Fiend by Alma Katsu
Sometimes an author just knows the assignment. Sometimes it can and should be very basic. You want to add nuance, deeper ideas, and bring more to the table, but first, you must sell the simple, easy-to-explain goal. In this case, Alma Katsu clearly started with the tantalizing “what if” at the heart of Fiend. ‘What if’ there is a supernatural take on Succession. Every single description is going to refer to it that way.
Succession was pretty great on its own, so it didn’t exactly NEED a supernatural version, but I tell you what it is this version is a very fun read. Alma Katsu is a great writer who is fully capable of very important works of horror; her historical horror is all-caps ART, but this one I consider popcorn entertainment in every possible way. That is not to say that it does work on deeper levels, certainly it has plenty to say about greed and capitalism. I suspect from peeping at the reviews that most readers are not looking deeper. Fine, but we look deeper here.
So yes, this is a fun and entertaining horror novel, but there is more there if you want to look deeper. Sure, the fictional dynamics of the Roy family probably were an influence, but so too was the Sackler drug empire family.
“Maris steals herself. She's not going to cry. “But he won't make me head of the clan.”
Doris scrambles onto the couch next to her, her weight shifting the cushions. “But that's still good, Maris. You get the company. You'll be in charge.” Nora's voice is strangely cheerful cheerful almost euphoric. “Think of the good you can do, you can stop them from using prison labor and clean up those environmental disasters. Stop paying bribes and supporting corrupt regimes. For the first time in the whole of its existence Bersha can be a good corporate citizen.”
Various opens her eyes. “Are you crazy? That's how we make a profit. That's how we beat out the competition.”
At the heart of this novel is the question of evil: does capitalism have the same power or worse than ancient supernatural curses?
Still, Katsu understood the assignment; the horror is old school and dark. In the back half of the novel, they get darker and well grosser…
“At first, she doesn't see him, which is weird because all her life, her father had been a big man. He'd shrunk those last few weeks, though, shriveling up like a cancer patient. All she can see is a lump under the white duvet in the center of the enormous bed. She thinks she sees a stain working its way up through the duvet. Brownish red. Blood?
She grips a corner of the comforter and, before she can think too long about it, jerks it back.
There is her father, lying on his back. Or she assumes it's zef. It's hard to see her father in the mound of red pulpy flesh. He looks…exploded is the only word she can think of.”
I will always prefer horror with themes, messages, and deeper levels. Fiend can be read as just a family drama horror novel, but the thing that makes it special is the deeper levels.
An interview with Alma about this book will hit my podcast feed on 12/3/25, I will add the link here.
