Cocksucker by Lucas Milliron
Freddy Trujillo is on the worst vacation of his life. After a rejected proposal, Freddy cheats on his boyfriend and must salvage the rest of the trip with his sister and her boyfriend.
Meanwhile, something has killed all Jim Walker’s chickens. Once the sun sets, he and his son, Clive, hunt for the creature that drained the fowl. Clive is attacked by wild pigs. A needle-fanged, hairless monster comes to Clive’s rescue and he names her Cooter, keeping her a secret, not knowing she’s a chupacabra.
Jim takes Clive on a snake hunt to recoup the cost of the lost chickens but the two are attacked by Curious Ol’ Bob, a bisexual skunk ape, and they barely make it out alive.
Freddy and his family are camping in the same everglades and it’s up to Clive and Cooter to save them from Curious Ol’ Bob.
Cocksucker is a joyride through the swamps of Florida. Lucas Milliron paints a not-so-pretty picture of an Everglades populated by incestuous hillbillies, cryptids, and wild pigs...essentially what anyone outside of Florida expects to find in Florida. We first meet Clive as he and his sister, Abigail, are enjoying each other's company in a way most of us hope our children never will. The true miracle of this book is that the hillbilly family, and Clive in particular, ultimately come across as sympathetic by the end of this tale. Not many books featuring inbred families manage to make those same people the heroes of the story, and yet that's precisely what the reader will find within these pages. Sure, they're disgusting people in essentially every way one might imagine, but they're also quirky, funny, and--most importantly--human. When the henhouse is destroyed and the chickens are slaughtered and exsanguinated, Clive is forced to accompany his father on a hunt for the chupacabra-like creature responsible. Instead, Clive makes his first real friend, and that is only the beginning of this strange adventure. In the meantime, a suddenly tense vacation for a group traveling from Florida back home to California leads them on a collision course with the inhuman residents of the swamp where Clive and his family live, and it's safe to assume none of them will be the same again, assuming that they survive. If you only read one book containing graphic depictions of men being raped by a skunk ape, Cocksucker should be that book. Are there other books with that subject matter? I don't know. Frankly, I don't care. This is the only one you ever need to read.
After listening to Lucas on a podcast, I believe it was BIZZONG, I reached out to him and we had a great chat. Next thing I did was buy this on godless and I’m so glad I did. FUN AND OUT OF THE BOX - so creative. I am quickly becoming a huge fan of Lucas! Buy this book today! You won’t be disappointed.
What happens when you take the backwoods hillbilly shenanigans of Edward Lee and the Cryptid driven narratives of Hunter Shea? You get Cocksucker! Milliron has a fantastic writing style that really shines in this novella. I went into this only knowing that the book contained Chupacabras and Skunk Apes, but this book is so much more. I’m between the scenes of relationship drama and horny cryptids, there is a boy and his dog story that will warm your heart and have you hoping it doesn’t end like Ol Yeller. Milliron juggles the multiple storylines and POV’s flawlessly, and weaves their lives into an action packed climax. Don’t look past this book because of the name. From the very first crazy line (what an opener!) you’ll be caught in the hands of Curious Ol’ Bob and won’t be able to escape!
I loved this book. It was bizarre, made you think you were a little bit crazy to love it. There was just the right amount of creature horror and humor to make this book a must read.
I've always been a fan of creature horror, I just didn't know it could be this much fun. What an imagination, cool idea and great execution. I don't know why I waited so long to read this. PEOPLE, if you have this in your TBR, movie it up. If it's not on your TBR, obviously fucking put it there.