History Literature / EatThemAlive

* KillEmAll: ''No one'' ever survives a run-in with Dyke and his mantises. [[spoiler:Dyke also does eventually bite it, too.]]

''Eat Them Alive'' is a 1977 horror novel written by the otherwise anonymous [[AwesomeMcCoolname 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 [[BigCreepyCrawlies 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.

* InfantImmortality: Subverted. [[WouldHurtAChild Again]] and [[EatsBabies again]] and [[SerialEscalation again]].

* ALighterShadeOfDark: 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.