the search for the orchids—and the sinister tendrils of the rubber industry—drive the group deeper into the remote wilderness, Minerva begins to see things amongst the trees. A ghostly woman in green, impossible artifacts, plants moving in all-too-human ways…

Driven by her unquenchable ambition and guided by a secret map, Minerva draws the expedition into uncharted territory, only to encounter untold dangers from without and within. Under the canopy of eerie vines, her lifelong fight for control over her own body takes on ever-more horrific implications. The jungle is alive, and it seems...hungry.

Genres: Horror, Historical Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

Expected publication January 26, 2027

About the author

I write supernatural, cosmic, and weird horror, and I'm particularly fascinated by Polar stories and the exploration Gothic, despite suffering from seasickness and loathing the cold!

My debut novel All the White Spaces, set in the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, will be out in January 2022 (UK) / March 2022 (US).

My short fiction has been published in Nightmare Magazine, Three Crows Magazine, and I'm also the Book Reviews Editor for Horrified Magazine, the British horror website. I live in Greenwich, London, with an anatomical human skeleton and far too many books about Polar exploration...

Reviews

[Xanadu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ally Wilkes' Man Eater is a historical jungle thriller in the tradition of Louis Bayard's Roosevelt's Beast and Michelle Paver's Rainforest. The novel makes a variety of philosophical points about societal expectations of women in Victorian society, but they're so unsubtle that it starts to feel preachy. When we arrive at the closing section to find an epigraph from The Yellow Wallpaper, none of us is surprised.

That being said, there are some examples of undeniably vivid imagery in this rainforest fever dream, resulting in at least two very memorable, if somewhat unoriginal scenes. The story resembles Jeremy Robinson's pulpy Alter as much as Paver's or Bayard's Amazonian nightmares. There's a bit of Rosemary's Baby here (and for deep-divers, Primal), a bit of Werner Herzog's Burden of Dreams. But mostly, what strikes the reader is the uneven topography of this rutted narrative. Like hiking through vine-choked jungle trails, this story has enough contradictions to make the reader turn back on themselves and become lost in the verdure. The author explains in the Acknowledgments that she edited out over a hundred thousand words that included parallel timelines and other characters that might have smoothed out this flood-ravaged literary plain.

For edifying jungle thrills, stick to the classics. This book takes notes from some of the best--there are even aspects of the novel that resemble Theroux's masterpiece, Mosquito Coast, unfortunately, also some that resemble Scott Smith's aptly named The Ruins--but it's more of an homage to great work than an example of its own.

With consumptive gratitude to the author, Edelweiss and Atria books for the ARC.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man Eater has vivid, descriptive writing that creates a strong atmosphere and builds a sense of anticipation. While the opening initially intrigued me, the story didn’t fully hold my attention beyond the first couple of chapters. Each time I felt as though I had a grasp on the narrative, it shifted in a new direction, leaving me confused about where it was leading rather than curious about what would happen next.

There is certainly potential here, particularly for readers who enjoy atmospheric, unconventional stories that take time to reveal their direction. Unfortunately, I never felt grounded enough in the narrative to become fully invested.
Ultimately, I don’t think I was the right audience for this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dnf

I expected something completely different from what this book actually is. Unfortunately, this book is not for me. I appreciate the opportunity to read this book early.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ally Wilkes, and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.