Consumed

The debut novel by the iconic film director.

Reviews

‘CONSUMED is an eye-opening dazzler. Not for the fainthearted, but for those of us who relish a trip into the shadowy depths, a must-read. Cronenberg's novel is as troubling, sinister, and as enthralling as his films’ Stephen King
‘Classic Cronenberg! Who else can tell such a frightening, thrilling, shocking story about the nexus of the spirit and the flesh? CONSUMED will, well, consume you’ J. J. Abrams
‘Like a mashup of William Gibson, the king of near-future SF cool, and 1970s horror maestro James Herbert … an intense and surreal modern vision of the thousand unnatural shocks that flesh is heir to’ Guardian
‘[CONSUMED] involves cannibalism, perversity and philosophy, as though Jean-Paul Sartre were dining with Hannibal Lecter … It is compelling in its scabrous transgression, daring in its tackling of taboos such as geriatric sex … You’ve got to hand it to Cronenberg – at 71 he has written a first novel as provocative and neo-adolescent as they come’ The Times
'An astonishing, seamless continuation of what I call his peerless novelistic film oeuvres. With CONSUMED, he has become the definitive heir, not just of Kafka and Borges, but of Cronenberg himself' Bruce Wagner
‘Delicious, and … no end of wicked fun’ Independent
‘Cronenberg’s first novel is so good, he should ditch his day job … There is more than enough body horror in CONSUMED to satisfy fans of Cronenberg’s The Fly or Videodrome but at its core is a nuanced and moving examination of what it means to age, to become ill and to die in a rampantly technologised age. CONSUMED may not be to everyone’s taste but, for connoisseurs of Burroughs, Ballard and DeLillo, it’s a delightful and unexpected smorgasbord’ New Statesman
‘Aficionados of Croneberg’s cinematic work will not be surprised to find a lot of exquisitely detailed, voyeuristic body-horror’ Guardian