MORSEL by Carter Keane – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Morsel by Carter Keane
Published by Tor Nightfire on April 14 2026
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 208
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A promising, fast paced debut, Morsel is big on folk horror atmosphere but tried to do too much to be completely successful.

Morsel is a strange little book that started out very strong, but at some point it took a weird turn and ended up in a place I wasn’t expecting. And I’m sad I didn’t enjoy it more, because I love Carter Keane’s writing, and the pacing is great. This was a quick read that I inhaled in one day. The characters are in danger almost from the first page, so that tension kept me reading, even when I needed to put the book aside and do other things.

Lou works for a company that does property assessment, but lately her work has taken a nosedive, after her mother became ill and Lou needed to spend more time with her. Her boss Ellis calls her into his office one day, and she’s worried he’s going to fire her. Instead, Ellis says he wants to keep Lou on, and he’s giving her a chance to redeem herself by taking on some pro bono work. There’s a property in a remote part of Ohio that needs to be assessed, and all Lou has to do is take some photos and write up a report. Lou eagerly agrees, and the next day she drives out to the property, taking her loyal dog Ripley along with her.

But when they arrive at the property, strange things begin to happen. Dead animals are scattered on the ground, and some weird talismans made of sticks, à la The Blair Witch Project, are hanging on the front gate. When Lou spots a sick looking coyote coming toward them, she and Ripley run back to the truck. Lou wants to keep her job, but she doesn’t want to get rabies from a coyote! Imagine her shock when the truck doesn’t start, and she discovers someone has sabotaged the gas tank.

Stuck in a remote area with no choice but to walk to the nearest house for help, Lou and Ripley soon find themselves caught up in a deadly scheme with no way out.

Let’s start with the positives. Morsel is a very fast-paced story that I could not put down. It feels more like a thriller in that respect, and never once was I bored. Keane sets up a couple of intriguing mysteries right in the beginning. First, there is a weird side plot where a couple of her coworkers are pushing Lou to join Ascent, a self improvement MLM. I couldn’t make sense of this in the beginning. What did this pyramid scheme thing have to do with Lou’s job? Nothing really, but hell yes I wanted to find out more! We also know that Lou is suffering from depression. Her mother is sick and she’s determined to do whatever it takes to care for her, but we don’t get any details about her sickness.

As soon as Lou arrives at the property, the story takes a very dark turn. The remote location, the dead animals, and the talismans all add to the folk horror ambiance, and it was one of the most successful things about the story. Lou is alone in a strange place with her dog, and things are about to get crazy. I was so worried for both of them (but mostly for poor Ripley—more about her later), and the tension just kept escalating from there.

I actually like Lou’s character quite a bit, although she is kind of a mess. Through various hints in the story, I picked up on the fact that she’s a trans woman (I could be wrong but that’s what it felt like), and that’s just one of the stressful things in her life. She’s also trying to navigate her mother’s illness, keep her job (which doesn’t pay much), and survive in a world that’s trying to consume her (more on that later too). The story is basically her journey of redemption, and I thought it was mostly well done.

While I loved the author’s writing style, though, the overall structure of the story wasn’t as strong. Keane tackles quite a few themes, and not all of them are fully developed. Several plot threads start out promising but later fizzle out and never go anywhere. For example, I didn’t really understand why cicadas are brought up several times or even why they’re on the book cover, since their appearance is so random. I was also expecting Morsel to have more of a speculative horror element—and it does, but at the very end of the story, and to be honest, the transition was pretty jarring. When Lou first runs into trouble, it’s trouble of the human variety and the story has a gritty “guns, kidnapping and chloroform” plot going on that took away from the folk horror vibe.

The book title hints at the story’s main theme, which is the evil of capitalism and how the upper classes “eat” those at the bottom of the ladder. Lou is sick and tired of being a “morsel,” a marginalized person who is being chipped away at by those with money and power, and she’s ready to get her revenge on. The idea of “consuming” is used in a very literal way, and unfortunately it was way too on the nose for my taste and would have worked much better as a more subtle metaphor.

But my main problem with Morsel is the way poor Ripley the dog was treated. Ripley goes through a lot, and honestly it didn’t matter that she survived to the end of the story. The author even adds a trigger warning that gave me hope: “Within these pages you will find descriptions of…animal harm/death (the dog makes it out okay, I promise).” Trust me when I say Ripley does not make it out okay. I honestly feel betrayed by this “promise,” and I strongly believe dog lovers should avoid this book at all costs.

Despite these negatives, though, Carter Keane is a promising writer and I will definitely read their next book—provided there’s no dog in the story, that is.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a view copy.