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Nothing Tastes as Good
10 hours, 30 minutes
The acclaimed author of the “disorienting, creepy, paranoia-inducing” (Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World ) A History of Fear returns with a spine-tingling new thriller about a weight loss treatment with potentially murderous side effects.
Retail worker Emmett Truesdale has never fit the Southern California mold of six-pack, suntanned masculinity. Over three hundred pounds, he carries the weight of his childhood trauma and millennial ennui around his waist and in his soul. After trying every diet under the sun, he remains stuck—in his dead-end job, in love, and in his body.
Desperate for help, he enrolls in a clinical trial for a new weight loss product called Obexity. The treatment is as horrifying as the results are miraculous and as Emmett sheds pounds at superhuman speed, every part of his life improves overnight.
Unfortunately, Obexity comes with some killer side effects, including lost stretches of time and overwhelming cravings. Worse, people who were cruel to him have started disappearing and when the police warn of a cannibalistic killer on the loose, he fears that Obexity is turning him into a monster. But how can he give it up now that people are finally starting to treat him like he’s human?
Nerve-racking, sinister, and at times surreal, Nothing Tastes as Good is an gripping thriller that combines The Substance with the best of Stephen King and keeps you guessing until the very end.
The acclaimed author of the “disorienting, creepy, paranoia-inducing” (Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World ) A History of Fear returns with a spine-tingling new thriller about a weight loss treatment with potentially murderous side effects.
Retail worker Emmett Truesdale has never fit the Southern California mold of six-pack, suntanned masculinity. Over three hundred pounds, he carries the weight of his childhood trauma and millennial ennui around his waist and in his soul. After trying every diet under the sun, he remains stuck—in his dead-end job, in love, and in his body.
Desperate for help, he enrolls in a clinical trial for a new weight loss product called Obexity. The treatment is as horrifying as the results are miraculous and as Emmett sheds pounds at superhuman speed, every part of his life improves overnight.
Unfortunately, Obexity comes with some killer side effects, including lost stretches of time and overwhelming cravings. Worse, people who were cruel to him have started disappearing and when the police warn of a cannibalistic killer on the loose, he fears that Obexity is turning him into a monster. But how can he give it up now that people are finally starting to treat him like he’s human?
Nerve-racking, sinister, and at times surreal, Nothing Tastes as Good is an gripping thriller that combines The Substance with the best of Stephen King and keeps you guessing until the very end.
Audible Audio
First published March 31, 2026
770 people are currently reading
57750 people want to read
About the author
Luke Dumas
5 books498 followersLuke Dumas is the USA Today bestselling author of Nothing Tastes as Good, The Paleontologist, and A History of Fear.
He is the winner of a 2024 ITW Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original, was nominated for the Silver Falchion Award for Best Supernatural, and his work has been optioned for film and TV.
He received his master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh, and has worked in nonprofit philanthropy for more than a decade with organizations including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the American Red Cross.
Luke was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he lives with his husband and dogs and works for a biomedical research institute.
He is the winner of a 2024 ITW Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original, was nominated for the Silver Falchion Award for Best Supernatural, and his work has been optioned for film and TV.
He received his master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh, and has worked in nonprofit philanthropy for more than a decade with organizations including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the American Red Cross.
Luke was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he lives with his husband and dogs and works for a biomedical research institute.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,494 reviews
October 29, 2025
Well … huh. That was messed up. I can't say that I exactly enjoyed this one since it's pretty twisted in the most uncomfortable of ways, but it was basically unputdownable. I read the last 60% last night and ended up finally putting the book down around 3 a.m. I mean, sure, being well rested is important and all, but finishing an exciting novel will win out over sleep every single time!
Anyway, Nothing Tastes as Good is a horror novel, but it's also a scathing social commentary on fatphobia, diet culture, the weight loss industry, and social media. And the commentary is not subtle, mind you. It felt a little over the top at times, but it's also kind of refreshing to read a book where the author makes his message obvious (because I still don't understand what that Kurt Vonnegut novel was supposed to be about, you guys). I'm packing a few (or, okay, several) more pounds now than in my younger years, but I've never been truly “fat” (not that that stops my mother from mentioning how much weight I've gained every time I see her) so it was kind of horrifying to realize how society treats individuals with serious weight issues. And the author does mention in the acknowledgments that he's been overweight for most of his life, so I assume he's speaking from a place of experience.
This wasn't as gory of a read as I expected it to be considering the subject matter (cannibalism), but there are a few scenes that the squeamish probably won't enjoy. There's a little body horror, too, but mostly this book focuses on Emmett's mental unraveling and the lengths he's willing to go to be thin and to be as “worthy” as those around him.
You mostly know where this story is headed from the very beginning, but it's still a suspenseful ride. The opening chapters make it obvious that things aren't going to end well for Emmett, but the author keeps you guessing as to how he's going to wind up where he does. I did figure out the big plot twist 30 or 40 pages before Emmett did, and although I found it rather implausible (not that this whole book isn't an exercise in implausibility), I still rather liked it.
I think a lot of of us have a messed up relationship with food and dieting. I personally came of age during an era when “heroin chic” was all the rage (see: the 90s and Kate Moss), so … yeah. This book points out how unhealthy and all-consuming these hangups can be, but in the most exaggerated and twisted and uncomfortable way possible. It's not a fun read, but it's definitely eye-opening and completely riveting.
3.8 stars, rounded up.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is March 31, 2026.
Anyway, Nothing Tastes as Good is a horror novel, but it's also a scathing social commentary on fatphobia, diet culture, the weight loss industry, and social media. And the commentary is not subtle, mind you. It felt a little over the top at times, but it's also kind of refreshing to read a book where the author makes his message obvious (because I still don't understand what that Kurt Vonnegut novel was supposed to be about, you guys). I'm packing a few (or, okay, several) more pounds now than in my younger years, but I've never been truly “fat” (not that that stops my mother from mentioning how much weight I've gained every time I see her) so it was kind of horrifying to realize how society treats individuals with serious weight issues. And the author does mention in the acknowledgments that he's been overweight for most of his life, so I assume he's speaking from a place of experience.
This wasn't as gory of a read as I expected it to be considering the subject matter (cannibalism), but there are a few scenes that the squeamish probably won't enjoy. There's a little body horror, too, but mostly this book focuses on Emmett's mental unraveling and the lengths he's willing to go to be thin and to be as “worthy” as those around him.
You mostly know where this story is headed from the very beginning, but it's still a suspenseful ride. The opening chapters make it obvious that things aren't going to end well for Emmett, but the author keeps you guessing as to how he's going to wind up where he does. I did figure out the big plot twist 30 or 40 pages before Emmett did, and although I found it rather implausible (not that this whole book isn't an exercise in implausibility), I still rather liked it.
I think a lot of of us have a messed up relationship with food and dieting. I personally came of age during an era when “heroin chic” was all the rage (see: the 90s and Kate Moss), so … yeah. This book points out how unhealthy and all-consuming these hangups can be, but in the most exaggerated and twisted and uncomfortable way possible. It's not a fun read, but it's definitely eye-opening and completely riveting.
3.8 stars, rounded up.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is March 31, 2026.
September 15, 2025
Thanks for checking out NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD, my cross between The Substance and Stephen King's Thinner. I hope you've got the appetite for body horror, cannibalism, and a biting critique of the weight loss industry and fatphobia!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
⭐️ 4.5 ⭐️ Nothing Tastes As Good as SKINNY. Weight loss drugs that come with killer side effects—lost stretches of time and cravings of carnal nature? Sounds like it’s getting more dangerous than Ozempic.
Obesity, we have been friends until 2 years ago. I know you so well. I know that feeling of being 'trapped' inside your body. The humiliation, the degradation that comes with that label. The back laughs, the false "oh you look good" remarks, the forced fed advices...I can go on for a while. Obesity brings a spectrum of chronic illnesses; it's magnetic and it draws in all the health crap and social issues towards you. It's a slow eating parasite. Thank God I got rid of you.
Emmett is over 300 pounds. His A1C is 8.9, he can't walk for a long periods of time, he can't sleep & needs his CPAP machine. He carries the weight of his childhood trauma, poor self-image and lives and breathes in all negativity. He tried all the diets under the sun. The point is--he feels LESS than THIN people and he wants a change. So Emmett enrolls into a weight loss drug trial called Obexity, which is a gene therapy treatment for the obese. It doesn't suppress your appetite but rather alters persons genetic composition that helps to activate the metabolism, thus helping individuals achieve a more rapid and greater weight loss without altering the persons diet or exercise. Think of this as the current wave of skinny drugs- the GLP-1s! However, the side effects of these drugs are not well known--but Emmett begins to experience more than he bargained for.
What he bargained for follows a violently visceral and emotional raw horror that puts FATPHOBIA, bullying and healthcare greed under biomedical microscope! I literally feasted on this book, because it was so real to me. This book is literally FOOD FOR THOUGHT, with great social commentary and regard to social (and personal) current views on body image, dysmorphia and the psychological stress that parallels a little too close to reality.
So, how do you like your STEAK? I'd prefer mine medium RARE.
Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books Publisher and the author, Luke Dumas for sending me the eARC!
Publication date: March 31, 2026
Obesity, we have been friends until 2 years ago. I know you so well. I know that feeling of being 'trapped' inside your body. The humiliation, the degradation that comes with that label. The back laughs, the false "oh you look good" remarks, the forced fed advices...I can go on for a while. Obesity brings a spectrum of chronic illnesses; it's magnetic and it draws in all the health crap and social issues towards you. It's a slow eating parasite. Thank God I got rid of you.
Emmett is over 300 pounds. His A1C is 8.9, he can't walk for a long periods of time, he can't sleep & needs his CPAP machine. He carries the weight of his childhood trauma, poor self-image and lives and breathes in all negativity. He tried all the diets under the sun. The point is--he feels LESS than THIN people and he wants a change. So Emmett enrolls into a weight loss drug trial called Obexity, which is a gene therapy treatment for the obese. It doesn't suppress your appetite but rather alters persons genetic composition that helps to activate the metabolism, thus helping individuals achieve a more rapid and greater weight loss without altering the persons diet or exercise. Think of this as the current wave of skinny drugs- the GLP-1s! However, the side effects of these drugs are not well known--but Emmett begins to experience more than he bargained for.
What he bargained for follows a violently visceral and emotional raw horror that puts FATPHOBIA, bullying and healthcare greed under biomedical microscope! I literally feasted on this book, because it was so real to me. This book is literally FOOD FOR THOUGHT, with great social commentary and regard to social (and personal) current views on body image, dysmorphia and the psychological stress that parallels a little too close to reality.
So, how do you like your STEAK? I'd prefer mine medium RARE.
Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books Publisher and the author, Luke Dumas for sending me the eARC!
Publication date: March 31, 2026
April 24, 2026
Nothing Tastes as Good crawled under my skin and stayed there. This is the kind of book that makes you feel uneasy even when you put it down, like something is still watching you from the corner of the room. It is dark, disturbing, emotional, and completely impossible to stop reading.
What makes this story hit so hard is Emmett. He feels painfully real. You are inside his head, feeling every doubt, every flicker of hope, every moment where he just wants to be treated like a human being instead of a problem to fix. Watching his life begin to change should be exciting, but instead it fills you with dread because you can sense that the price of being accepted is going to be terrifying.
The tension never lets up. Even in quieter moments, there is this thick feeling that something is wrong. The more Emmett gets what he has always wanted, the more he starts to lose himself, and that slow unraveling is honestly scarier than any shocking scene. You find yourself rooting for him while also being afraid of what he is becoming, and that emotional conflict makes the story hit even deeper.
This book is not just about horror in the traditional sense. It is about shame, loneliness, and the way society decides who is allowed to feel worthy. The real fear comes from how recognizable it all is. So many people know what it feels like to be judged by their bodies, their choices, or their past, and this story takes that pain and pushes it into something nightmarish and unforgettable.
By the time I reached the end, I felt drained in the best way. It left me thinking, unsettled, and strangely moved. This is one of those books that does not fade when you close it. It lingers.
A very huge thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this sinister horror mystery’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
What makes this story hit so hard is Emmett. He feels painfully real. You are inside his head, feeling every doubt, every flicker of hope, every moment where he just wants to be treated like a human being instead of a problem to fix. Watching his life begin to change should be exciting, but instead it fills you with dread because you can sense that the price of being accepted is going to be terrifying.
The tension never lets up. Even in quieter moments, there is this thick feeling that something is wrong. The more Emmett gets what he has always wanted, the more he starts to lose himself, and that slow unraveling is honestly scarier than any shocking scene. You find yourself rooting for him while also being afraid of what he is becoming, and that emotional conflict makes the story hit even deeper.
This book is not just about horror in the traditional sense. It is about shame, loneliness, and the way society decides who is allowed to feel worthy. The real fear comes from how recognizable it all is. So many people know what it feels like to be judged by their bodies, their choices, or their past, and this story takes that pain and pushes it into something nightmarish and unforgettable.
By the time I reached the end, I felt drained in the best way. It left me thinking, unsettled, and strangely moved. This is one of those books that does not fade when you close it. It lingers.
A very huge thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sharing this sinister horror mystery’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
September 10, 2025
What a helluva ride this took me on! I devoured it in two days! I inhaled it!
Emmett Truesdale is an overweight single man over 300lbs. Emmett is miserably unhealthy, unhappy, and eats his feelings. It’s the only life he’s ever known. Until one day, he sees an ad pop up on the screen for Obexity. Obexity is offering him to participate in a clinical trial to lose weight. Just a shot (like all the others) that offers amazing results.
However, Obexity comes with some killer side effects. Literally. 😳😳😳😳😳
I will share that I once was over 200lbs and by-gawd, so much of this hit home! Whether it’s food, alcohol or drugs… I was abusing it. I could not control my hunger to numb the trauma of the past.
This story is RAW and IN YOUR FACE! The fact that Dumas could turn the weight loss shot fads into a true horror story was so fitting for the times! I freaking LOVED IT! Bravo Luke Dumas 👏. I now need to read everything you’ve written! I dare you guys to take a bite outta this!
4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trigger warnings of weight, eating disorders, and childhood trauma.
Thank you to Atria and Luke Dumas for the gifted copy!
Expected Pub Date - 3/31/26
Emmett Truesdale is an overweight single man over 300lbs. Emmett is miserably unhealthy, unhappy, and eats his feelings. It’s the only life he’s ever known. Until one day, he sees an ad pop up on the screen for Obexity. Obexity is offering him to participate in a clinical trial to lose weight. Just a shot (like all the others) that offers amazing results.
However, Obexity comes with some killer side effects. Literally. 😳😳😳😳😳
I will share that I once was over 200lbs and by-gawd, so much of this hit home! Whether it’s food, alcohol or drugs… I was abusing it. I could not control my hunger to numb the trauma of the past.
This story is RAW and IN YOUR FACE! The fact that Dumas could turn the weight loss shot fads into a true horror story was so fitting for the times! I freaking LOVED IT! Bravo Luke Dumas 👏. I now need to read everything you’ve written! I dare you guys to take a bite outta this!
4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trigger warnings of weight, eating disorders, and childhood trauma.
Thank you to Atria and Luke Dumas for the gifted copy!
Expected Pub Date - 3/31/26
April 23, 2026
Title/Author: Nothing Tastes As Good
Format Read: Audiobook
Pub date: March 31, 2026
Publisher: Atria Books
Page Count: 352/Audio: 11 hours and 26 minutes
Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978166806...
Recommended for readers who enjoy:
- Weight loss and diet culture
- Fans of The Substance (film 2024)
- "Special Meat" books (cannibalism)
- Mixed Media format (social media posts, blog, news articles and interviews)
- Horror with Heart & Humor
- Identity/Queerness/Body issues
- Social Media/Influencers/Fitness and Wellness
Eric LaRocca's blurb is my favorite: “A searing, blisteringly aggressive critique of identity, queerness, and weight loss, this book shocked me and brutalized me in equal measure. Nothing Tastes as Good reminded me of when I watched The Substance for the very first time. I was enthralled, disgusted, and deeply moved.” —Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
__
Minor complaints/Content Warnings
- Even with the humor and the effortless emotional investment/accessible storytelling, Emmett Truesdale's harrowing journey is relentless suffering. I feel like readers need to go into this book with proper expectations-this is an INTENSE examination of a man traumatized by his weight his entire life. This isn't a complaint as much as it is a warning
-Audiobook comment: I love the narrator's voice and I did think the hashtags and emojis and reading usernames was difficult to listen to: "Crying face emoji, crying face emoji, hashtag "the true me" hashtag "fit for life" hashtag "weightlossjourney"
Final recommendation: I am a huge Luke Dumas fan. His first book, A History of Fear was a big hit for me. I enjoyed the storytelling and the mixed-media format. I also loved how intricately it was plotted. Nothing Tastes as Good also employs a mixed-media format with long stretches of exposition and dialogue peppered with Instagram posts, articles and news, interviews, etc. it's an effective literary device in the right, capable hands--Luke Dumas uses it well.
It's clear this is a passion project--something deeply personal for the author to share and confirmed by his own social media posts expressing this fact. The author shared the origin story behind, Nothing Tastes as Good on his Instagram. I highly recommend checking that out-it's one of his pinned posts. The fictional protagonist is ruthlessly bullied and shamed by his brother and step-father who nickname him "fat-pig". He finds comfort and refuge in Pokémon. This is also true for the author. So, you can see this is a deeply intimate and vulnerable story.
Horror is a lens in which we, the readers, can view someone's trauma and empathize with them in a way that just isn't always possible in real life. I'm so thankful that Luke shared this story with us. It's brave and thought provoking and emotionally devastating. There is a lot of shame and guilt expressed here; disordered eating, thought-spiraling, insecurities, fat phobic language, body image issues, harsh judgments and criticism, and even emotional, physical, and mental abuse. It honestly reminded me of The Substance--that overwhelming and pervasive desperation to do anything to stop feeling the pressure and pain of being in your own body.
Anyway, I could go on and on. I loved Emmett's best friend and roommate--just want to give her a shoutout. Anytime she was on the page, I was smiling.
Comps: Thinner by Stephen King, The Substance (2024), Youthjuice by E. K. Sathue, Full Immersion by Gemma Amor, Cruelty Free by Caroline Glenn, Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
Format Read: Audiobook
Pub date: March 31, 2026
Publisher: Atria Books
Page Count: 352/Audio: 11 hours and 26 minutes
Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978166806...
Recommended for readers who enjoy:
- Weight loss and diet culture
- Fans of The Substance (film 2024)
- "Special Meat" books (cannibalism)
- Mixed Media format (social media posts, blog, news articles and interviews)
- Horror with Heart & Humor
- Identity/Queerness/Body issues
- Social Media/Influencers/Fitness and Wellness
Eric LaRocca's blurb is my favorite: “A searing, blisteringly aggressive critique of identity, queerness, and weight loss, this book shocked me and brutalized me in equal measure. Nothing Tastes as Good reminded me of when I watched The Substance for the very first time. I was enthralled, disgusted, and deeply moved.” —Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
__
Minor complaints/Content Warnings
- Even with the humor and the effortless emotional investment/accessible storytelling, Emmett Truesdale's harrowing journey is relentless suffering. I feel like readers need to go into this book with proper expectations-this is an INTENSE examination of a man traumatized by his weight his entire life. This isn't a complaint as much as it is a warning
-Audiobook comment: I love the narrator's voice and I did think the hashtags and emojis and reading usernames was difficult to listen to: "Crying face emoji, crying face emoji, hashtag "the true me" hashtag "fit for life" hashtag "weightlossjourney"
Final recommendation: I am a huge Luke Dumas fan. His first book, A History of Fear was a big hit for me. I enjoyed the storytelling and the mixed-media format. I also loved how intricately it was plotted. Nothing Tastes as Good also employs a mixed-media format with long stretches of exposition and dialogue peppered with Instagram posts, articles and news, interviews, etc. it's an effective literary device in the right, capable hands--Luke Dumas uses it well.
It's clear this is a passion project--something deeply personal for the author to share and confirmed by his own social media posts expressing this fact. The author shared the origin story behind, Nothing Tastes as Good on his Instagram. I highly recommend checking that out-it's one of his pinned posts. The fictional protagonist is ruthlessly bullied and shamed by his brother and step-father who nickname him "fat-pig". He finds comfort and refuge in Pokémon. This is also true for the author. So, you can see this is a deeply intimate and vulnerable story.
Horror is a lens in which we, the readers, can view someone's trauma and empathize with them in a way that just isn't always possible in real life. I'm so thankful that Luke shared this story with us. It's brave and thought provoking and emotionally devastating. There is a lot of shame and guilt expressed here; disordered eating, thought-spiraling, insecurities, fat phobic language, body image issues, harsh judgments and criticism, and even emotional, physical, and mental abuse. It honestly reminded me of The Substance--that overwhelming and pervasive desperation to do anything to stop feeling the pressure and pain of being in your own body.
Anyway, I could go on and on. I loved Emmett's best friend and roommate--just want to give her a shoutout. Anytime she was on the page, I was smiling.
Comps: Thinner by Stephen King, The Substance (2024), Youthjuice by E. K. Sathue, Full Immersion by Gemma Amor, Cruelty Free by Caroline Glenn, Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5 Stars
This is a fantastic piece of horror fiction that felt like a spiritual successor to Thriller by Richard Bachman (Stephen King).
I have read and enjoyed this author's before but this one is easily my favourite. It was such an intentional and thoughtful exploration of body image, weight issues and societal judgement. This felt personal and sensitive where so many other media lean into stereotypes and tired tropes.
All that being said, the themes and social commentary in this novel did not take away from the gruesome plot. It's clear that this author has an authentic love for horror. This book is dark and messed up with a solid ending.
I would recommend this one to anyone who enjoys brutal horror stories that use the horror elements to explore some meaningful themes.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
This is a fantastic piece of horror fiction that felt like a spiritual successor to Thriller by Richard Bachman (Stephen King).
I have read and enjoyed this author's before but this one is easily my favourite. It was such an intentional and thoughtful exploration of body image, weight issues and societal judgement. This felt personal and sensitive where so many other media lean into stereotypes and tired tropes.
All that being said, the themes and social commentary in this novel did not take away from the gruesome plot. It's clear that this author has an authentic love for horror. This book is dark and messed up with a solid ending.
I would recommend this one to anyone who enjoys brutal horror stories that use the horror elements to explore some meaningful themes.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
April 20, 2026
Okay, I am so obsessed.
This book's doing a lot more than just telling a horror story. It’s basically using horror as a delivery system for a whole cluster of uncomfortable ideas about control and how people are perceived.
It feels very of-the-moment, especially with all the Ozempic discourse floating around right now. You can’t really read this without that context hovering behind it like a fog. I have complicated thoughts about GLP-1s, but this isn’t a TED Talk. What matters is that the book taps into something very real - transformation as promise and as something you’re supposed to want so badly you don’t question what it costs.
On the surface, it's about a miracle weight loss drug that promises control over your weight, your appearance, your life, how you’re perceived. But what it actually does is strip that control away in a different, more insidious way.
The book doesn’t approach body image and social acceptance in a clean, moralising way (until the final few pages). It’s not saying “love yourself” or “society's evil” and “fatness is good” or “thinness is evil.” It refuses that and focuses on how quickly bodies become moralised. It dives on in and shows how deeply those pressures get internalised. The MC Emmett isn’t just reacting to external cruelty, he’s absorbed it and built an entire worldview out of it. The real horror isn’t just how people treat him, but how he starts to see himself and others through that same lens.
I found Emmett so frustrating. Not in a bad character way, though. He moves through the world like everything is happening to him. He’s ashamed of his body, his job, his life, his choices, but instead of doing anything with that shame, he folds it inward and just sits there in it. Stewing away for years. There’s a lot of self-pity, a lot of Emmett near-tears over normal interactions, and a metric shit ton of helplessness that starts to feel almost performative even when you know it probably isn’t.
He’s very “I tried nothing and nothing worked” about everything. I wanted to shake him.
But also, he's kind of uncomfortably relatable.
Because most people aren’t Emmett, but most people do know the impulse to externalise blame and rewrite reality so you’re less responsible for your own discomfort. Emmett just turns that dial up until it becomes the operating system of his entire life.
Because we’re so deep in Emmett’s head, we’re constantly having to question what’s actually happening versus what he thinks is happening. A glance becomes disgust. A neutral interaction becomes hostility. The book doesn’t always correct him either and it lets that ambiguity sit there, creating this tension where you’re never entirely sure how much of the cruelty's external and how much is being filtered (or amplified) by Emmetts own mindset.
To be fair, he’s not imagining everything. People are cruel to him. Some of it's overt while some of it's the kind of everyday judgement people don’t even realise they’re broadcasting. He gets plenty of shit from coworkers, strangers, former students, even people who claim to care about him. But Emmett also fills in a lot of blanks with assumption. Silence becomes ridicule and neutrality becomes hostility. It becomes suffocating.
But there are plenty of moments where he's just plain wrong. The gym scene's a perfect example. He leaves equipment without wiping it down, someone else cleans it, and he spirals into a full internal monologue about humiliation and how this gym bro thinks he's disgusting. And I’m sitting there like: Emmett. That’s not persecution. That’s hygiene. That's gym etiquette.
I loved the mixed-media format. We see the story unfold through blog posts, interviews, journals, newspaper articles, emails, and a traditional narrative all stitched together like a forensic reconstruction of a life. It creates this invasive feeling, like you’re not reading a story so much as sifting through evidence. And that evidence is Messy. Capital M.
But we also get this sort of curated identity. We see the Emmett that he's expertly developed for his blog and social media (kind, introspective, tragic, a real underdog), and we also see through interviews who Emmett was to everyone else (wound tight, aggressive, a bully), and we see the real Emmett come out as the regular narrative progresses which is a lot closer to a bully than his social media persona would have you believe. It makes you consider how much of your identity is something constructed vs lived.
My god the health journals he kept for the medical trial. Like everyone else is probably writing, "Ate this today, lost 3 pounds" but Emmett’s writing whole ass novels. Exhausting doesn't even cover it. But they’re a brilliant insight into how he constructs himself. They’re all drenched in this “why is my life so uniquely unbearable and why is everyone out to get me” energy that made me want to hand the fictional archive intern hazard pay for having to trawl through this drivel.
But it's that tension between real external cruelty and imagined internal escalation where the book is at its most uncomfortable.
It takes a while to get to the horror. There are glimpses early on through interviews and articles of something going wrong, but the full descent doesn’t really kick in until around 2/3 of the way through. But that slow build makes it worse. Because by the time things properly unravel, you’ve been sitting in Emmett’s mindset for so long that it feels like inevitability finally catching up rather than a big twist.
And underneath all of it is the book’s real obsession around control.
The body becomes something to negotiate with, punish, reward, fix, optimise, erase. The promise of control is always just out of reach, and when it seems to arrive, it mutates into something else entirely. It parallels addiction expertly, because it isn’t just about wanting to change, it’s about how that want can escalate into something compulsive, something that overrides logic and self-preservation. The body becomes less like something you inhabit and more like something you’re battling.
And then the book pulls a really sharp move. It doesn’t let weight loss “fix” anything. If anything, it just reveals a different side of Emmett that’s arguably worse. As soon as he loses the weight, his self-pitying, wounded energy doesn’t disappear, it just mutates. The constant “woe is me” narrative gets replaced with this quiet, cutting superiority. Suddenly he’s the one judging everyone else, handing out internal commentary like he’s been promoted to moral authority overnight.
There’s a moment where he clocks someone’s shopping and immediately spirals into this harsh, dismissive internal monologue about her choices, her body, her worth. It’s so hypocritical. For most of the book, Emmett’s convinced his size is the reason people look down on him and avoid him, that losing weight will unlock some kind of acceptance or kindness. But when he actually loses the weight, you realise nope. That wasn’t the root issue.
Emmett is just kind of an asshole at any weight.
And I don’t think this is a personality change caused by the drug so much as a personality reveal. Strip away the (very extreme, very horrifying) circumstances, and it feels like this version of Emmett was always there waiting for a chance to reveal itself. The resentment, the judgement, the way he categorises people and assigns value doesn’t come out of nowhere. The weight loss just removes the one barrier that was holding it back. It gives him social permission, in a way, to redirect all that internalised anger outward.
So instead of being the person absorbing the cruelty, he becomes the one dishing it out. He starts bullying and belittling people in the exact ways he’s been hurt by, almost like he’s rehearsed it for years and is finally getting his turn. It’s uncomfortable because it suggests that suffering doesn’t automatically make someone kinder or more empathetic, it can just as easily make them meaner and more eager to flip the hierarchy in their favour.
I think this is the uncomfortable truth the book's circling. Emmett wasn’t waiting to become a different person. He was waiting for permission to express a version of himself that was already there.
And Lizette. I NEED a Lizette in my life. A true ride-or-die. Not because she’s perfect, but because in a book full of projection, spiralling, moralising, and emotional noise, she feels like one of the only people actually anchored to something real.
There’s also a personal angle here I didn’t expect the book to unlock. I get Emmett more than I want to admit. Feeling like your body's broadcasting something about you that you can’t control and the belief that people are looking at you more than they are. I’ve had crooked teeth my whole life. I used to avoid speaking at conferences because I could viscerally feel what it would be like to see my face on a big screen and assume everyone would only see my fucked up teeth. Then I got them fixed and went from Steve Buscemi to Walton Goggins and overnight something shifted. I stopped avoiding cameras, I smiled in photos without thinking about it, I found this confidence I never knew I had. It’s ridiculous in hindsight how much space that stupid thought took up in my head, but the change in how I moved through the world was real. So I get Emmett’s logic that changing one thing will unlock a different version of your life.
And that’s kind of the core of it. Emmett and I didn't transform or find some sort of redemption, we were always that person. We just changed what we gave ourselves permission to do.
This isn’t a comforting read. It’s not trying to be. But I couldn't look away.
Update (because I haven’t stopped thinking about this since I finished it): this is probably a 4.5 for me rather than a clean 5. I’m still obsessed, but there are a few creative choices I keep circling back to and the more I sit with them, the more they start to irritate me.
The constant Pokémon references are a lot. I get it, I really do. I understand the intention. Emmett using games as emotional shorthand to translate shame into something familiar. Fine. In theory it works. “Hank used Taunt… it was super effective!” and all that. But in practice there’s a tipping point where it stops feeling like layered characterisation and starts feeling like a running internal meme that refuses to die. And for a 30ish year old, it occasionally crosses from tragic coping mechanism into something that just feels a bit like he's emotionally frozen in adolescence. And including those references in the finale is a choice. It pulled me out of what should’ve been a really intense moment and into a slightly awkward “oh ffs…we’re still doing this” headspace.
The childhood trauma stuff also occasionally goes a bit overboard. It starts to feel like the book's layering explanation on top of explanation until the emotional weight stops accumulating and starts folding under its own weight. Like it’s trying so hard to make sure you understand the cause that it accidentally blunts the impact of the present-tense character work.
And then there’s the final stretch, which is where things get a bit wobbly for me. There’s this very abrupt pivot into what feels like a very direct fat activism-style ramble about obesity being purely disease-driven, socially constructed, unavoidable, beyond prevention. Basically a full ideological statement drop that feels like it’s been copy-pasted from FA tumblr. It just didn’t sit well with the tonal balance the book had spent so long carefully maintaining. For most of the narrative it’s nuanced and observant, refusing easy binaries and letting contradictions exist. So when it suddenly shifts into something that feels much more declarative and one-note, it reads like an odd detour.
None of this undoes how compelling it all is. It’s still stuck in my head, but it does take it from a perfect to a nearly perfect read.
This book's doing a lot more than just telling a horror story. It’s basically using horror as a delivery system for a whole cluster of uncomfortable ideas about control and how people are perceived.
It feels very of-the-moment, especially with all the Ozempic discourse floating around right now. You can’t really read this without that context hovering behind it like a fog. I have complicated thoughts about GLP-1s, but this isn’t a TED Talk. What matters is that the book taps into something very real - transformation as promise and as something you’re supposed to want so badly you don’t question what it costs.
On the surface, it's about a miracle weight loss drug that promises control over your weight, your appearance, your life, how you’re perceived. But what it actually does is strip that control away in a different, more insidious way.
The book doesn’t approach body image and social acceptance in a clean, moralising way (until the final few pages). It’s not saying “love yourself” or “society's evil” and “fatness is good” or “thinness is evil.” It refuses that and focuses on how quickly bodies become moralised. It dives on in and shows how deeply those pressures get internalised. The MC Emmett isn’t just reacting to external cruelty, he’s absorbed it and built an entire worldview out of it. The real horror isn’t just how people treat him, but how he starts to see himself and others through that same lens.
“They say health is a human right. The problem is, not everyone sees fat people as human.”That pretty much distills the book’s entire argument. It’s not subtle, but it doesn’t need to be. The story keeps circling back to the idea that once someone's seen as “other,” everything about them becomes open for judgwment and correction. Their body stops being neutral and becomes a public issue.
I found Emmett so frustrating. Not in a bad character way, though. He moves through the world like everything is happening to him. He’s ashamed of his body, his job, his life, his choices, but instead of doing anything with that shame, he folds it inward and just sits there in it. Stewing away for years. There’s a lot of self-pity, a lot of Emmett near-tears over normal interactions, and a metric shit ton of helplessness that starts to feel almost performative even when you know it probably isn’t.
He’s very “I tried nothing and nothing worked” about everything. I wanted to shake him.
But also, he's kind of uncomfortably relatable.
Because most people aren’t Emmett, but most people do know the impulse to externalise blame and rewrite reality so you’re less responsible for your own discomfort. Emmett just turns that dial up until it becomes the operating system of his entire life.
Because we’re so deep in Emmett’s head, we’re constantly having to question what’s actually happening versus what he thinks is happening. A glance becomes disgust. A neutral interaction becomes hostility. The book doesn’t always correct him either and it lets that ambiguity sit there, creating this tension where you’re never entirely sure how much of the cruelty's external and how much is being filtered (or amplified) by Emmetts own mindset.
To be fair, he’s not imagining everything. People are cruel to him. Some of it's overt while some of it's the kind of everyday judgement people don’t even realise they’re broadcasting. He gets plenty of shit from coworkers, strangers, former students, even people who claim to care about him. But Emmett also fills in a lot of blanks with assumption. Silence becomes ridicule and neutrality becomes hostility. It becomes suffocating.
But there are plenty of moments where he's just plain wrong. The gym scene's a perfect example. He leaves equipment without wiping it down, someone else cleans it, and he spirals into a full internal monologue about humiliation and how this gym bro thinks he's disgusting. And I’m sitting there like: Emmett. That’s not persecution. That’s hygiene. That's gym etiquette.
I loved the mixed-media format. We see the story unfold through blog posts, interviews, journals, newspaper articles, emails, and a traditional narrative all stitched together like a forensic reconstruction of a life. It creates this invasive feeling, like you’re not reading a story so much as sifting through evidence. And that evidence is Messy. Capital M.
But we also get this sort of curated identity. We see the Emmett that he's expertly developed for his blog and social media (kind, introspective, tragic, a real underdog), and we also see through interviews who Emmett was to everyone else (wound tight, aggressive, a bully), and we see the real Emmett come out as the regular narrative progresses which is a lot closer to a bully than his social media persona would have you believe. It makes you consider how much of your identity is something constructed vs lived.
My god the health journals he kept for the medical trial. Like everyone else is probably writing, "Ate this today, lost 3 pounds" but Emmett’s writing whole ass novels. Exhausting doesn't even cover it. But they’re a brilliant insight into how he constructs himself. They’re all drenched in this “why is my life so uniquely unbearable and why is everyone out to get me” energy that made me want to hand the fictional archive intern hazard pay for having to trawl through this drivel.
But it's that tension between real external cruelty and imagined internal escalation where the book is at its most uncomfortable.
It takes a while to get to the horror. There are glimpses early on through interviews and articles of something going wrong, but the full descent doesn’t really kick in until around 2/3 of the way through. But that slow build makes it worse. Because by the time things properly unravel, you’ve been sitting in Emmett’s mindset for so long that it feels like inevitability finally catching up rather than a big twist.
And underneath all of it is the book’s real obsession around control.
The body becomes something to negotiate with, punish, reward, fix, optimise, erase. The promise of control is always just out of reach, and when it seems to arrive, it mutates into something else entirely. It parallels addiction expertly, because it isn’t just about wanting to change, it’s about how that want can escalate into something compulsive, something that overrides logic and self-preservation. The body becomes less like something you inhabit and more like something you’re battling.
“What started as a gentle nudge of desire would steadily ramp up the longer he held out. Eventually it was throwing itself around his head, a wild, thrashing animal of a thing. A thing not just to be placated, but feared.”He's not simply wanting something, hes being overtaken by it.
And then the book pulls a really sharp move. It doesn’t let weight loss “fix” anything. If anything, it just reveals a different side of Emmett that’s arguably worse. As soon as he loses the weight, his self-pitying, wounded energy doesn’t disappear, it just mutates. The constant “woe is me” narrative gets replaced with this quiet, cutting superiority. Suddenly he’s the one judging everyone else, handing out internal commentary like he’s been promoted to moral authority overnight.
There’s a moment where he clocks someone’s shopping and immediately spirals into this harsh, dismissive internal monologue about her choices, her body, her worth. It’s so hypocritical. For most of the book, Emmett’s convinced his size is the reason people look down on him and avoid him, that losing weight will unlock some kind of acceptance or kindness. But when he actually loses the weight, you realise nope. That wasn’t the root issue.
Emmett is just kind of an asshole at any weight.
And I don’t think this is a personality change caused by the drug so much as a personality reveal. Strip away the (very extreme, very horrifying) circumstances, and it feels like this version of Emmett was always there waiting for a chance to reveal itself. The resentment, the judgement, the way he categorises people and assigns value doesn’t come out of nowhere. The weight loss just removes the one barrier that was holding it back. It gives him social permission, in a way, to redirect all that internalised anger outward.
So instead of being the person absorbing the cruelty, he becomes the one dishing it out. He starts bullying and belittling people in the exact ways he’s been hurt by, almost like he’s rehearsed it for years and is finally getting his turn. It’s uncomfortable because it suggests that suffering doesn’t automatically make someone kinder or more empathetic, it can just as easily make them meaner and more eager to flip the hierarchy in their favour.
I think this is the uncomfortable truth the book's circling. Emmett wasn’t waiting to become a different person. He was waiting for permission to express a version of himself that was already there.
And Lizette. I NEED a Lizette in my life. A true ride-or-die. Not because she’s perfect, but because in a book full of projection, spiralling, moralising, and emotional noise, she feels like one of the only people actually anchored to something real.
There’s also a personal angle here I didn’t expect the book to unlock. I get Emmett more than I want to admit. Feeling like your body's broadcasting something about you that you can’t control and the belief that people are looking at you more than they are. I’ve had crooked teeth my whole life. I used to avoid speaking at conferences because I could viscerally feel what it would be like to see my face on a big screen and assume everyone would only see my fucked up teeth. Then I got them fixed and went from Steve Buscemi to Walton Goggins and overnight something shifted. I stopped avoiding cameras, I smiled in photos without thinking about it, I found this confidence I never knew I had. It’s ridiculous in hindsight how much space that stupid thought took up in my head, but the change in how I moved through the world was real. So I get Emmett’s logic that changing one thing will unlock a different version of your life.
And that’s kind of the core of it. Emmett and I didn't transform or find some sort of redemption, we were always that person. We just changed what we gave ourselves permission to do.
This isn’t a comforting read. It’s not trying to be. But I couldn't look away.
Update (because I haven’t stopped thinking about this since I finished it): this is probably a 4.5 for me rather than a clean 5. I’m still obsessed, but there are a few creative choices I keep circling back to and the more I sit with them, the more they start to irritate me.
The constant Pokémon references are a lot. I get it, I really do. I understand the intention. Emmett using games as emotional shorthand to translate shame into something familiar. Fine. In theory it works. “Hank used Taunt… it was super effective!” and all that. But in practice there’s a tipping point where it stops feeling like layered characterisation and starts feeling like a running internal meme that refuses to die. And for a 30ish year old, it occasionally crosses from tragic coping mechanism into something that just feels a bit like he's emotionally frozen in adolescence. And including those references in the finale is a choice. It pulled me out of what should’ve been a really intense moment and into a slightly awkward “oh ffs…we’re still doing this” headspace.
The childhood trauma stuff also occasionally goes a bit overboard. It starts to feel like the book's layering explanation on top of explanation until the emotional weight stops accumulating and starts folding under its own weight. Like it’s trying so hard to make sure you understand the cause that it accidentally blunts the impact of the present-tense character work.
And then there’s the final stretch, which is where things get a bit wobbly for me. There’s this very abrupt pivot into what feels like a very direct fat activism-style ramble about obesity being purely disease-driven, socially constructed, unavoidable, beyond prevention. Basically a full ideological statement drop that feels like it’s been copy-pasted from FA tumblr. It just didn’t sit well with the tonal balance the book had spent so long carefully maintaining. For most of the narrative it’s nuanced and observant, refusing easy binaries and letting contradictions exist. So when it suddenly shifts into something that feels much more declarative and one-note, it reads like an odd detour.
None of this undoes how compelling it all is. It’s still stuck in my head, but it does take it from a perfect to a nearly perfect read.
April 18, 2026
Emmett, the MC, is a caricature of fatness to the point of it being ridiculous. He, throughout the novel, has no character development. He's a shitty person the entire time. Also, I wanted the horror aspect to be so much more. Almost all the kill scenes were fade to black. I wanted to see Emmett kill the evil skinny people.
Additionally, the "twist" felt unnecessary and I rolled my eyes when it was revealed. Also, I HATE the end of the book, specifically how we last see Emmett. It felt like the book was making a joke like, "Emmett is sOoOoOoOo fattttt..."
I thought the book was fine in the first half but the 2nd half lost me. Im also realizing that books about sad, repressed, self-loathing fat people is not my gig. Give me books about happy, cutesy fat people being cutesy and happy in their fatness.
Additionally, the "twist" felt unnecessary and I rolled my eyes when it was revealed. Also, I HATE the end of the book, specifically how we last see Emmett. It felt like the book was making a joke like, "Emmett is sOoOoOoOo fattttt..."
I thought the book was fine in the first half but the 2nd half lost me. Im also realizing that books about sad, repressed, self-loathing fat people is not my gig. Give me books about happy, cutesy fat people being cutesy and happy in their fatness.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
”How much beauty had he missed out on to avoid humiliation? How much life had he not lived in devotion to the low ground, where he felt he belonged?”
this was so addictive, like a “weight loss” version of The Substance. the mc Emmett has been treated badly his whole life because of his size, so when he gets the chance to be a candidate for Obexity (weight loss injection).. he jumps at the opportunity. little did he know, there would be some cannibalistic side effects. watching Emmett descend into being a killer was such a train wreck and i could not look away for the life of me.
”Maybe the drug was turning him into a monster, but how could he be expected to give it up when for the first time people were treating him like a human being?”
i lovedddd his best friend Lizette, she was so supportive of Emmett and was the only one who truly loved him for who he was and she also held it down when he started going off the deep end too. i could not stand Emmett’s stepfather Hank.. what an abusive, gaslighting, self assured loser. i think the discussion around Emmett and whether his actions were the fault of Obexity, or just his deeper trauma response coming forth as aggression was so interesting. the last couple chapters were completely insane but also kind of unfortunate tbh.
➩ many thanks to NetGalley, the author and Atria Books for the arc, all opinions are my own.
this was so addictive, like a “weight loss” version of The Substance. the mc Emmett has been treated badly his whole life because of his size, so when he gets the chance to be a candidate for Obexity (weight loss injection).. he jumps at the opportunity. little did he know, there would be some cannibalistic side effects. watching Emmett descend into being a killer was such a train wreck and i could not look away for the life of me.
”Maybe the drug was turning him into a monster, but how could he be expected to give it up when for the first time people were treating him like a human being?”
i lovedddd his best friend Lizette, she was so supportive of Emmett and was the only one who truly loved him for who he was and she also held it down when he started going off the deep end too. i could not stand Emmett’s stepfather Hank.. what an abusive, gaslighting, self assured loser. i think the discussion around Emmett and whether his actions were the fault of Obexity, or just his deeper trauma response coming forth as aggression was so interesting. the last couple chapters were completely insane but also kind of unfortunate tbh.
➩ many thanks to NetGalley, the author and Atria Books for the arc, all opinions are my own.
March 31, 2026
Fantastic! I was unable to put this book down. I was sneaking chapters, just like snacks, whenever I had a chance.
Emmett has struggled with his weight since childhood. He’s dealt with so much continuous bullying throughout his life that he’s left lacking any type of self-confidence. His roommate, Lizette, is the exact opposite and tries to get him to embrace himself and his body. He just can’t and is miserable until one day he stumbles across an ad for Obexity. This new and upcoming weight loss drug is looking for people to be part of their clinical trials. Emmett is more than thrilled when he is accepted, and after a very short period of time, the drug begins to work and his self-confidence begins to grow. However, there are some very unusual side effects. Specifically one that increases his hunger, but it’s not for what you would expect!
I dare anybody to read this novel and not feel for Emmett! The author did an amazing job with the characterization of him and took a different approach to what could’ve been a normal horror story. As opposed to being so far out there, this novel uses things such as weight loss drugs, and bullying as the true horror.
I have never read anything by this author before, but I am certainly going to check out his prior novels.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
Emmett has struggled with his weight since childhood. He’s dealt with so much continuous bullying throughout his life that he’s left lacking any type of self-confidence. His roommate, Lizette, is the exact opposite and tries to get him to embrace himself and his body. He just can’t and is miserable until one day he stumbles across an ad for Obexity. This new and upcoming weight loss drug is looking for people to be part of their clinical trials. Emmett is more than thrilled when he is accepted, and after a very short period of time, the drug begins to work and his self-confidence begins to grow. However, there are some very unusual side effects. Specifically one that increases his hunger, but it’s not for what you would expect!
I dare anybody to read this novel and not feel for Emmett! The author did an amazing job with the characterization of him and took a different approach to what could’ve been a normal horror story. As opposed to being so far out there, this novel uses things such as weight loss drugs, and bullying as the true horror.
I have never read anything by this author before, but I am certainly going to check out his prior novels.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
October 10, 2025
This book ended up being so much more than what I was expecting.
The book is billed as an obese man that gets chosen to start a clinical trial for a new weight loss drug. As he starts to shed pounds rapidly his craving for murder becomes insatiable.
Sign me up!!!
What I hadn't expected was how much I would come to care for Emmett Truesdale.
Emmett has been overweight his entire life. Bullied his entire life. Abused by a cruel step father that took glee in his suffering.
Needless to say Emmett's self esteem is non-existent.
Listening to Emmett's thoughts really hit home. I felt so sorry for him. I have never been obese but as a woman I certainly understand the pressure society puts on you to look a certain way and to feel less than if you aren't able to meet those ridiculous standards.
To see life through Emmett's eyes was eye opening for me. The way people treat him. The obnoxious things people would say to him under the guise of helping. The looks, the snickers and smirks, from complete strangers. My goodness did this get my blood boiling. I was so damn angry to see how he was treated because he was such a thoughtful and kind person. Someone that would never treat anyone the way people treated him. The only person he was ever cruel to was himself. A vicious cycle of self loathing. It's making me teary eyed just thinking about it.
The story asks the question: When you want something so badly how much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice?
It's a grim story with a gruesome outcome.
Lizette, Emmett's best friend, is a bright and dazzling light in this book. Everyone needs a Lizette in their life.
Dumas has once again impressed me. I loved his debut and this book is just as brilliant. Though I will warn that my faint hearted reading friends should probably steer clear. 🤢 4 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for my complimentary copy.
The book is billed as an obese man that gets chosen to start a clinical trial for a new weight loss drug. As he starts to shed pounds rapidly his craving for murder becomes insatiable.
Sign me up!!!
What I hadn't expected was how much I would come to care for Emmett Truesdale.
Emmett has been overweight his entire life. Bullied his entire life. Abused by a cruel step father that took glee in his suffering.
Needless to say Emmett's self esteem is non-existent.
Listening to Emmett's thoughts really hit home. I felt so sorry for him. I have never been obese but as a woman I certainly understand the pressure society puts on you to look a certain way and to feel less than if you aren't able to meet those ridiculous standards.
To see life through Emmett's eyes was eye opening for me. The way people treat him. The obnoxious things people would say to him under the guise of helping. The looks, the snickers and smirks, from complete strangers. My goodness did this get my blood boiling. I was so damn angry to see how he was treated because he was such a thoughtful and kind person. Someone that would never treat anyone the way people treated him. The only person he was ever cruel to was himself. A vicious cycle of self loathing. It's making me teary eyed just thinking about it.
The story asks the question: When you want something so badly how much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice?
It's a grim story with a gruesome outcome.
Lizette, Emmett's best friend, is a bright and dazzling light in this book. Everyone needs a Lizette in their life.
Dumas has once again impressed me. I loved his debut and this book is just as brilliant. Though I will warn that my faint hearted reading friends should probably steer clear. 🤢 4 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for my complimentary copy.
November 14, 2025
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 1/2
Food and I go way back. We have been exclusive for as long as I can remember. She comforts me when I’m sad, she pats me on my back when it’s time to celebrate. She even entertains me when I’m bored. I’m pretty certain that we’re soul mates. I ate a donut while I was writing this review. Our relationship is healthy, although she does her best to keep my jeans fitting snugly around my waist. I think that’s the only thing she does that gets under my skin.
Speaking of getting under one’s skin, let’s talk about this book. It was definitely a wild ride. I really enjoyed getting to know Emmitt, and I found him to be sympathetic, supremely likable character, when he wasn’t killing people and eating their body parts that is. His relationship with food is at the heart of this novel. He uses it as a shielding device, as an escape hatch, as a way to feel whole. Although my relationship with food doesn’t possess the extremes his does, I can very much relate to using external sources as a way to find self-fulfillment.
My only complaint about this book is that it gets a little repetitive in the middle. I mean, I get it, he’s fat and likes to eat. No need to dwell on certain aspects for as long as the author did. But it’s clear he can write, and this is overall a very enjoyable story.
I’d recommend reading it
Food and I go way back. We have been exclusive for as long as I can remember. She comforts me when I’m sad, she pats me on my back when it’s time to celebrate. She even entertains me when I’m bored. I’m pretty certain that we’re soul mates. I ate a donut while I was writing this review. Our relationship is healthy, although she does her best to keep my jeans fitting snugly around my waist. I think that’s the only thing she does that gets under my skin.
Speaking of getting under one’s skin, let’s talk about this book. It was definitely a wild ride. I really enjoyed getting to know Emmitt, and I found him to be sympathetic, supremely likable character, when he wasn’t killing people and eating their body parts that is. His relationship with food is at the heart of this novel. He uses it as a shielding device, as an escape hatch, as a way to feel whole. Although my relationship with food doesn’t possess the extremes his does, I can very much relate to using external sources as a way to find self-fulfillment.
My only complaint about this book is that it gets a little repetitive in the middle. I mean, I get it, he’s fat and likes to eat. No need to dwell on certain aspects for as long as the author did. But it’s clear he can write, and this is overall a very enjoyable story.
I’d recommend reading it
March 31, 2026
This is basically a “what you see is what you get” kind of story, and if you have read the synopsis before starting, you know what's coming your way. It's also very fast paced, really well written, very emotional and features one of the best best friends of all time. I really wanted to give young Emmett a hug, bullying is harsh.
I'm not a big fan of the ending, but that's basically the one thing I wish was better.
I'm not a big fan of the ending, but that's basically the one thing I wish was better.
May 2, 2026
For a full spoiler version of this review, please check out my blog, spoiledbooks.blogspot.com
5 stars
I knew I was in trouble the second I read the blurb for Nothing Tastes As Good by Luke Dumas—I downloaded it immediately, and yep… no regrets 😅
This follows Emmett, a man desperate to lose weight who signs up for a “miracle” clinical trial promising effortless transformation. What starts as a dream quickly turns into something much darker (and way more disturbing than I expected).
Equal parts body horror and social commentary, this book digs into fatphobia, validation, and just how far someone might go to feel “normal.”
It’s gruesome, addictive, and impossible to look away from. I flew through it—and honestly, I’m still thinking about it.
5 stars
I knew I was in trouble the second I read the blurb for Nothing Tastes As Good by Luke Dumas—I downloaded it immediately, and yep… no regrets 😅
This follows Emmett, a man desperate to lose weight who signs up for a “miracle” clinical trial promising effortless transformation. What starts as a dream quickly turns into something much darker (and way more disturbing than I expected).
Equal parts body horror and social commentary, this book digs into fatphobia, validation, and just how far someone might go to feel “normal.”
It’s gruesome, addictive, and impossible to look away from. I flew through it—and honestly, I’m still thinking about it.
April 11, 2026
Thank you so much @atriabooks @atriathrillers #atriapartner for the gorgeous gifted copy!! 🥰🥰 You made my week!!
Wow!! 🤯 I don’t often say this… but I really am sad that the book is over!! I miss you Emmett!! This is definitely classified as horror… but trust me… it is SO much more. It is unique, clever, VERY timely and took me on an emotional roller coaster. I really can’t do it justice. 🤷♀️ I loved EVERYTHING about this book!
I think why I connected so much with this book is it gave me all the feels. Emmett was so real that I wanted to hug him and tell him it will all be okay…. but that would be lying. Right? 😬
Meet your new best friend.. Obexity… you too can lose weight overnight….Emmett is a whole new dude… or is he??
I loved all the references to San Diego. I used to live there and that made this even more fun to read. Listen…if you don’t read horror.. I think you would still love this book!! I literally have a book hangover… for real… ALL the stars!! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My only regret?? Why haven’t I read @thenewdumas other books yet? 🏃♀️ Is this on your TBR?
Wow!! 🤯 I don’t often say this… but I really am sad that the book is over!! I miss you Emmett!! This is definitely classified as horror… but trust me… it is SO much more. It is unique, clever, VERY timely and took me on an emotional roller coaster. I really can’t do it justice. 🤷♀️ I loved EVERYTHING about this book!
I think why I connected so much with this book is it gave me all the feels. Emmett was so real that I wanted to hug him and tell him it will all be okay…. but that would be lying. Right? 😬
Meet your new best friend.. Obexity… you too can lose weight overnight….Emmett is a whole new dude… or is he??
I loved all the references to San Diego. I used to live there and that made this even more fun to read. Listen…if you don’t read horror.. I think you would still love this book!! I literally have a book hangover… for real… ALL the stars!! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My only regret?? Why haven’t I read @thenewdumas other books yet? 🏃♀️ Is this on your TBR?
April 24, 2026
★ 1.32 stars ★
DNF @ 76%
when i first saw this book, i thought i'd love it. as i started reading it, i wasn't totally feeling it but thought i'd still like it. for most of the book, it kept teetering back and forth between like/hate. and then a certain scene happened and it catapulted me into hate.
but why don't we start with the smaller issues first.
the writing style was painful. the diction and narration by emmet felt painfully 'how do you do fellow kids' to me and the use of emojis made it worse because i listened to the audiobook so rather than seeing the emojis, the narrator just said them.
ie: "today, i lost ten pounds heart eyes emoji. smiley face emoji. shocked face emoji"
there absolutely has to have been a better way to translate that to audio, no? if they couldn't have come up with anything, they should've just left it out because it was grating
and you know what else was grating? our main character, emmett. and the unfortunate thing is that it seems like he was meant to be a character we empathized with and were saddened to watch descend into madness, similar to Elisabeth in the Substance, a movie this book seems to draw many parallels from.
but unlike, the substance, I just couldn't get myself to feel a shred of empathy for emmett. we're very likely supposed to see him as a deeply flawed but realistic and relatable character struggling with self-hatred... but i just couldn't stand him
he was constantly self-sabotaging. like to an almost ridiculous point. every good thing, every opportunity to grow or change, he shot it down and then had the audacity to blame it on the world's fatphobia. don't get me wrong - that is absolutely a real issue both in the book and in reality BUT he still has agency over his life and he was just completely surrendering it and i'm sorry... that just isn't compelling to read at all, especially when we're supposed to like/be attached to the character at least somewhat.
i can deal with hateable characters if they're meant to be hateable but it doesn't work if you're not purposely leaning into it.
also, and this is so random, what the f**k was with the heavy handed Target placement? like, it was constant. emmett worked at a target and was constantly mentioned target brands. none of it served any purpose to the narrative. it was incredibly odd.
anywho, for a book about cannibalism, there was surprisingly little of it (at least up to the point I read). as of 76%, we never actually see emmett eat anyone or even get particularly violent. we've only reached the 'hmmm, i wonder why i have blood on me and gaps in my memory' stage... which we should've reached by like... 30%... maybe 40% max?
unforunatley, the book decided to waste it's time being a weird romcom without the rom or com as we watch emmett pursue a relationship even though he convinced he's just a disgusting monster unworthy of love the whole time. oh, and by the way, the other guy has a foot fetish that is oddly shamed?
but the cherry on top was the childhood scenes.
a couple things to start this sub-review because it's gonna be a WHOLE thing.
1. i have a personal history of childhood trauma and heavily disordered eating. so that certainly clouded my experience of this book
2. i was not aware how much childhood stuff their would be in this book
3. i actually didn't dislike the childhood stuff, at first. in fact, i found it quite compelling. it was a fascinating throughline that showed us how emmett became the man he is and how all the elements of a cannibal were sitting beneath the surface long before the drug...
unfortunately, the author, in my opinion, pushed things too far.
at around 76%, in one of many childhood scenes, we see emmett very graphically abused by his father. this was possibly the first time i have ever stopped a book right in the middle of a scene and, without hesitation, returned it with no second thoughts.
it was that disturbing. now, i'll note that it hit me that way likely because of the traumas i've experienced. so it may not hit every reader that way. but for me, it went too far. the trauma did not need to be that graphic, horrific, and ugly to serve the plot the way the childhood scenes were meant to.
I've said it before and i'll say it again. violence is like salt. when used properly, it enhances already existing flavors. when used alone and/or in excess, it's disgusting. no one wants to eat a spoonful of salt.
that scene alone was, for me, probably one of, if not the most disturbing scenes I have ever read in fiction.
so yeah. all in all, i could not responsibly recommend this book. the ideas had great potential but the execution was equal parts disappointing and lowkey retraumatizing.
if you want a story like this, watch The Substance
-----
ew. ew ew ew ew ew.
what the actual fuck was that. i kind of thought this would be an okay read but then i hit the 76% mark with a scene that was just absolutely, unnecessarily horrific. i don't say or feel this often but it was legitimately offensive
similar issues to Wake Up and Open Your Eyes and American Rapture.
fuller review to come because i want to rant about how much was wrong with this f**ked up book
-----
alternate title:
Eating Disorder: A Horror Novel
DNF @ 76%
when i first saw this book, i thought i'd love it. as i started reading it, i wasn't totally feeling it but thought i'd still like it. for most of the book, it kept teetering back and forth between like/hate. and then a certain scene happened and it catapulted me into hate.
but why don't we start with the smaller issues first.
the writing style was painful. the diction and narration by emmet felt painfully 'how do you do fellow kids' to me and the use of emojis made it worse because i listened to the audiobook so rather than seeing the emojis, the narrator just said them.
ie: "today, i lost ten pounds heart eyes emoji. smiley face emoji. shocked face emoji"
there absolutely has to have been a better way to translate that to audio, no? if they couldn't have come up with anything, they should've just left it out because it was grating
and you know what else was grating? our main character, emmett. and the unfortunate thing is that it seems like he was meant to be a character we empathized with and were saddened to watch descend into madness, similar to Elisabeth in the Substance, a movie this book seems to draw many parallels from.
but unlike, the substance, I just couldn't get myself to feel a shred of empathy for emmett. we're very likely supposed to see him as a deeply flawed but realistic and relatable character struggling with self-hatred... but i just couldn't stand him
he was constantly self-sabotaging. like to an almost ridiculous point. every good thing, every opportunity to grow or change, he shot it down and then had the audacity to blame it on the world's fatphobia. don't get me wrong - that is absolutely a real issue both in the book and in reality BUT he still has agency over his life and he was just completely surrendering it and i'm sorry... that just isn't compelling to read at all, especially when we're supposed to like/be attached to the character at least somewhat.
i can deal with hateable characters if they're meant to be hateable but it doesn't work if you're not purposely leaning into it.
also, and this is so random, what the f**k was with the heavy handed Target placement? like, it was constant. emmett worked at a target and was constantly mentioned target brands. none of it served any purpose to the narrative. it was incredibly odd.
anywho, for a book about cannibalism, there was surprisingly little of it (at least up to the point I read). as of 76%, we never actually see emmett eat anyone or even get particularly violent. we've only reached the 'hmmm, i wonder why i have blood on me and gaps in my memory' stage... which we should've reached by like... 30%... maybe 40% max?
unforunatley, the book decided to waste it's time being a weird romcom without the rom or com as we watch emmett pursue a relationship even though he convinced he's just a disgusting monster unworthy of love the whole time. oh, and by the way, the other guy has a foot fetish that is oddly shamed?
but the cherry on top was the childhood scenes.
a couple things to start this sub-review because it's gonna be a WHOLE thing.
1. i have a personal history of childhood trauma and heavily disordered eating. so that certainly clouded my experience of this book
2. i was not aware how much childhood stuff their would be in this book
3. i actually didn't dislike the childhood stuff, at first. in fact, i found it quite compelling. it was a fascinating throughline that showed us how emmett became the man he is and how all the elements of a cannibal were sitting beneath the surface long before the drug...
unfortunately, the author, in my opinion, pushed things too far.
at around 76%, in one of many childhood scenes, we see emmett very graphically abused by his father. this was possibly the first time i have ever stopped a book right in the middle of a scene and, without hesitation, returned it with no second thoughts.
it was that disturbing. now, i'll note that it hit me that way likely because of the traumas i've experienced. so it may not hit every reader that way. but for me, it went too far. the trauma did not need to be that graphic, horrific, and ugly to serve the plot the way the childhood scenes were meant to.
I've said it before and i'll say it again. violence is like salt. when used properly, it enhances already existing flavors. when used alone and/or in excess, it's disgusting. no one wants to eat a spoonful of salt.
that scene alone was, for me, probably one of, if not the most disturbing scenes I have ever read in fiction.
so yeah. all in all, i could not responsibly recommend this book. the ideas had great potential but the execution was equal parts disappointing and lowkey retraumatizing.
if you want a story like this, watch The Substance
-----
ew. ew ew ew ew ew.
what the actual fuck was that. i kind of thought this would be an okay read but then i hit the 76% mark with a scene that was just absolutely, unnecessarily horrific. i don't say or feel this often but it was legitimately offensive
similar issues to Wake Up and Open Your Eyes and American Rapture.
fuller review to come because i want to rant about how much was wrong with this f**ked up book
-----
alternate title:
Eating Disorder: A Horror Novel
April 8, 2026
I felt that this was alright,the story a little bit sad as someone who is overweight and has to deal with constant ridicule,joins a experimental drug trial and has some strange side effects he gets even with those who have been mean to him and that’s all I will give away,like I said I felt the story was okay and if this is something you are interested in give it a try.
February 7, 2026
Once I started this book, I could not put it down!
I think that Luke Demas was so creative in taking the huge popularity of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and turning it into something a sinister and entertaining novel.
In a way, this kind of felt like two books to me.
The first third almost felt like a memoir where I was trauma bonding with Emmett.
When I was younger I believed that as a gay man I had to go to the gym 5-6 days a week, wear tight fitting clothes and start getting Botox at an age when I didn’t need it.
The fact that I lived in South Beach in my 20’s supported this false narrative.
I basically lived off of protein shakes, chicken and broccoli and used Adderall as a preworkout supplement.
I’m lucky that I never had a heart attack on the treadmill!
Of course now I realize what a BS fallacy that was, but in my 20’s I bought into it.
As the book continues, we see Emmett drop tons of weight at a rapid rate and also start to see the side effects of the drug.
There were some scenes where I thought “WTF”, but in a fun way.
Pretty much every area of his life improves, except for the change in his choices of “food”.
I was positive that this was going to be a 5 ⭐️ read for me, until the I got to the very end.
I don’t include spoilers in a review, but if you’ve read the book, you know what I’m referring to.
Despite the ending, I still really enjoyed this book overall!
It was a fast and fun read and I’d recommend it to others.
Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books and Luke Demas for providing me with an eARC to review!
I think that Luke Demas was so creative in taking the huge popularity of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and turning it into something a sinister and entertaining novel.
In a way, this kind of felt like two books to me.
The first third almost felt like a memoir where I was trauma bonding with Emmett.
When I was younger I believed that as a gay man I had to go to the gym 5-6 days a week, wear tight fitting clothes and start getting Botox at an age when I didn’t need it.
The fact that I lived in South Beach in my 20’s supported this false narrative.
I basically lived off of protein shakes, chicken and broccoli and used Adderall as a preworkout supplement.
I’m lucky that I never had a heart attack on the treadmill!
Of course now I realize what a BS fallacy that was, but in my 20’s I bought into it.
As the book continues, we see Emmett drop tons of weight at a rapid rate and also start to see the side effects of the drug.
There were some scenes where I thought “WTF”, but in a fun way.
Pretty much every area of his life improves, except for the change in his choices of “food”.
I was positive that this was going to be a 5 ⭐️ read for me, until the I got to the very end.
I don’t include spoilers in a review, but if you’ve read the book, you know what I’m referring to.
Despite the ending, I still really enjoyed this book overall!
It was a fast and fun read and I’d recommend it to others.
Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books and Luke Demas for providing me with an eARC to review!
April 19, 2026
This book spoke to me in ways I never expected.
As a plus-size woman, I could deeply relate to Emmet’s struggles with weight. I used to be skinny—losing weight was never an issue. But over the years, with a stressful job and two kids, shedding the extra weight feels like a distant, almost forgotten dream. I’m not severely obese, but I do miss my smaller body.
Some parts of this book were uncomfortable—not even the cannibalism—but the portrayal of uncontrollable hunger and the shame that comes with it. There’s a scene at a party where Emmet is left alone in a room full of food, and he completely loses control, devouring everything in sight. It was pitiful… and at the same time, deeply unsettling.
This is an intense, emotionally charged read. It doesn’t just tell a story—it forces you to confront how society treats fat people: shamed, judged, labeled as lazy and undisciplined.
Very timely. Very real.
As a plus-size woman, I could deeply relate to Emmet’s struggles with weight. I used to be skinny—losing weight was never an issue. But over the years, with a stressful job and two kids, shedding the extra weight feels like a distant, almost forgotten dream. I’m not severely obese, but I do miss my smaller body.
Some parts of this book were uncomfortable—not even the cannibalism—but the portrayal of uncontrollable hunger and the shame that comes with it. There’s a scene at a party where Emmet is left alone in a room full of food, and he completely loses control, devouring everything in sight. It was pitiful… and at the same time, deeply unsettling.
This is an intense, emotionally charged read. It doesn’t just tell a story—it forces you to confront how society treats fat people: shamed, judged, labeled as lazy and undisciplined.
Very timely. Very real.
January 6, 2026
Oh cannibalism… you’re back and better than ever.
I’m starting off the new year right, cannibalism is huge right now… is it a recession indicator?? Either way it’s a topic that’s been explored this last year and will continue for 2026 and so far this is one of the best ones I’ve read.
A literary horror take on drugs like Ozempic and the criticism is wide and vast. Nothing is off limits, body positivity movements, feminism and fatness, queerness, capitalistic companies exploiting an epidemic and of course, cannibalism.
It sounds extremely heavy topic wise and it is but it’s also incredibly fun to read and not too forceful when it comes to the writing. You never feel like you’re being preached to but rather questions are being posed and it’s up to the reader to decide the answers. It’s horrific, disgusting, with hints of science fiction tropes and topics. This is my first book by Luke Dumas but certainly not the last given his sick and twisted mind.
I’m starting off the new year right, cannibalism is huge right now… is it a recession indicator?? Either way it’s a topic that’s been explored this last year and will continue for 2026 and so far this is one of the best ones I’ve read.
A literary horror take on drugs like Ozempic and the criticism is wide and vast. Nothing is off limits, body positivity movements, feminism and fatness, queerness, capitalistic companies exploiting an epidemic and of course, cannibalism.
It sounds extremely heavy topic wise and it is but it’s also incredibly fun to read and not too forceful when it comes to the writing. You never feel like you’re being preached to but rather questions are being posed and it’s up to the reader to decide the answers. It’s horrific, disgusting, with hints of science fiction tropes and topics. This is my first book by Luke Dumas but certainly not the last given his sick and twisted mind.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this dark, chilling exploration of fat phobia and its effects. This book was intense, emotionally involving, and difficult to put down. The author is Luke Dumas.
It was well-written, containing sympathy for its protagonist, Emmett, who weighed 320 pounds and had struggled with his body image and weight since childhood. He was bullied in school and never fit in. His stepfather, Hank, mistreated and shamed him, resulting in his secretly binge eating. His mother connected love with providing sugary treats. He has been socially rejected and shamed by acquaintances, observers, and on social media. He has tried many diets without success. He is stuck in a dead-end job where his being overweight is a constant embarrassment. He is lonely and has one friend, Lizette, who seems to cheerfully accept herself as overweight, something Emmett is unwilling to do. She is supportive and encouraging. He wants to be treated like a regular person rather than singled out as fat.
Emmett comes across as sympathetic and likable. We learn of his doubts and hopes. He is desperate for help losing weight and has been chosen for a trial of a new weight-loss product, Obexity. It seems miraculous as he sheds pounds rapidly. He reaches his target weight well before he expected and receives much praise in person and from online followers, with his progress pictured on social media. Unfortunately, the drug is accompanied by side effects of memory gaps and, worse, a craving to eat human flesh. Misuse of the drug can lead to rapid weight gain. How far will he go to maintain an ideal weight?
This is a heart-pounding, tension-filled story. It comments on fat shaming and rejection, diet, social media, the weight loss industry, loneliness and poor body image carried by many of the morbidly overweight. As I read this heart-wrenching tale, I was gripped by suspense for Emmett's positive outcome. Did he maintain a normal-sized body and happiness?
The book is recommended for its exposure of the results of fat shaming, and by the promises of the weight-loss industry, especially the effectiveness of medical treatment. Publication is scheduled for March 31/2026.
It was well-written, containing sympathy for its protagonist, Emmett, who weighed 320 pounds and had struggled with his body image and weight since childhood. He was bullied in school and never fit in. His stepfather, Hank, mistreated and shamed him, resulting in his secretly binge eating. His mother connected love with providing sugary treats. He has been socially rejected and shamed by acquaintances, observers, and on social media. He has tried many diets without success. He is stuck in a dead-end job where his being overweight is a constant embarrassment. He is lonely and has one friend, Lizette, who seems to cheerfully accept herself as overweight, something Emmett is unwilling to do. She is supportive and encouraging. He wants to be treated like a regular person rather than singled out as fat.
Emmett comes across as sympathetic and likable. We learn of his doubts and hopes. He is desperate for help losing weight and has been chosen for a trial of a new weight-loss product, Obexity. It seems miraculous as he sheds pounds rapidly. He reaches his target weight well before he expected and receives much praise in person and from online followers, with his progress pictured on social media. Unfortunately, the drug is accompanied by side effects of memory gaps and, worse, a craving to eat human flesh. Misuse of the drug can lead to rapid weight gain. How far will he go to maintain an ideal weight?
This is a heart-pounding, tension-filled story. It comments on fat shaming and rejection, diet, social media, the weight loss industry, loneliness and poor body image carried by many of the morbidly overweight. As I read this heart-wrenching tale, I was gripped by suspense for Emmett's positive outcome. Did he maintain a normal-sized body and happiness?
The book is recommended for its exposure of the results of fat shaming, and by the promises of the weight-loss industry, especially the effectiveness of medical treatment. Publication is scheduled for March 31/2026.
April 23, 2026
Am I crazy to say - I wish this book had more cannibalism? 😅🫣💁🏼♀️
This leaned very literary in tone and at points I forgot it was a horror book. It was very heavy handed in its messages - if you get triggered by dieting, fat shaming, eating disorders etc I would proceed with caution.
But the bits of horror we do get to see were great!
3.5 🥩🍗🍖
This leaned very literary in tone and at points I forgot it was a horror book. It was very heavy handed in its messages - if you get triggered by dieting, fat shaming, eating disorders etc I would proceed with caution.
But the bits of horror we do get to see were great!
3.5 🥩🍗🍖
October 9, 2025
It feels a little inappropriate to say I binge-read this but I did in fact devour it in a few sittings. Absolutely brilliant!
Emmett's adult life has been a series of yo-yo diets, eating disorders, and embarrassments, so when he gets the opportunity to be a trial subject for a sparkling new weight loss drug he figures it couldn't hurt. Sure enough he starts losing weight rapidly, gaining fame online and worrying his loved ones, but the hunger never stops and it's only getting worse.
To be momentarily vulnerable, I was always doomed to have an eating disorder. 1 in 3 trans men experience disordered eating, and Celiacs, EDS, and OCD are all significant risk factors, so I was screwed. I'm sure we're all familiar with the societal messaging around food and dieting, not to mention the rampant fatphobia in the media and (more crucially) among healthcare workers. I'm sure many of us, like Emmett, had a parental figure in our life who promoted disordered eating habits. All this to say, I can't blame Emmett for his choices and his obsession with weight loss, and (at least at some point in my life) I probably would have made the same choices.
The obvious comparison for this book is The Substance, but I was actually reminded of The Troop by Nick Cutter in which the horrible parasite that antagonizes a boy scout troop originated as a weight loss drug. The most terrifying (and my favorite) scene in the book is record of one of the animal test subjects and the horror that the drug wreaks on the creature. Nothing Tastes as Good is the closest I've found to emulating the soul-deep horror of that scene.
I love the posts from Emmett's blog and social media and interviews from the investigation, they're a great way to break up the story. Despite this book satirizing weight loss drugs, the characters don't feel one dimensional or like caricatures. I really enjoyed A History of Fear by Luke Dumas so I'm thrilled to discover that I like this book even more.
There's a lot to love here and even more to make your skin crawl. Horror fans, read it!
Thank you to Luke Dumas and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
Emmett's adult life has been a series of yo-yo diets, eating disorders, and embarrassments, so when he gets the opportunity to be a trial subject for a sparkling new weight loss drug he figures it couldn't hurt. Sure enough he starts losing weight rapidly, gaining fame online and worrying his loved ones, but the hunger never stops and it's only getting worse.
To be momentarily vulnerable, I was always doomed to have an eating disorder. 1 in 3 trans men experience disordered eating, and Celiacs, EDS, and OCD are all significant risk factors, so I was screwed. I'm sure we're all familiar with the societal messaging around food and dieting, not to mention the rampant fatphobia in the media and (more crucially) among healthcare workers. I'm sure many of us, like Emmett, had a parental figure in our life who promoted disordered eating habits. All this to say, I can't blame Emmett for his choices and his obsession with weight loss, and (at least at some point in my life) I probably would have made the same choices.
The obvious comparison for this book is The Substance, but I was actually reminded of The Troop by Nick Cutter in which the horrible parasite that antagonizes a boy scout troop originated as a weight loss drug. The most terrifying (and my favorite) scene in the book is record of one of the animal test subjects and the horror that the drug wreaks on the creature. Nothing Tastes as Good is the closest I've found to emulating the soul-deep horror of that scene.
I love the posts from Emmett's blog and social media and interviews from the investigation, they're a great way to break up the story. Despite this book satirizing weight loss drugs, the characters don't feel one dimensional or like caricatures. I really enjoyed A History of Fear by Luke Dumas so I'm thrilled to discover that I like this book even more.
There's a lot to love here and even more to make your skin crawl. Horror fans, read it!
Thank you to Luke Dumas and Atria Books for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
May 2, 2026
3.5⭐️ This is a very disturbing horror/social commentary about obesity and our society’s treatment of fat people. So much of this rang true for me as my late sister struggled with morbid obesity her whole life. A kinder more gentle soul you’d never find yet she faced discrimination at every turn. All many people saw was a big overweight woman.
Emmett Truesdale was a fat child, bullied and unloved by all except his mom who plied him with food to soothe his hurt. He suffered disappointment and abuse, was passed over for jobs and promotions, and failed at romance. Yo-yo dieting and exercise failed to calm the hurt in his soul. That could only be satisfied with food. His felt his best friend Lisette was the only one that saw the real Emmett.
Then a trial for the new weight loss drug Obexity is offered to him and it seems like the perfect solution. He’s accepted in the trial and begins losing weight and gains tons of followers on his social media account. They are thrilled with his weight loss. His life picks up. He gets a promotion at work, finds love and all while being able to eat whatever he wants, and wow does he eat. The weight just falls away too thanks to Obexity ! But soon his newfound success develops some bloody complications as he suffers blackouts and develops a taste for human flesh.
This one was hard to read in parts. I sympathized with Emmett but found it really hard to read as his life took a downward spiral. Even as he lost weight and looked how he always wanted to look it didn’t make him happy. I did enjoy the character of Emmett and his bestie Lisette, and the alternating chapters with Emmett’s Blog and his reports to the Monstera trial.
The story takes a hard look at how our society views and discriminates against obese people, and how social media plays into people‘s idea of success. Everyone’s out for a quick fix or a pill instead of examining the cause of the problem.
Warning- blood and gore
- cannibalism
- Explicit sexual situations
- Child torture
Emmett Truesdale was a fat child, bullied and unloved by all except his mom who plied him with food to soothe his hurt. He suffered disappointment and abuse, was passed over for jobs and promotions, and failed at romance. Yo-yo dieting and exercise failed to calm the hurt in his soul. That could only be satisfied with food. His felt his best friend Lisette was the only one that saw the real Emmett.
Then a trial for the new weight loss drug Obexity is offered to him and it seems like the perfect solution. He’s accepted in the trial and begins losing weight and gains tons of followers on his social media account. They are thrilled with his weight loss. His life picks up. He gets a promotion at work, finds love and all while being able to eat whatever he wants, and wow does he eat. The weight just falls away too thanks to Obexity ! But soon his newfound success develops some bloody complications as he suffers blackouts and develops a taste for human flesh.
This one was hard to read in parts. I sympathized with Emmett but found it really hard to read as his life took a downward spiral. Even as he lost weight and looked how he always wanted to look it didn’t make him happy. I did enjoy the character of Emmett and his bestie Lisette, and the alternating chapters with Emmett’s Blog and his reports to the Monstera trial.
The story takes a hard look at how our society views and discriminates against obese people, and how social media plays into people‘s idea of success. Everyone’s out for a quick fix or a pill instead of examining the cause of the problem.
Warning- blood and gore
- cannibalism
- Explicit sexual situations
- Child torture
March 7, 2026
How far would you be willing to go for the body of your dreams?
This story is both very thrilling, and very deep as well.
The main character, Emmett, is overweight and has struggled with binge-eating disorder since childhood.
When offered the chance to be part of a “miracle” weight-loss drug trial, he jumps at the oppounrity to become a version of himself that will impact the way others view him- and the way he views himself.
It turns out that this drug comes with some very costly side effects, that will change more than he bargained for.
I would say that most people who are on any sort of social media right now, know about the recent surge in the usage of weight-loss medication, and how it relates to shifting beauty standards.
This book has a very obviously focused on that. I happen to find this quite interesting, so I enjoyed reading this.
There is also a lot of focus on Emmett’s early life, and the way that it impacted his weight and the way that he feels about eating.
There was some pretty heavy stuff in here regarding that. *Trigger warning for abuse*
I think that this brought a lot of emotionality into this, and really makes Emmett someone that it easy to sympathize with (even with the crazy stuff that is going on)
I don’t want to speak too much on the trueness or real-world relatability of anything that I have not personality had to go through, I do want to note the insane amount of hate and fatphobia that he experienced throughout this story.
From the way he was treated as an employee, as a lover, as a friend, or just as a stranger in the grocery store or the gym- he is subjected to constant nasty comments and unsolicited advice.
It was pretty insane, and I can imagine that this is likely an unfortunate reality for some people.
* I will also note this as a trigger warning*
One topic in particular that I was super happy to see get some attention, is the way that the recent rising popularity of weight loss medication has been accompanied with an influx of “health and wellness" social media influencers who in some cases, create lies to sell to their audiences to boost their views, likes and follower counts.
Just as it takes place in this story, some media personalities lack transparency and make money off of tricking the people that are looking up to them.
This is something I find to be so annoyingly improper, and I applaud this author for using parts of this story to call that out! I think this had so much current-day relevance.
Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books and author Luke Dumas, for providing me with the eARC of “Nothing Tastes as Good”, in exchange for my honest review!
Publication date: March 31, 2026
This story is both very thrilling, and very deep as well.
The main character, Emmett, is overweight and has struggled with binge-eating disorder since childhood.
When offered the chance to be part of a “miracle” weight-loss drug trial, he jumps at the oppounrity to become a version of himself that will impact the way others view him- and the way he views himself.
It turns out that this drug comes with some very costly side effects, that will change more than he bargained for.
I would say that most people who are on any sort of social media right now, know about the recent surge in the usage of weight-loss medication, and how it relates to shifting beauty standards.
This book has a very obviously focused on that. I happen to find this quite interesting, so I enjoyed reading this.
There is also a lot of focus on Emmett’s early life, and the way that it impacted his weight and the way that he feels about eating.
There was some pretty heavy stuff in here regarding that. *Trigger warning for abuse*
I think that this brought a lot of emotionality into this, and really makes Emmett someone that it easy to sympathize with (even with the crazy stuff that is going on)
I don’t want to speak too much on the trueness or real-world relatability of anything that I have not personality had to go through, I do want to note the insane amount of hate and fatphobia that he experienced throughout this story.
From the way he was treated as an employee, as a lover, as a friend, or just as a stranger in the grocery store or the gym- he is subjected to constant nasty comments and unsolicited advice.
It was pretty insane, and I can imagine that this is likely an unfortunate reality for some people.
* I will also note this as a trigger warning*
One topic in particular that I was super happy to see get some attention, is the way that the recent rising popularity of weight loss medication has been accompanied with an influx of “health and wellness" social media influencers who in some cases, create lies to sell to their audiences to boost their views, likes and follower counts.
Just as it takes place in this story, some media personalities lack transparency and make money off of tricking the people that are looking up to them.
This is something I find to be so annoyingly improper, and I applaud this author for using parts of this story to call that out! I think this had so much current-day relevance.
Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books and author Luke Dumas, for providing me with the eARC of “Nothing Tastes as Good”, in exchange for my honest review!
Publication date: March 31, 2026
April 1, 2026
4.5 ☆ Thank you to publishers and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Nothing Tastes as Good is a thought-provoking thriller on the consequences of diet culture, fatphobia, and what living as a plus-size person looks like in America. Emmette Tisdale is a three-dimensional, flawed yet empathetic character that the reader will root for. We follow his journey after joining a clinical trial for a “miracle” weight-loss drug. I will say it was refreshing to read a book about diet culture from a plus-size person’s POV since many are from a thinner one. There is a gradual buildup of mystery and thriller that leads into an explosive second half of the book that is unputdownable. Reading Emmett’s thoughts made me rethink the way I give out compliments, and makes me take time to make sure I don’t make the receiver feel self-conscious. This was a perfect fall read and the cover is absolutely delicious.
Nothing Tastes as Good is a thought-provoking thriller on the consequences of diet culture, fatphobia, and what living as a plus-size person looks like in America. Emmette Tisdale is a three-dimensional, flawed yet empathetic character that the reader will root for. We follow his journey after joining a clinical trial for a “miracle” weight-loss drug. I will say it was refreshing to read a book about diet culture from a plus-size person’s POV since many are from a thinner one. There is a gradual buildup of mystery and thriller that leads into an explosive second half of the book that is unputdownable. Reading Emmett’s thoughts made me rethink the way I give out compliments, and makes me take time to make sure I don’t make the receiver feel self-conscious. This was a perfect fall read and the cover is absolutely delicious.
March 31, 2026
Maybe he didn’t have an undiagnosed eating disorder. Maybe he was exactly what the world insisted he was: lazy, mindless, braindead, weak-willed. Lard-ass. Slob. Fat shit. Monster. Whatever Emmett was, he was desperate for help.
Riveting, horrifying, and tragic in equal parts, Nothing Tastes as Good reads like The Substance meets a modern-day Thinner. Despite a protagonist who becomes cannibalistic in an effort to quell his intense cravings (this is not a spoiler - you know this from the beginning), Emmett Truesdale is so heart-wrenchingly sympathetic and easy to root for.
We meet 28-year-old Emmett at his highest weight ever (mid-300s). He’s working a thankless job at Target and is totally miserable when he finds out about a clinical trial for a new weight-loss drug called Obexity. He immediately applies, and when he’s accepted to the trial, he can’t believe how quickly the weight starts falling off. Emmett is finally discovering his true self under all those extra pounds, and he couldn’t be happier - even if his true self has concerning bouts of short-term memory loss and strange, illicit cravings.
Given the subject matter, I expected Nothing Tastes as Good to be much more gory and violent than it is. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few less-than-savory scenes and an epic moment of body horror at the end - but more than a cannibalistic horror story, Luke Dumas’s third novel is a deeply human, almost heartbreaking character study about a damaged man who has always felt like he takes up too much space, while simultaneously feeling like he’s never enough. Dumas mentions in the Acknowledgements that he’s struggled with his weight his whole life, and it’s clear that he poured his own experiences into the pages of this novel. Emmett’s experiences as an obese person are so intimately conveyed, unflinching, and gut-wrenching. To see the way he was treated was both infuriating and unbearably sad. Those were the sections of the novel that were difficult to get through, at least for me - not the eating people parts.
Dumas handles the social commentary well, incorporating snippets of Emmett’s Instagram and blog to scathingly critique society’s obsession with weight, diet culture, the health and wellness industry, and the lies fed to us by the social media machine. This is a book about unhealthy relationships of all kinds: with food, with family, with social media, with ourselves. Come for the body horror, stay for the nuanced portrayal of a man who deserved a lot more than he got.
April 30, 2026
i am way too tired to write a full review right now but i will say this: what a wild fucking ride.
April 29, 2026
“Just remember: when the apocalypse comes, the skinny bitches die first.” this line stuck out to me the most.
Emmett felt pretty delusional at times, constantly brushing off obvious red flags with the medicine. The phone call between him and his mom was actually really relatable. A lot of parents act like how they raised us has nothing to do with who we are now, and that we should just “grow out of it,” like it’s that simple. Overall it was good, but I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping it would go in a different direction. Like maybe he would end up eating Hank, or that Hank would’ve had a more fitting end for what he put Emmett through.
Emmett felt pretty delusional at times, constantly brushing off obvious red flags with the medicine. The phone call between him and his mom was actually really relatable. A lot of parents act like how they raised us has nothing to do with who we are now, and that we should just “grow out of it,” like it’s that simple. Overall it was good, but I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping it would go in a different direction. Like maybe he would end up eating Hank, or that Hank would’ve had a more fitting end for what he put Emmett through.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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