Book Review of Human Use by Sarah G. Pierce

 

Name of Book: For Human Use

Author: Sarah. G Pierce

ISBN: 9780316586535

Type of book: Humor, horror, financial issues, dating, 2020s, death, modern culture about influencers, hinted grooming 

Year it was published: 2026

Summary:

An unforgettable debut, For Human Use is a twisted tale of modern love that bends every genre, sears itself into your brain, and presents a horrific romantic comedy unlike anything you’ve ever read before.

★ “An utterly ingenious horror-romcom, darkly zeitgeisty, and unnervingly plausible—funny as hell, too. You will not forget this book.” ―Heather Aimee O’Neill, author of Read With Jenna book club pick The Irish Goodbye

Modern dating is dead.

Sarah G. Pierce’s debut, For Human Use, is a glossy, razor-cut spiral into algorithmic obsession and capitalist absurdity where the dread hits hardest because it reads like a headline you’ve already scrolled past. With darkly funny dialogue and a premise that shouldn’t feel this plausible, Pierce lures you in with laughter, then leaves you staring into the abyss of your own algorithmic despair.

When Liv, a sleek new app that matches users with dead bodies, becomes a cultural obsession, the world doesn’t recoil. It invests. It scales. And it starts asking how many more cadavers can be sourced before Q4.

Tom, a venture capitalist, knows this should be a hard no. But really, who can argue with a spreadsheet? The founder Auden is insufferable and Mara, who knows too much, is just trying to survive this Brave New World of bloodless tech-managed desire.

Twisted, smart, and disturbingly plausible, For Human Use is for the emotionally exhausted and professionally complicit—perfect for readers who didn’t know they were craving a crossover of Severance and John Marrs’ The One.

★ “A wildly entertaining debut. Sarah G. Pierce cleverly skewers our modern era of disconnection and corporate overreach. But amid the horror and humor there is a deeply human love story at the heart of this book.” ―E.K Sathue, author of Youthjuice

★ “A razor-sharp satire of venture capitalism, online influence culture, and The Discourse, Pierce holds a mirror to an all-too familiar reality where the unthinkable becomes thinkable if there’s profit to be made and prestige to be gained. A human romance in a world gasping for human connection, this one goes places!” ―Bitter Karella, author of Moonflow

Characters:

Main characters would be Tom, Auden and Mara. Tom works for hedge fund company where he is asked to be a support for a company called Liv that matches living humans  to dead bodies. Tom is snarky, a "straight" man  who cannot find Ms. Right. He enjoys gambling and does his best to be careful. Auden is the founder of Liv who has lost his father to suicide and who has a crush on a step-sister. He wasn't as well explored as I had hoped. Mara is the stepsister who is full of her own complications, first with having an imbalanced relationship with Auden, and of being forced to tell a narrator that is not her own. 

Theme:

Life is full of twists

Plot:

The story is in third person narrative, main narrators being Tom, Mara and, to some extent, Auden I was not a fan of any of them. I definitely sensed a lot of humor behind the writing and the story, especially in how the dead were seen as anthropomorphic rather than just, well, dead. The dating aspect was also glossed over and wasn't as prominent as one hoped. I was expecting a horror comedy with bits of romance. What I got was financial thriller with almost a love triangle, and a lot of stuff in the book was not well explained for me to follow what was going on. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Hailing from California, Sarah moved to New York to study photography at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and later, earn a master’s degree from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, where she specialized in minimalist painters. An avid 49ers fan, she lives in Manhattan with her poker-playing husband, whom she met on a dating app, and their two sons. For Human Use is her first novel.

Opinion:

From the summary, I expected a quirky and philosophical novel that explored the dating world of modern day. I didn't expect it to be a financial thriller where I am very confused by what is going on. While the novel did sort of tackle the world of dating as well as the whole concept of being dead (I was really entertained by the whole discussions where people veer off from everyday and assign emotions that dead cannot possibly feel.) it didn't feel as detailed as I had hoped. It felt as if there was way too much focus on the financial side of the world rather than on the characters and their dating misadventures. I think it would have worked if the novel was from a Liv's user point of view, which would have been a lot more fun to read about, and the humor would also have worked more with a Liv user rather than with Tom. Had potential but was a let down. 

This was given for review

3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)