Spread Me by Sarah Gailey | Horror Fiction Review

This one gets icky!

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Spread Me by Sarah Gailey

Released September 2025
Source: Netgalley
Get it at your local library or see more @ Goodreads

Spread Me is a frightfully, delightfully, off-puttingly weird little horror story. It probably won’t be for everyone. It is very much a twisted erotic horror tale. The blurb promises a “darkly seductive tale of survival” which doesn’t really express what awaits you inside its pages.

Things happen pretty quickly and the atmosphere and slight claustrophobia set in right away as a small group of researchers break protocol and bring back a specimen to their living space that they find buried deep within the desert sand. The specimen makes almost everyone sick but they get over it soon enough. Or so they think! No one is prepared for what happens next.

This crew is very open to romantic entanglements and partner swapping but Kinsey has always been uninterested and professional and keeps herself to herself. She’s also hiding a bit of a secret that I’m not going to spoil. You’ll know it when you read it and you’ll either toss the book out the window out of ick or keep reading for more of the ick.I kept reading because of course I did. Strangely enough, after this specimen/virus/fungus/alien thing comes into their space, some of her teammates become far too arousing to her which makes her incredibly uneasy.

Body horror follows, as it does when you bring a strange living thing into your life and you are about as remote as remote gets. There’s even a cute nod to The Thing here that I appreciated.

It is a pretty bleak book with some breaks for levity and I appreciated that. There might even be a HEA for someone, lol.

I recommend the audio narrated by Xe Sands who does a great job with the characters as well as setting a deadly serious tone whenever it’s needed (which is often).

Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐



Publisher Plot Synopsis 

Spread Me is a darkly seductive tale of survival from Sarah Gailey, after a routine probe at a research station turns deadly when the team discovers a strange specimen in search of a warm place to stay.

Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the solitude, and the way the desert keeps her far away from the temptations teeming out in the civilian world.

When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it into the hab. But the longer it's inside, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can't be ignored any longer.

One by one, Kinsey's team realizes the thing they're studying is in search of a new host—and one of them is the perfect candidate....

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