Something of a Calling by Zoje Stage: Unsettling Horror or Unintentional Comedy?

Some books are unsettling because they burrow under your skin and refuse to leave. Others leave you staring at the final page thinking, “What did I just read?” Zoje Stage’s Something of a Calling falls firmly into the second category.

Releasing September 15, 2026, Something of a Calling follows Detective Andy Cooper, a woman approaching retirement with very little waiting for her on the other side of it. Her daughter was killed by a drunk driver, her marriage ended in divorce, and her career has become the one thing she has left—and now she is about to lose that, too. She imagines an RV she hasn’t bought, a dog she doesn’t own, and a garden she might someday tend once the cable company finishes tearing up the woods behind her house. Then people start turning up dead.

The murders are strange enough to pull Andy into one final investigation. The victims have been mutilated, with chunks of flesh missing and teeth marks suggesting something decidedly nonhuman did the eating. At the same time, Andy develops an unlikely friendship with Fiona, a homeless (home-free?) woman who seems to embody everything Andy is not. Fiona is adventurous where Andy is withdrawn, connected to nature where Andy is increasingly detached from the world, and seemingly full of the vitality Andy has lost.

Of course, there is more to Fiona than meets the eye. And that is where Something of a Calling gets very strange. I went into this one looking forward to it. I thought Zoje Stage’s previous novel, Baby Teeth, was all right, and the premise here sounded like it could deliver the kind of unsettling horror I enjoy. Instead, I found myself increasingly detached from the story—and occasionally struggling not to laugh at it.

There is a definite horror premise here, but some of the horror scenes struck me as unintentionally funny rather than frightening. I kept imagining what this would look like as a movie, particularly with my adult son watching it. He has a particular appreciation for horror movies that are so ridiculous that you end up laughing your way through them, and I can absolutely picture him having a great time with a film adaptation of this story.

In some ways, Something of a Calling reminded me of Leave the World Behind, the film adaptation in which increasingly bizarre things happen while everyone tries to figure out what the hell is going on. There is that same sense of a world beginning to behave in ways that don’t make sense, and there is something almost tongue-in-cheek about the proceedings. The thing is, I’m not convinced the humor was intentional in either story. That makes it difficult to take the horror seriously.

The bigger problem for me, though, was the book’s message. Something of a Calling is deeply concerned with humanity’s relationship to animals, nature, consumption, and veganism. Those ideas could absolutely form the foundation for an effective horror novel. Horror has a long history of using the monstrous to force us to confront uncomfortable truths about ourselves. But here, the message felt less like something emerging naturally from the story and more like something the story was constructed to deliver.

I don’t mind a book having something to say. In fact, some of my favorite horror novels are unapologetically thematic. But I want the story to make me think rather than feeling like it is trying to persuade me. With Something of a Calling, I frequently felt like I was being lectured about veganism and the poor treatment of animals rather than immersed in a compelling horror story.

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If you are already deeply committed to veganism and see that philosophy as a central part of your identity, you may get considerably more out of this novel than I did. There is certainly an audience for the ideas Stage is exploring. I just don’t think the execution was strong enough to make the argument particularly persuasive to someone who isn’t already on board.

That is especially unfortunate because there are pieces of an interesting novel here. Andy’s grief and isolation could have made for a compelling character study. Her impending retirement gives the story an interesting starting point: What happens when the identity you’ve built your entire adult life around suddenly disappears? Her connection with Fiona could have explored loneliness, friendship, and the desperate desire to feel alive again. Instead, those elements felt overshadowed by the novel’s larger agenda.

I also think the relatively short length worked in its favor. Whatever else I can say about Something of a Calling, at least it didn’t take up too much of my time. The premise kept me curious enough to see where it was going, even when I wasn’t particularly invested in the execution. Unfortunately, by the time I reached the end, I was left more bewildered than disturbed.

Something of a Calling isn’t a book I hated. It’s a book I simply couldn’t take as seriously as I think it wanted me to. The strange premise, gruesome deaths, ecological themes, and increasingly bizarre revelations should have created an unsettling horror story. Instead, I found myself wondering whether I was supposed to be horrified or amused—and eventually settling on amused.

If you’re looking for a provocative horror novel centered on veganism, animal rights, and humanity’s relationship with the natural world, Something of a Calling may be worth picking up. But if you’re looking for the kind of horror that genuinely gets under your skin, I’m not sure this one will make the cut. For me, Something of a Calling was ultimately less frightening than it was baffling—and sometimes unintentionally hilarious.

If you’re curious about a strange, provocative horror novel with a decidedly unconventional take on the relationship between humans, animals, and nature, add it to your reading list and decide for yourself what exactly Stage is calling us toward.

Have you read Something of a Calling? Did you find its horror unsettling, its message thought-provoking, or—as I did—some of it unintentionally funny? I’d love to hear what you thought of Zoje Stage’s take on veganism, nature, and horror. Share your thoughts in the comments!

An advance reader copy of this book (ARC) was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Related Content

• If you like the vegan undertones of this book, check out my author interview with dystopia writer Jay Vanlandingham. I think you’ll enjoy his work. (Write on the World)
• Zoje Stage: My quest for realism in genre fiction (Crime Reads)
• How I was saved by a book (Writer’s Digest)
• An interview with Zoje Stage (Compulsive Reader)

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Now that Jack has been forced to reflect on everything he has to lose, he resolves to do better. He’s determined to spend more time at home with his family and repair the relationships that have suffered over the years while he’s been so focused on work. But as Callie’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jack realizes he has a lot more room to improve than he realized – and it might be too late to save his daughter after all.

For fans of We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Push, and Baby Teeth.