Eat Them Alive

His thirst for revenge was unquenchable until he stumbled on the terrifying monsters of Malpelo Island.

—Cover Blurb

Let me go! Don't kill me! Don't eat me any more!

—Mona Stuart

Eat Them Alive is a 1977 horror novel written by the otherwise anonymous Pierce Nace. The story is simple. Dyke Mellis is an ex-con who is a member of a gang in Texas consisting of Kane Garrister, Ryan Gaut, Pete Stuart and Zeb Hillburn. One day the crooks hit the big time when they net $2 million in cash from an old man after they torture him to death.

Dyke is betrayed and beaten within and inch of his life by the others when he tries to run off with their money (so actually he betrayed them first). In particular, they castrate him.

After surviving the attack, he escapes to South America and ends up living on Malpelo Island off of Colombia. Here he discovers a race of gigantic praying mantises who he trains to kill and eat people, and, of course, uses them to exact vengeance upon his former partners in crime. And pretty much everyone else unfortunate enough to stumble across him.

That's the plot, such as it is. What Pierce Nace's novel is remembered for though are its shocking levels of violence and depravity. Although there are plenty of nastier books out there, Eat Them Alive is renowned among "gorehounds" for being nothing but violent death after violent death, with many victims' demises taking several pages to describe. Nace does this to the point of actually making intestinal ravaging and throat-ripping at the mandibles of giant praying mantises repetitive. Clearly, what the novel lacks in substance it makes up for in sheer quantity.

Have lots of Brain Bleach ready for when, and if, you read this.

Tropes used in Eat Them Alive include:

A Boy and His X: A crazed, revenge-driven nutcase and his giant pet praying mantis.
The Alleged Car: A 1950 Ford something-or-other.
Asshole Victim: Kane, Pete, Ryan and Zeb. Also Dyke at the end.
The Atoner: Ryan tries to be this with Dyke, but Dyke is beyond listening to reason by this point.
Big Creepy-Crawlies: Slayer and the giant mantis brigade!
Bigger on the Inside: The conventional cargo truck Dyke buys can carry nine of the mantises in back and somehow Slayer fits in the cab up front.
Crazy Prepared: Dyke just happens to have very nearly everything he ever needs for any given situation, such as tons of stocked up meat to feed Slayer and and a cage to keep him in, when he initially captures him.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Virtually everyone and everything.
Did Not Do the Research: That or didn't care. Malpelo Island is a real island, but is not like the island Nace describes.
Eccentric Millionaire: Old Man Shield.
Evil Cripple: Dyke.
Fetish: Mantises eating people is this for Dyke. Odd, given he has lost the ability to become aroused.
Fingore: Just one of the tortures inflicted upon Shield by his attackers.
Foe Yay: Dyke has quite a bit of this going on for his former sidekicks. He even makes one, Ryan, who is quite the beefcake, strip nude before killing him.
For the Evulz: The crooks don't just rob their victim, they take time out to slowly cut him to pieces with their knives.
Gorn: Lots of it. Page after page. To the point of monotony. Especially focused on women's breasts. The mantises (Slayer in particular) love eating those first when their victim is a female.
Groin Attack: What Pete does to Dyke when he tries to rip the gang off.
Hero Antagonist: Fritch, Ryan's brother.
Hero of Another Story: Fritch again. He brought his own pack of killer mantises to avenge his murdered family.
Hoist by His Own Petard: After Dyke is fatally shot by Fritch, Slayer eats his erstwhile master.
I'm a Humanitarian: After watching the mantises eat so many people, Dyke repeatedly toys with the idea of sampling human flesh, himself.
Infant Immortality: Brutally, horrifically subverted. Again and again and again.
Insect Gender Bender: Slayer, the largest and most voracious mantis, is a male. So says Dyke, anyway. In real life it is the female mantis that is usually biggest, strongest and more voracious.
Kill'Em All: No one ever survives a run-in with Dyke and his mantises. Dyke also does eventually bite it, too.
King Mook: Dyke paints Slayer's head red to tell him apart from the other mantises.
Meaningful Name: The castrated male protagonist is named Dyke. Also Slayer.
My Car Hates Me: Why Dyke fails to escape with the loot.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Prior to Pete's plan to rob old Mr. Shield, the supposed gang of thieves just sat around not doing much.
Protagonist-Centered Morality: Lampshaded and played straight. Dyke betrayed his partners first by trying to steal the money, so his Roaring Rampage of Revenge is kind of hypocritical. When this is pointed out to him, he admits this is so, and confesses he deserved the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown the gang gave him, but then adds he can't forgive the Groin Attack.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The entire point of the story. Well, that and all the blood and guts.
Scary Black Man: Pete, whose hobbies before settling down after the big score involve killing small animals and maiming children.
Thinking Out Loud: Dyke does this a lot. He rarely has any Inner Monologue and spends page after page talking aloud to himself.
Too Dumb to Live: Keko and his fellow villagers happily go aboard Dyke's boat to visit Malpelo, despite knowing beforehand is it crawling with giant, killer mantises, all on Dyke's sayso.
Villain Protagonist: Dyke.
You Fail Biology Forever: Mantises, giant or not, aren't typically known for being a subterranean species. Or, at least, living below ground that long should've caused them to lose their eyesight. (One could apply this to The Black Scorpion, as well.)
You Killed My Brother: Dyke's much deserved comeuppance finally arrives at the hands of Ryan's brother, Fritch.