Brilliant, devastating: Paula Bomer, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Visceral, unsentimental directness: THE NEW YORKER

One of the most mesmerizing heroines in recent fiction: Michael Ennis, TEXAS MONTHLY

Burns with heretical knowledge: Susanna Sonnenberg, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

The greatest restaurant book on earth: Courtney Maum, ELECTRIC LIT

Don't come expecting a happy ending: Chris Vognar, DALLAS MORNING NEWS

Fatally cleaved: Victoria Patterson, LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS

Masochism on the menu: Amy Gentry, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Smart and ruthless: Ted Kehoe, ARTS FUSE

Terribly uncomfortable to read: KIRKUS

Let the wounded women take over: Elisabeth Donnelly, FLAVORWIRE

A shock to the system: Michael Agresta, TEXAS OBSERVER

A brutal tour: Melissa Maerz, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

A graphic (!) review by Kristen Radtke for Oxford American.


2014 YEAR-END MENTIONS

heart-cracking Chicago Tribune

more or less tore my scalp off The Millions 

fierce, fearless, and unconventional Bustle beautifully written Bustle stark and poetic and ugly Bustle crackles and hurts Bustle 

a prayer to everything broken, vulnerable, and human BookRiot

easily the darkest novel I read in 2014 LitReactor

bracing lack of redemption Atlanta Journal-Constitution

it's honest, it's vulnerable, it's necessary Electric Literature

Merritt Tierce is fierce Dayton Daily

it's graphic, it's dark, it's relentless...it's Cormac McCarthy's The Road set in a Dallas steakhouse KERA's Think

one of the year's most beautiful books Dallas Observer

BuzzFeed Books

The Casual Optimist

NPR's On Point