YOUTHJUICE

A young woman’s career in the beauty industry takes a gruesome turn when the luxury brand she works for develops a product—with questionable ingredients—that can miraculously preserve youth.

It’s clear from the very first pages that there’s something wrong with HEBE, the SoHo-based skincare company where Sophia Bannion works. Sophia herself isn’t particularly concerned with HEBE’s cultlike following, her boss’ obsession with eternal youth, or the fact that the company’s interns keep going missing. Haunted by some shocking events in her youth and suffering from a violent nail-biting habit—“I’ve stripped a hangnail from thumb to wrist. Crimson beads collect in the divot of shiny, wormy skin”—Sophia cares more about fitting in with her beautiful co-workers than anything else and is willing to turn a blind eye to the strange goings-on. When her boss, Tree Whitestone, asks her to try a new product called youthjuice, Sophia jumps at the opportunity. The result is nothing short of miraculous as, virtually overnight, the cream erases the scars from her nail-biting. Soon, what began as just a job for Sophia becomes a full-blown obsession. There’s nothing particularly subtle here: From the name of the company where Sophia works (a reference to the Greek goddess of youth), to her detached, Patrick-Bateman-meets-Amy-Dunne It-girl voice, to the intense images of body horror that combine the beautiful and the grotesque, Sathue’s story is bold and brash and can be extremely uncomfortable to read. Although she overuses similes, it’s a fault that can be overlooked when the plot is as audacious and thrilling as this one. With an ending that will no doubt divide its readers, this novel is perfect for fans of Mona Awad and Emily Danforth.

A stomach-turning work of corporate horror with a sharp focus on satirizing the beauty industry and its influencers.