Absolutely stunning. I really do love this author and her work. I would highly recommend this one and I am so grateful that I could read an early copy. Betty by this same author was a favorite and this one is as well. Absolutely stunning work and I cannot wait to read more from this author. Pick this one up and you will not regret it at all. Highly recommend that you go in blind as I did this and was blown away

My highest praise. Hands down, has become my favorite read of the year and has placed itself as one of my favorite reads of all time. The most haunting and heartbreaking book I've ever read, My heart feels like it had been put through a paper shredder, pounded by a meat tenderizer, run over by a steamroller, then fed through a wood chipper. The pain of these women, of Arc, is palpable--because the stories of these women are true; this novel may be fictional but the pain and experiences are very real for women everywhere. I don't often feel emotional reading a novel, but this one I felt in the deepest parts of me.

Inspired by the Chillicothe Six, Tiffany McDaniel explores the lives of a handful of impoverished women in rural Ohio in On the Savage Side, as seen through the eyes of a young woman named Arc, twin sister to Daffodil Poet.

A native of Ohio, McDaniel draws on the real-life events surrounding the disappearance and murder of six women between 2014-2015. Of the six, four were found murdered, while the other two were never recovered. The case of the Chillicothe Six has not yet been solved, and On the Savage Side offers little in the way of even fictional closure. Set across a 20-year period from the 1970s and up through the mid-90s, the disappearances and murders serve as a backdrop to McDaniel's themes surrounding life as a woman in America, of powerlessness and addiction, and how women are remembered after death.

McDaniel's themes and observations resonate strongly throughout this work, and perhaps it's fitting that I finished reading this advance copy on Election Day, which many are calling Roevember given the recent dismantling of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. Women's rights are at the forefront of many voter's minds this midterm, to either protect those rights and women's access to health care, or to further strip women of their legal protections and reduce them even further. As we enter into yet another electoral battleground prompted by Republican's dystopian and omnipresent War on Women, McDaniel's thoughts and prose hit even harder. The women in On the Savage Side are addicts and sex workers, already little more than second-class citizens to the men around them, the men who use and abuse them with regularity and complete impunity.

Although their stories ultimately end in death -- we know this right from the beginning, where Arc reveals to us that her first-person narration is posthumous -- this is a story of their lives, of their struggles, and how their powerful imaginings and familial folklore sustain them and give them hope while life itself constantly strips away their dreams. It's a story about loss, but more importantly, it's a story about friendship and family, both blood and found, of kinships forged, and honoring the memories of those we've lost. There's promises of hope here and there, but more often than not hope is spurned by misfortune, because such is the way of life. On the Savage Side is also a clarion call, one that doesn't ask us to reflect on how we view the women in our lives and in our society, but demands it, loudly, forcefully, and painfully, in the knowledge that we can do better, even if that knowledge is just another piece of hope cast adrift and bloodstained by tragedy.

Tiffany McDaniel has a way of grabbing the reader and saying "hey, they are other people out here and they're hurting, listen to their stories." On the Savage Side is just that kind of story. We meet neglected sisters and our hearts melt then we see abuse and anger is generated. We read about prostitution and drug-trampled lives and we try not to be judgey. And we hold out for the hope that will certainly follow these little girls. And we hold out. And we hold out.
Rooted and inspired by the actual murders and missing women dubbed Chillicothe Six, Ms. McDaniel's is asking the reader to listen to their stories, to realize they had lives at one time, too.

Thank you to Knopf and Netgalley for access to an early copy. All opinions are mine.

A devastating portrait of two little girls growing up in the most dire circumstances and the choices they make in to adulthood.
This is a tale of horrors, not ghosts or ghouls, but real horrors faced by many women everyday. The unseen, neglected and forgotten women. A tale of the harsh realities these women face and the people who believe they "had it coming" do to the choices they made and the only life they know.
With its poetic, lyrical prose this beautifully written novel will tear your heart out and leave you weeping for the lives of these girls.

I want to thank Tiffany McDaniel for reaching out to me. It was truly an honor to read your work.

I’m not sure there are proper words to describe this book. I hate to use the words “inspired by true events” for a book like this, but it was. The dedication in the beginning of the book was beautiful, and the last couple of pages hit home about how we treat people struggling with addiction.

The story follows Arc and her twin sister Daffy, who love their Memaw til she is killed in an accident, and are raised by their mother and aunt who are addicted to heroin. Their father was also addicted and died. It shows them growing up, their friends, and their struggle to survive.

I would say this is an extremely powerful book. It does require you to suspend belief, but what happens to these women happens every day.

Please pick this one up and read it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Call me a philistine, but I had several major issues with "On the Savage Side." First, though, let me say that I did love the first third or so. The depiction of the twin girls all but raising themselves in a house—not a household—occupied by addicts was both lyrical and painful, and their relationship with their grandmother a lone, vital, glowing hope spot. In fact, the prose throughout was beautiful and poetic, even when describing the ugliest of events.

And that is one of my problems with this book. Everything was described in heightened, metaphor-laden prose, so that well before the end virtually nothing stood out as special. And some of the language, to this cynical reader who has seen firsthand the damage of addiction, felt ridiculous. Calling shooting up smack "wearing crowns"? And having not just the first-person narrator but all her addict companions using the same overblown phrases? Having all the characters indulge in flights-of-fancy monologues? And on the few occasions when more common language was used, it came across as clunky. Do addicts really say "injecting" rather than "shooting up" or "mainlining" nowadays?

Then there were the dual denouements. Both came across as copouts to me, akin to what one might see in Creative Writing 101.

I get that "On the Savage Side" is meant to be, in the publisher's words, "a moving literary testament and fearless elegy for missing women everywhere." But maybe, instead of gussying up the reality of these missing women's lives, it had been presented, at least at times, in a less fanciful, "look at me, I'm poetic" style, this would have done the Chillicothe Six who inspired the book greater justice. Dressing up ugliness isn't fearless; examining it in its unvarnished form is braver.

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf, for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A painful reality for disadvantaged women. On the Savage Side is based on the history of the Chillicothe woman - following the integral twins Arc & Daffy through their childhoods and adult lifestyle, facing challenge after challenge.

Without revealing the narrative, Tiffany McDaniel has an innate way to develop a powerful prose, every word has a purpose.

A sorrowful read, yet another unmissable tale by McDaniels. I am utter grateful to have gained access to the uncorrected proof copy, and I look forward to the release on the 14th February 2023. A big thank you to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the copy.

ON THE SAVAGE SIDE by Tiffany McDaniel, from beginning to end, is one of the most unsettling journey's I have ever taken. Like Tiffany's last book, BETTY, my favourite book of all time, this one also had me closing the book over and over again. And don't mean that in a negative way. There are just so many heart-stopping moments, so many unforgettable scenes. The writing is just mind blowing, and not just at times, but line after line. Then it all hits you at once.

It's a horror story full of love.
It's those aspirations in people you might think don't have any. A wake up call. A cry for help. A story everyone should read. One you will never forget.

And that's the message here.

You know, some stories go way beyond the stars. Not just in ratings, obviously, but to somewhere you've never been.


Never a truer word in this case.

An absolute masterpiece.

Do not miss this.

It is stunning to me how a novel about such heartbreaking women can be lyrical and gorgeous. The tale of the Chicolthe six is the story of women, queens, tied together like the string keeping their arms taught for the needles they inject themselves with. I believe in this world all problems should be viewed with humanity and compassion and this does that justice.

With only three released books, I honestly believe Tiffany McDaniel may well be the greatest novelist writing today. I don’t make these kinds of statements lightly. I believe it to be the absolute truth. The way she brings her tales to life so vividly on the page is magical and unique, yet reminiscent of lost greats like Ray Bradbury, with her uncanny intermingling of metaphor and myths and the kinds of stories passed down from generation to generation.
I’m not going to get heavily into plot, since this book won’t be released for a while. Instead, I’m going to concentrate on the intense feelings and emotions this new release stirred within me. . There is not a single wasted word here. . Every carefully crafted sentence serves a purpose. Her prose is breathtaking and beautiful. Her words lift off the pages and fill you with wonder and enlightenment.
There’s simply no one else out there writing like her.
On The Savage Side loosely retells the story of The Chillicothe Six. Six women, of impoverished backgrounds, who were all found dead in a local Ohio river. All victims of a suspected serial killer. These women, their lives lost to prostitution and drug abuse, were sadly forgotten for the most part, and this book is McDaniel crafting stories and lives for them. This novel served as both a love letter and testament for the lost and the forgotten. A tribute to those unloved, forgotten souls who never had a voice in life. People often forget we all start out as children, full of dreams and promise, but sometimes children are forced down dark paths due to circumstances out of their control. It is unfortunate that many forget this, as society often holds preconceived beliefs that people always have a choice in the lives they find themselves. And these people are often ignored or vilified. McDaniel humanizes the victims and provides a loving tribute to these six woman who never had s chance for justice.
This book is a devastating work of literature. Her previous book Betty nearly killed me. With this one. It felt like McDaniel was shoveling dirt over my head at the end of every single chapter. This book is horror, pure and simple. And having read a lot of horror over the years, I can honestly say no other book has even come close to burying itself under my skin and burrowing into my bones like this book. At times, I found myself feeling physically sick reading the words on the pages. McDaniel leaves little room to breathe. . So much darkness mingled in with such beauty.
This was a life changing work. One of those books that stay with you your whole life. There are things I will never look at the same way again after reading this story. A warning: this story contains every single trigger warning imaginable. Not kidding.
In closing, I hope everyone takes a chance and reads this incredible story , and both of her previous releases, because Tiffany McDaniel is one of our most treasured storytellers and her stories deserve a wide audience and all the awards there are to give. This ended up bring one of the best books I have ever read. No hyperbole.

Tiffany McDaniel's publishers would have you think that she writes literary dark family dramas.

Which she does.

But what some of you already know is that she is sneakily writing horror novels that are disguised as literature. Betty, for instance, is a horror novel.

And so is On the Savage Side.

Inspired by the true crime story of the Chillicothe Six, this is so much more than a serial killer novel. For one, it's the rare serial killer novel that focuses almost exclusively on the victims. This allows McDaniel to do what she does best: break our hearts. On the Savage Side also forgoes the police procedural aspect of most serial killer novels, which I've always thought disrupt the pace of the story.

The story focuses mainly on the friendships and addictions of the victims, and therein lies the strength of this novel. Dark and disturbing, but with beautiful writing.

Available on Valentine's Day (wtf...lol)

Tiffany, you're 3-for-3.

I could see the inspiration of the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, and it really added to the suspenseful atmosphere that was going on in this read. It does what I wanted from this type of book and was really glad I was able to read this. The characters were interesting and I was invested in what happened to them all. It left me wanting more and I was glad I was able to read this. Tiffany McDaniel does a great job in writing a good mystery and I can't wait to read more from her.

"I try to think of my father sober, but in what few memories I have of him, he is always the addicted one. The memories are being devoured. The day he died, he came into the kitchen and handed me a spoon for my cereal."