JUST ONE BITE

A cannibal is recruited to help catch a serial killer.

Much as it hurts him to admit it, and for reasons he does not
divulge, Timothy Blake will tell you he’s a cannibal. In fact, his dietary
preference, such as it is, informs his livelihood: He disposes of bodies for Charlie
Warner, one of Houston’s toughest gangsters. In the course of celebrating
this marriage of food and function, Blake happens upon an unauthorized corpse
right where he was to receive his next assignment from Charlie; he puts it in
his freezer, and things rapidly spin out of control. First, Charlie sends two
of her heaviest heavies to fetch Blake for questioning. Why had he left the
drop-off location, leaving a large corpse in the trunk of the wrong car? Well,
it’s because of that other corpse, but Blake doesn’t want Charlie
to know about that. And then Reese Thistle from the FBI shows up to ask
him to help investigate a disappearance, and Blake soon realizes the
missing man is the body in his freezer. Thistle, it turns out, was Blake’s
“handler” when he worked for the FBI, and in fact their history goes
back to their days in foster care. Blake at one time had feelings for Thistle
but had pushed her away lest his appetites get the better of him. Her
reappearance is unsettling, and the two dance uneasily through an investigation
that gets sidetracked in several ways. Charlie is not happy her corpse-disposal
officer is swanning with the FBI and threatens to terminate Blake’s employment
permanently; Blake realizes that the corpse in his freezer could convict him of
murder; and the investigation uncovers evidence of other murders. A messy
kidnapping-for-porn subplot occupies Blake and somewhat distracts him from the
FBI’s agenda. And, oh yes! He and Thistle reconnect in conventionally fleshly
ways. Told with energy and humor, this dark narrative is a bit overstuffed with
dire twists, but the characters of Blake and Thistle are sweetly tough and naïve.

A pleasing romp through a fetid swamp, but not for weak
stomachs.