The Saw Mouth, Cale Plett
The Saw Mouth, Cale Plett
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

The Saw Mouth

Author: Cale Plett

Narrator: Dani Martineck

Unabridged: 9 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/12/2026


Synopsis

For fans of The Last Bookstore on Earth and Compound Fracture, a heart-pounding rural horror following a genderqueer teen who survives a near-apocalypse, only to be hunted by a mysterious monster whose very existence is entwined with their own.

From a breathtaking new voice in YA, this story is for anyone haunted by the sins of past generations—and fighting to right them.

When Cedar was a child, fragmented, tortured souls woke up in the world's most complex machines, destroying them and pushing technology back decades. A fall. The Fall, some said, and they called it Autumn.

Ten years later, following a family tragedy, Cedar moves to the nowhere town of Sawblade Lake only to find something hunting them. A long, bent shadow that reeks like rot and has the mouth of a deep crevice. It's after Cedar, and it’s willing to go to any lengths to break them, including preying on Cedar’s new queer family.

The closer it circles, the more it seems to weave through Cedar’s whole life. It might stretch back to their mother’s gruesome, inexplicable death, to the murk of their missing family, to the house they grew up in. Back and back and back to the first day of Autumn.

Cedar thought they understood how their world had changed, but they’re far from dredging the bottom.

About The Author

CALE PLETT is a nonbinary, gender-fluid writer living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They grew up on a dead-end gravel road and used to get lost in the woods for fun, scary abandoned cabin and all. They are the author of the queer YA romance Wavelength, an Indie Next pick, and The Saw Mouth.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ally on April 15, 2026

Got an arc from the Penguin audio app, So dystopians, even near dystopians like this, are something of a hard sell for me, but it’s a genre we get asked for a lot by kids at work so when I had a chance to read this early I took it. While this wasn’t entirely my cup of tea, there were things I liked a......more

Goodreads review by Madd on May 12, 2026

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this free eARC in exchange for an honest review. It fucks. Like, literally what can I say. I was drawn in by the cover, somehow didn't realize there's no description on Goodreads until right before I started reading, and was pulled in from pag......more

Goodreads review by Gillian on January 23, 2026

There’s something about horror that allows you to play around with writing craft in a way that hasn’t been done before. In The Saw Mouth, I felt like I was getting a completely new way of looking at very unique characters. Throughout, we have these broken fragmented sentences that feel like poems, b......more

Goodreads review by Nicole on May 11, 2026

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! “The Saw Mouth” by Cale Plett is one of those books that feels like a fever dream in the best possible way. It’s eerie, messy, poetic, confusing, emotional, and completely unlike anything else I’ve read recently. Im......more

Goodreads review by Hayden on May 15, 2026

The Saw Mouth by Cale Plett - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pub: 05/12/2026 by Delacorte Press Thank you to NetGalley, Delacorte Press, and Cale Plett for this ARC! I REALLY enjoyed this novel! Cedar and the friends they make throughout the story are all fantastic and feel incredibly believable. The concept of the monster,......more


Quotes

Praise for The Saw Mouth:

"The Saw Mouth offers messy yearning, sensitively rendered trauma, a creeping atmosphere of dread, and an affectionate treatment of analog technology—like pressing cassette tapes into a crush's hands."—Shelf Awareness, starred review

"A truly stellar example of the best that horror can be."—School Library Journal, starred review

★ "Plett masterfully combines monster horror and the messy machinations of found family in a story that will leave any reader eager for their next title."—Booklist, starred review

"Raw, unsettling, and new-bruise tender, The Saw Mouth completely captured me. Plett’s horror debut is a gift to readers looking for the bright heart in the dark.”—Rory Power, New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls

"Powerful, poetic, haunting. Plett imagines a spellbinding world of awakened machines and human resilience."—Darcie Little Badger, award-winning author of A Snake Falls to Earth

"Grimy, brutal, and brilliant, with a painfully vivid queer cast and a setting so well constructed you can smell the smoke. Plett holds back nothing in this story of fierce love and tested loyalty."—Matteo L. Cerilli, author of Lockjaw

"More than a horror tale, this is the story of deeply felt connection finding its way through layers of trauma. It’s a story of finding shelter in people, when darkness tries its best to inhabit you. Stunning."—Tanya Boteju, author of Bruised

"Visceral worldbuilding alongside irreverent, realistic dialogue skillfully captures the novel’s intimate emotional core against a backdrop of spine-tingling horror, while leisurely paced prose culminates in a tense, inventive narrative that blends queer identity, survival, and mystery."—Publishers Weekly

"Carefully drawn."—Kirkus Reviews