Rachel Harrison explores the story of a woman discovering that her nice, quiet life isn't everything she wanted it to be, and realises that as she's growing older her chance to break away and actually be happy may be long behind her. However, thanks to a series of extra-ordinary events she might just get what she never knew she needed.
Sloane Parker is a woman whose life looks good on the outside, she's married to a caring, successful husband, she's got a great job at a food company with security. She has everything she might need. However, her husband is a serial cheater, she's bored in her work, and she's slowly watching the signs of ageing creeping in when she looks in the mirror. She desperately needs to break out of the rut that she's found herself trapped in, but doesn't know how to do so.
When her husband arranges a trip away for Sloane, along with her best friend Naomi, it offers Sloane a break from her life. Naomi, who she's been friends with her whole life, is an almost complete opposite to Sloane. She lives a wild life, travelling the world, sleeping with a lead singer, attends parties and does drugs with celebrities. She's living the other ideal, the wild fantasy that very few get to have. Despite their differences, however, the two of them are fast friends, and their trip away is the perfect opportunity for them to spend some much needed time together.
However, when the two of them meet Henry, a charming gentleman who doesn't hide his attraction to Sloane, it introduces the two women to a frightening new world, one that might offer Sloane the escape she needs even if it comes at a great cost.
I've been a little coy so far in talking about one of the main subjects of So Thirsty, but with this being a horror book, having a title that references thirst, and the cover of the book depicting a goblet overflowing with red liquid I don't think I'd be accused of spoiling things too much to say yes, the book has vampires in it. Vampires have often been a sexual creature, and there are much smarter and more articulate people than myself who can talk about this topic; but vampires are about sex, they're about breaking taboos, and focus on transgression.
Because of this, using vampires as a way of breaking Sloane away from her quite, boring life fits perfectly. Henry isn't just a vampire offering someone a new life (un-life), he's the handsome stranger seducing someone into an affair. The vampirism is an obvious vehicle to talk about cheating, to question if Sloane is seeking freedom from her old life or simply excitement, and if it's right for someone to cheat on their partner if it breaks them free of a miserable life and opens up a new one to them. And it gets to do all of this whilst being wrapped in a nice horror packaging.
Harrison using the vampires as a vehicle to focus on Sloane does mean that they're used somewhat as a device, rather than being the focus. What I found this meant was that there were times where Harrison slipped into the traditional and the expected. Having in the past done some new and interesting things with the realms of the paranormal and the horror genre I was waiting for some new twist on vampires here, something that made them stand apart from the others. But they were fairly normal, things happened the way you'd expect them to, and the history and lore doesn't really feel hugely inventive. And whilst this is a little disappointing it's not a tragedy, as there's still a lot in this book to keep your attention, and perhaps not doing something with the vampires that would draw all of your attention there means that your focus can be kept on the true heart of the story; Sloane.
The friendship between Sloane and Naomi plays a big part of the book, and this is something that ties into Harrison's writing. Her books tend to have a focus on women, to the point where they're often labelled as feminist writing. Whether or not they're feminist pieces, or simply get called that because the female characters get treated like real people and have well rounded characters isn't up to me, but a female writer telling stories about women do tend to be more reliable and impactful, and Harrison certainly fits into this mould. I very much enjoyed the fact that our two female leads didn't quite fit into the expected for two life long female friends. They're incredibly different, and as such don't always gel well together. There are times when their friendship feels a little toxic, and there are others where you can see the deep love they have for each other. It felt messy, heartfelt, annoying, and very, very real.
Whilst So Thirsty is a horror book, and it doesn't shy away from the vampires and the blood and savagery that comes with them it's also very much a human story, one that puts its lead character at the heart of everything. So whether you're looking for a story about blood sucking monsters, or about the struggles of a woman trapped in a life she doesn't want, So Thirsty will quench you.
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