The Savage family is back! This time after a close brush with the law over their cannibal habits, they've relocated to the sleepy American town of Jupiter and are enjoying new super-sized portions of their favourite treat. Alas, nothing is ever easy and they soon become caught up with a money-laundering mastermind, who (after the Savages closed down his nightclub) is determined to make them open a massive chain of vegan cafes for him to hide his illegal activities behind. If that isn't conflict enough, Ivan is having trouble at his new school – attempting to poison his bullies – and little, adorable Katya is in trouble for 'tasting' her preschool friends....Trouble is clearly inevitable!

This book is described as being full of family, peril and black comedy. Black comedy I get – it's about a family of cannibals and it can be quite funny at times. Peril.... sorry, not really. I never worried about the lives of the main characters and to be honest, I wouldn't really have cared if they had died. I couldn't feel any sort of connection with any of them. I loved Sasha in the previous book, but in this one she was off at university – I hope they bring her back for any other books. And then, family. Sure, there was loads of stuff about their family and its dynamics, but to be brutally honest, I found it rather dull. I wanted the main story to carry on a bit faster.

With the negatives out the way, bring on the positive! What I really liked was how both this book and its prequel give a whole new perspective on cannibalism as progressive eating – our world is overpopulated so it's just natural selection! How is it really different from eating other animals? Eating humans means less animals are killed to be eaten. Is it weird that I can understand and sympathise with this view?

The book is really well written. Several storylines were going on at the same time, yet all were clear and fully resolved by the end. I could never predict what was going to happen next. It was also quite funny at points, using macabre puns and playing on the ignorance of other characters of the Savages strange eating habits.

Overall, I thought American Savage was witty and well-written with an interesting new perspective on cannibalism, but with some unlikeable characters and a sometimes slow plot.

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