Andrew Joseph White’s You Weren’t Meant to Be Human has a trigger warning list longer than my arm, it deserves a trigger warning list that long, and you should look at it before you pick this book up. (I know that some people view trigger warning lists as spoilers, so I’m putting my suggested TWs for this book at the very bottom of the most recent issue of my newsletter)
That being said, if you can handle the potential triggers, you absolutely should pick this book up. It’s one of the most engrossing horror novels I read in 2025.
The simple but evocative cover for the wildly unsettling, upsetting, well-written horror novel You Weren’t Meant to Be Human
I’m a sucker for stories in which the monster/entity entices its victims to become one with it, stories in which the creature or eldritch horror or what-have-you, either directly or through an avatar/mouthpiece, tells its prey, “join us, the world is cold and you’re alone, so why not stop resisting and join us, it will be better this way.” Usually when we encounter stories like that, the protagonist knows that this is a false promise, and the reader (or viewer) knows that this is a false promise, and the conflict revolves around that. White’s book opens with a protagonist, Crane, who did not know that this was a false promise, a protagonist who has already given himself to the creature. You Weren’t Meant to Be Human takes us into that world just as Crane learns for himself that the promises have been hollow all along, but the threats are entirely real.
This book is grimy and violent and it doesn’t pull any punches. It’s raw and at times completely heartbreaking, it’s viscerally real, and so well-written. I loved it, and I would recommend it to fans of Eric LaRocca. It is definitely not for a casual horror enjoyer but it is an incredible book.