Synopsis:
In the NICU, she holds the most fragile lives in her hands. But something inside her is breaking. She’s only twenty-four, but between the drugs, the impulsive hookups, and the growing paranoia, her life is unraveling fast. All she knows is that it feels good. Powerful. Like a new version of herself is taking shape. And when it does, people are going to die. Eradicator is American Psycho meets The Fly.
My Edition:
Paperback sent to me by the author
My Thoughts:
If you liked C.J. Leede’s Maeve Fly, you are going to LOVE Eradicator. Mark my words. Same vibe. If you’ve been here for a minute, you probably know that I’m a fan of David Simmons’ work. That definitely remains unchanged. He’s got a knack for horrific, approachable stories that feel both completely off the wall and somehow still completely rooted in the real world.
Eradicator, in addition to being the aforementioned “American Psycho” meets “The Fly,” could also be argued to be “Metamorphosis” meets “Pearl.” The protagonist, Jada is terrifying. She’s like a social-media-obsessed, drug-fueled, delightfully psychotic bomb with the kind of messed up fuse that could cause it to detonate at literally any moment. She’s a delight – an absolute monster in Juicy Couture. Jada is basically the Final Boss Mean Girl – and she doesn’t discriminate. Absolutely anyone who crosses her path is at risk of incurring her kind of random wrath.
“Sometimes I get sad thinking about all the people I won’t get to hurt before they stop me.”
I also think it’s worth pausing here to note that although I’ve made several comparisons (as did the synopsis), I don’t really think that Eradicator feels particularly derivative of any of them – it just has those similar vibes.
Don’t come to Eradicator if you can’t do gore, because you’re certainly going to get it here. But it’s no more than anything else Simmons has written – that is to say, yes, there is gore, but you’re not quite veering into extreme horror with Eradicator. It’s definitely more on the splatterpunk end of the spectrum. Like, a little too satirical to be extreme horror, know what I mean?
Look, I don’t know what it says about me, but I kind of love Jada. She’s a mess. She’s a completely unapologetic psychopath with no interest in exploring or trying to justify her actions. She just lets the hate flow through her. And then out her into the world.
She’s a wrecking ball in clubwear. The absolute last human being who should be working in any sort of patient care setting (and yet, there she is). She’s a writhing mass of random pills, street drugs, and possible alien/insectile life. And she contains an amount of barely concealed seething hatred that would boggle your average psychopath’s mind. What I wouldn’t give for a Jada/Maeve team-up. That’s some shared universe shit I could finally get behind. But, alas…
Rating:
I really appreciate David Simmons sending this book my way. It feels like fate. Jada and I were destined to meet. She is humanity’s worst impulses, and she’s who I’m going to think of every time I have to read a news article about someone getting away with something heinous (I live in America, so that’s every day here). She’s my new ‘WWJD?’ And no, I’m not ever going to go on a spree of violence (I don’t even like killing bugs), but it is still currently legal in the good ol’ US to think terrible thoughts, so…I’ll just imagine what she might do to the latest worst person to ever walk the Earth.
You can pick up a copy using my Bookshop link if you want to read it/support what I do/your local indie bookstore(s) in a small but meaningful way.
Eradicator
By: David Simmons
Apocalypse Party
ISBN: 9781954899377
Published: August 13, 2025
Paperback, E-book
248 Pages
