Finished The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey today.

its the first horror book ive ever read and honestly its set a high bar for the horror genre, and there's a sequel coming!

first of all, its very sapphic and has lots of pining and getting rid of abusive exes

second, the main character is a badass. she a monster hunter for hire who's always struggling financially bc ppl dont pay her, shes sarcastic, and she she uses magic in her work (not high fantasy kind of magic tho). (if you need a character comparison to help with the mantal image then id say shes kind of like john constantine.)

THIRD, theres a lot of monsters and body horror and an overall sense of something WRONG going on. the whole time i was waiting for the other shoe to drop (and it did)

fourth, there are fantastic side characters who make the story so much better (where would we be without them)

and fifth ill put under a read more bc it is a spoiler

cutting back on unhealthy coping mechanisms is great and all in theory but what about the fact that they were helping her cope??? what about the fact that if julie isn't drinking herself blind she can see, if she's not drugging herself numb she can feel?? not to mention sarah, still processing the death and viscera she's seen, "viscera" being an understatement, i want to see her when the dust settles and she takes a look around and this is her life now.