[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eatthemalive_cover_4308.jpg]]

->''His thirst for revenge was unquenchable until he stumbled on the terrifying monsters of Malpelo Island.''
-->-- '''Cover Blurb'''

->''[[{{Narm}} Let me go! Don't kill me! Don't eat me any more!]]''
-->-- '''Mona Stuart'''

''Eat Them Alive'' is a 1977 horror novel written by the otherwise anonymous Pierce Nace[[note]]The author was in fact eventually revealed to be Kansas native Evelyn Pierce Nace, wife of insurer Otis Nace, who wrote under her maiden name and married name as a pseudonym, because horror novels were mostly written by men at the time[[/note]]. The story is simple. [[JerkAss Dyke Mellis]] is an ex-con who is a member of a gang in Texas consisting of Kane Garrister, Ryan Gaut, Pete Stuart and Zeb Hillburn. One day the crooks hit the big time when they net $2 million in cash from an [[EccentricMillionaire old man]] after they [[ColdBloodedTorture torture him to death]].

Dyke decides to take all of the money for himself, but fails and is captured. His gang beat him within an inch of his life. In particular, they [[GroinAttack castrate him]]. After surviving the attack, he escapes to South America and ends up living on Malpelo Island off of Colombia. Here he discovers a race of gigantic [[SlayingMantis praying mantises]] who he trains to kill and eat people, and, of course, uses them to [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge exact vengeance]] upon his former partners in crime. And pretty much everyone else unfortunate enough to stumble across him.

That's the plot, such as it is. What Pierce Nace's novel is remembered for though are its shocking levels of [[{{Gorn}} violence and depravity]]. Although there are plenty of nastier books out there, ''Eat Them Alive'' is renowned amongst "gorehounds" for being nothing but violent death after violent death, with many victims' demises taking several pages to describe. Nace does this to the point of actually making intestinal ravaging and throat-ripping at the mandibles of giant praying mantises repetitive. Clearly, what the novel lacks in substance it makes up for in sheer quantity.

Have lots of BrainBleach ready for when, and if, you read this.

It was reprinted in 2019 in a German language edition by Festa Verlag in Leipzig. It [[NoExportForYou remains out of print]] in English-speaking countries.

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!!This novel provides examples of:

* TheAllegedCar: A 1950 Ford something-or-other.
* AssholeVictim: Kane, Pete, Ryan and Zeb. [[spoiler:Also Dyke at the end.]]
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Mantises, giant or not, aren't typically known for being a subterranean species. Or, at least, living below ground that long should've caused them to lose their eyesight. They're also as likely to eat ''each other'' as any other potential prey.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography: There really is a Malpelo Island, but it is nothing like the one described in the book.
* TheAtoner: Ryan tries to be this with Dyke, but Dyke is beyond listening to reason by this point.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Slayer and the giant mantis brigade!
* BiggerOnTheInside: The conventional cargo truck Dyke buys can carry nine of the mantises in back and somehow Slayer fits in the cab up front.
* BrainFood: Among their various other nasty ways of gobbling people up, the mantises enjoy cracking heads open against rocks like otters with clam shells so they can slurp out the yummy, yummy brains.
* ABoyAndHisX: A crazy, vengeful criminal and his pet giant mantis.
* ChekhovsGunman: Fritch Gaut.
* CrazyPrepared: Dyke just happens to have very nearly everything he ever needs for any given situation, such as tons of stocked up meat to feed Slayer ''and'' a cage to keep him in, when he initially captures him.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Virtually every''one'' and every''thing''.
* DeathOfAChild: Repeatedly. [[WouldHurtAChild Again]] and [[EatsBabies again]] and [[SerialEscalation again]].
* EarthquakesCauseFissures: The quake that hits Malpelo opens up a big rift in the earth, allowing the mantises to escape.
* EatenAlive: It's right there in the title.
* EccentricMillionaire: Old Man Shield.
* EunuchsAreEvil: Dyke.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Kinda. The gang have an unspoken agreement that all their murders are to be "clean," that is, no rapes and no mutilating of sex organs. For example, although they torture and mutilate Shield when they rob him, they leave his manhood intact. This makes Pete castrating Dyke for his attempted betrayal such an unforgivable crime in Dyke's eyes, and what drives him over the edge.
* EvilCripple: Dyke again.
* FailedASpotCheck: Ordinarily, Dyke is pretty good at ensuring there are no survivors at the homes of his victims. However, by the time he and his mantises hit the Gaut residence, he's gotten sloppy, allowing Ryan's brother [[ChekhovsGunman Fritch]] to slip away unnoticed. Dyke ''thinks'' he sees someone running off, but attributes it to his imagination. [[spoiler:This comes back to bite him in the ass big time at the end.]]
* {{Fetish}}: Mantises eating people is this for [[NightmareFetishist Dyke]]. Odd, given he has lost the ability to become aroused, something he himself even {{Lampshades}}.
* {{Fingore}}: Just one of the tortures inflicted upon Shield by his attackers.
* ForTheEvulz: The crooks don't just rob their victim, they take time out to slowly cut him to pieces with their knives.
* {{Gorn}}: Lots of it. Page after page. To the point of monotony. Especially focused on women's breasts. The mantises (Slayer in particular) love eating those first when their victim is a female.
* GroinAttack: Pete cuts off Dyke's penis when he tries to rip the gang off.
** Dyke later repays the favor by having Slayer eat Pete's manhood. Slayer also does it to Zeb.
* HeroAntagonist: Fritch, Ryan's brother.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Fritch again. [[spoiler:He brought his ''own'' pack of killer mantises to avenge his murdered family.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:After Dyke is fatally shot by Fritch, Slayer eats his erstwhile master.]]
* ImAHumanitarian: After watching the mantises eat so many people, Dyke repeatedly toys with the idea of sampling human flesh, himself.
* InsectGenderBender: Slayer, the largest and most voracious mantis, is a male. [[UnreliableNarrator So says Dyke]], anyway. In real life it is the ''female'' mantis that is usually biggest, strongest and more voracious.
* KingMook: Dyke paints Slayer's head red to tell him apart from the other mantises.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Ryan Gaut. He isn't as cruel as his companions, taking a lot less pleasure in the crimes they commit than they do, and he also feels guilty about Pete castrating Dyke. That said, he's still a thief and a murderer.
* MeaningfulName: The castrated male protagonist is named ''Dyke''. Also [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Slayer]].
* MyCarHatesMe: Why Dyke fails to escape with the loot.
* NightmareFetishist: Dyke in spades.
* PetTheDog: Dyke's treatment of the drunken old man he buys his truck from.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Prior to Pete's plan to rob old Mr. Shield, the supposed gang of thieves just sat around not doing much.
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Lampshaded ''and'' played straight. ''Dyke'' betrayed his partners ''first'' by trying to steal the money, so his RoaringRampageOfRevenge is kind of hypocritical. When this is pointed out to him, he admits this is so, and confesses he deserved the NoHoldsBarredBeatdown the gang gave him, but then adds he can't forgive the GroinAttack.
* TheQuietOne: Ryan. He is said to be soft-spoken and almost opens his mouth unless he has something of value to contribute to a conversation.
* RetiredMonster: Dyke at the beginning, and his former gang when he encounters them again.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The entire point of the story. Well, that and all the blood and guts.
* ScaryBlackMan: Pete, whose hobbies before settling down after the big score involve killing small animals and maiming children.
* SlayingMantis: The giant man-eating mantises.
* ThinkingOutLoud: Dyke does this a lot. He rarely has any InnerMonologue and spends page after page talking aloud to himself.
* TooDumbToLive: Keko and his fellow villagers happily go aboard Dyke's boat to visit Malpelo, despite knowing beforehand is it crawling with giant, killer mantises, all on Dyke's sayso.
* VillainProtagonist: Dyke.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Dyke at first. Then he just goes too far and stops being even remotely pitiable.
* [[YouKilledMyFather You Killed My Brother]]: [[spoiler:Dyke's much deserved comeuppance finally arrives at the hands of Ryan's brother, Fritch.]]
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