Decomposition Book

De: Sara van Os

Narrado por: Jess Nahikian, Gail Shalan

"A slippery page-turner that's as profoundly beautiful as it is totally unhinged."
—Rachel Harrison, New York Times bestselling author of Play Nice and So Thirsty

"Intense, irreverent, surprising, raw."
—Natalia Theodoridou, author of Sour Cherry

An emotional, electrifying, and darkly hilarious debut about a woman who finds a dead body and can’t give up its ghost, for fans of Mona Awad, Yellowjackets, and weird girl fiction.

Spiraling from a disastrous falling-out with her best friend, Savannah retreats to her parents’ empty lake house in upstate New York to tend her wounds. Isolated and reeling from rejection, she spends her days in a fog, drinking and overthinking in equal worrisome measure. Until she wakes up one morning in the woods behind the house—next to a dead body.

Instead of calling the police, Savannah reads the journal she finds nearby, reliving the last desperate months of this woman’s life lost in the wilderness, fighting for survival. Ava, as it turns out, is more than just a cold, lonely corpse. She was funny. She was smart. And Savannah has finally found someone she can talk to…

As she pushes deeper into Ava’s harrowing story, Savannah notices a change, a shift in her reality. Each page brings her closer to the Ava from the journal…and the ghost before her now. Before long, Savannah feels something for Ava she hasn’t felt for anyone else—and there’s a good chance letting go would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Is Savannah finally losing her grip? Or has she found the friend she’s needed all along?

A Story That Refuses to Fit in One Box

Decomposition Book surprised me in the best way. It was not quite a psychological thriller, not quite horror, and not quite a traditional mystery, yet somehow it felt like all three. There was also romance, but I would never classify it as a romance novel.

The relationship added another layer, but the story went much deeper into grief, trauma, and vulnerability. What elevated it for me was its introspection. Like a cracked vase, someone can appear whole while carrying fractures no one else can see, and I think many of us have come closer to the edge than others ever realized.

I am genuinely impressed by how Sara Van Os blended suspense, mystery, touches of horror, romance, grief, trauma, and introspection into one cohesive story.

And bravo to the narrators. The voices of Savannah and Ava made these characters feel vivid, vulnerable, and completely real.

Dark, unsettling, introspective, deeply human, and surprisingly very, very good.

Very annoying read

I don’t see how other people weren’t extremely annoyed by the main character Savannah. She was a whiny, sniveling brat. She made me sick the whole time. I only finished the book out of curiosity but every word she said were like nails on a chalkboard. Ugh…did not enjoy this listen at all.

survival

The ending truly gave meaning to Savannah's autonomy - growth. I do not classify this book as horror, to me it is about survival. Compare to the character in World War Z Christina Eliopolis and her survival response.

This story will stay with you

I don't know where to start with this review. There are many books out there that are dark and funny and heartbreaking and relatable and endearing...but there are very few that can accomplish it with as much charm and with and beauty that Sara van Os has accomplished here. In a debut, to boot! She breathed life into such dynamic female characters, all different, flawed, complex and wonderful in their distinct ways. hell, she made me even love a character named Chad! Insanity. Ava and Savannah, you will forever have my heart.

Beautifully tragic story

I enjoyed this read very much! An absolutely beautiful, but heart wrenching story. The audio performance is incredible! Highly recommend.