Abyrne is a decaying town, trapped by an advancing wilderness. Its people depend on meat for their survival. Meat supplied by the processing plant on the edge of town. Meat is sanctified in Abyrne, a precious commodity eaten with devout solemnity by everyone except for a handful of people who won’t, who suspect that the town is evil, rotten to its core. A feud smolders between the town’s religious and secular powers – whoever controls the food supply controls everything. But the townsfolk are hungry, they must be fed. They must be fed. I thought wormed its way into my brain while I was reading Meat. I realised that it is quite rare that an author, and their writing, has properly freaked me out. I read a lot of what is described as horror, but I think in all honesty a lot of it is more horror-lite. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reading it, but it is somewhat lacking when it comes to proper chills. I suppose most modern horror novels just aren’t that horrific. They might offer the odd shock and a bit of gore, but nothing that is what I would call genuinely unsettling. Meat is though,…