There's a little bit of them in all of us.
Animals is a Splatter Horror novel co-authored by John Skipp and Craig Spector, first published in 1993.
Syd Jarret is a recently divorced thirtysomething wasting away in the dying Pennsylvanian steel town where he grew up, with nothing to live for except beer and good blues music. When a beautiful out-of-towner named Nora comes crashing into his life out of nowhere, it feels like a dream come true. But unbeknownst to him, she's a cannibalistic werewolf on the run from a jilted ex-boyfriend even more bloodthirsty than she is who will not take no for an answer. And she wants to make Syd just like her.
A low-budget film adaptation of the book was released in 2008.
This novel provides examples of:
- And Show It to You: Syd tears Vic's heart out with his teeth in the novel's climax and drops it in front of Vic's face as he dies.
- Beard of Sorrow: Syd grows one after Nora skips town and he slips into an alcoholic stupor.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: While attractive in their human state, Nora and Vic look much more monstrous and unnatural while transformed than Jane and Syd do, with too many teeth and human-like skin rather than sleek pelts.
- Gutted Like a Fish: Happens to so many people that it almost becomes comical, even to Jane, though she survives.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Nora and Vic both subsist mostly on human flesh, and Nora feeds some to an unaware Syd as well. It prolongs their lifespans and makes them stronger, but Nora also suspects it causes bodily corruption and thinks it's the reason she can't have children.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: The titular Animals are massive, quadrupedal werewolves that can transform at will. They have no weakness to silver, but can be killed by normal injuries if they are severe enough to overcome their Healing Factor. How someone becomes a werewolf is left vague, but it involves a ritual with herbs as well as cultivating an animalistic personality. It's stated that theoretically anyone could "Change" if they knew how.
- The Reveal: The werewolf Syd encounters at the start of the book wasn't Nora, it was Jane.
- Working-Class Werewolves: Played completely straight, Vic is a drifter that lives off the money of the people he kills, as does Nora, who was a farmer's daughter. Jane is a bartender, and Syd does random temp jobs to make ends meet.
