After really enjoying last year’s Cackle, I knew I needed to read more by Rachel Harrison. And maybe this would have been a more natural fit for a Halloween read, but no matter the timing, I had a blast reading Such Sharp Teeth.

In this fast, biting (yes, I said it!) tale, Rory moves back to her hometown after many years away to be with her twin sister Scarlett during her last months of pregnancy. Rory has had a seemingly great life in Manhattan — a successful corporate career, a partying, free-wheeling lifestyle, great clothes, uninhibited and uncommitted sex, and the best of New York’s dining and nightlife at her fingertips.

Back in their small town, Rory stumbles into an old flame from her high school days, someone she never hooked up with at the time, but always felt a spark with. But moments after meeting Ian again, Rory gets into a car accident and its attacked by something fierce and horrible in the woods. She distinctly remembers the horror and pain of the attack, yet by the next day her wounds have barely left a scar.

Over the next few weeks, Rory notices scary changes in her body, a non-stop craving for meat, enhanced senses, and other weirdness even more frightening (and disgusting). At the same time, she finally connects with Ian and enjoys their explosive chemistry together. As the next full moon looms closer and closer, Rory is more and more certain about what’s happened to her — but what does this loss of control really mean for her and for the people she cares about?

Honestly, I just loved this book. Rory is a fantastic character, full of bravado and guts and intelligence, a very caring and devoted sister, but also carrying the burden of an earlier trauma that affects her ability to trust and to forgive. This is a woman who has earned her rage, and her werewolf transformation finally gives full power to the anger and need for destruction that she’s been burdened with for so many years.

While the descriptions of Rory’s experiences are often pretty icky and/or violent, there’s also humor and sass in her conversations and outlook. I love her relationship with Scarlett, and this conversation (with a very pregnant Scarlett) captures so much:

“What’s it like?” she asks. “Being a werewolf?”

I swallow. “You really want to know?”

“Yeah.”

“The bite was excruciating. And after, it leaked this silvery goo. My new blood, I guess. It was weird and gross, but honestly, it was also kind of fascinating that my body was doing this weird, gross thing.”

“Relate,” she says.

There’s so much subtext here about women and pain, women and bodily autonomy, women and rage. The author doesn’t hit us over the head with a hammer — instead, all of this informs Rory’s experiences as she emerges from the attack’s aftermath into a new version of herself.

When you’re sad, you cry. When you’re happy, you smile, you laugh. But what do you do when you’re angry? Not just mad, but filled with this ugly, consuming rage?

And the thing is, women aren’t allowed to be angry. Nobody likes a mad woman. They’re crazy, irrational, obnoxious, shrill.

In Such Sharp Teeth, a young woman who was instructed to ignore or control her anger gets actual claws and fangs as an adult, and finally is literally forced into giving vent to all the pent-up rage and frustration and power she’s hidden away and or shunted into self-destructive behaviors.

There are things beyond our control. My body. My body is beyond my control. This is the truth. The truth of me. What if I can’t control myself in this form because this is what I really am? What if this is what I really want?

Gotta say, I pretty much straight-up loved Rory, and I had such fun reading this book. Yes, it’s a werewolf book, but it’s also a sharp, spiky take on women’s lives, and I just couldn’t put it down. There are some scenes of violence and ickiness that make me want to offer a caution for the squeamish — it’s not gory on every page, but it’s enough that I wouldn’t recommend it if you can’t stomach some blood, guts, and body parts.

But if gore doesn’t bother you in your reading, then absolutely check out Such Sharp Teeth! Rachel Harrison is a terrific writer, and I can’t wait to read the other book of hers in my Kindle library, The Return.