{
    "id": 436950,
    "slug": "the-butcher",
    "nstc": null,
    "title": "The Butcher",
    "subtitle": null,
    "collection_title": null,
    "collection_part_number": null,
    "annotation": null,
    "description": "<p><span>A suspenseful small-town horror novel of oppression, heartbreak and buried anguish &ndash; Shirley Jackson meets </span><span>Never Let Me Go </span><span>with the wild west setting of </span><span>Westworld</span><span>.</span><span><br /><br />When Lady Mae turns 18, she'll inherit her mother's job as the Butcher: dismembering Settlement Five&rsquo;s guilty residents as payment for their petty crimes. An index finger taken for spreading salacious gossip, a foot for blasphemy, no one is exempt from punishment.&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />But one day Winona refuses to butcher a six-year-old boy. So their leaders, known as the Deputies, come to Lady Mae&rsquo;s house, and, right there in the living room, murder her mother for refusing her duties.<br />&nbsp;<br />Within twenty-four hours, now alone in the world, Lady Mae begins her new job. But a chance meeting years later puts her face to face with the Deputy that murdered her mother. Now Lady Mae must choose: will she flee, and start another life in the desolate mountains, forever running? Or will she seek vengeance for her mother&rsquo;s death even if it kills her?<br />&nbsp;<br /></span><span>A devastating, alarming page-turner infused with melancholy, humanity &ndash; and society&rsquo;s maddening acceptance in the face of horror.</span></p>",
    "imprint": null,
    "language_code": "eng",
    "original_language_code": null,
    "page_count": 320,
    "duration_seconds": null,
    "publication_date_first": "2022-09-13",
    "publication_date_latest": "2024-08-26",
    "cover_url": null,
    "editions": [
        {
            "isbn": "9781789099034",
            "product_form": "BC"
        }
    ],
    "ratings_count": 0,
    "read_count": 0,
    "review_count": 0,
    "favorite_count": 0,
    "reading_status_read_count": 0,
    "reading_status_reading_count": 0,
    "reading_status_want_to_read_count": 0,
    "rating_average": null,
    "ratings_distribution": {
        "1": 0,
        "2": 0,
        "3": 0,
        "4": 0,
        "5": 0
    },
    "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:49:10+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2025-10-28T00:35:55+00:00",
    "publisher": {
        "id": 4254,
        "slug": "titan-uk",
        "name": "Titan UK",
        "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:09:16+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2025-09-19T15:09:55+00:00"
    },
    "contributors": [
        {
            "id": 268994,
            "slug": "john-m-ford",
            "key_names": "",
            "names_before_key": null,
            "prefix_to_key": null,
            "contributor_role": "A01",
            "readable_contributor_role": "Author"
        }
    ],
    "genres": [],
    "subjects": [
        {
            "scheme_identifier": "32",
            "scheme_version": null,
            "main_subject": false,
            "subject_code": "335",
            "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:49:10+00:00",
            "updated_at": "2025-09-19T13:49:10+00:00"
        }
    ]
}