A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers is a macabre banquet of a suspense novel, serving up carnal and gustatory surprises. Ultimately, you need a strong stomach to devour this morally repugnant tale, but you will do so with such enthusiasm because reading, like eating, is a challenging activity to regulate once the appetite is aroused.

The narrator and main character of A Certain Hunger is a food critic named Dorothy Daniels. Daniels is obsessed with all things culinary, reared on a diet of home-cooked gastronomic delights. She has continued to love the finer foods, but she is also a wildly articulate and charming cannibal.

Daniels now resides in prison, and this book is her memoir, her explanation for behaviours so extreme they become macabrely hilarious.

Daniels begins her story sipping cocktails in a hotel bar, where she meets Casimir. Before long, the pair are ensconced in his hotel room, and they meet up frequently after that, until the night that Dorothy plunges an ice pick into Casimir’s throat and proceeds to indulge in her hidden hunger for human organ meats. I warned you you’d be grossed out, didn’t I?

Daniels continues to tell her story in a classic noir suspense style; the language is both ornate and painstakingly raw. One cannot help but have a liking for her, despite the obvious and many character flaws.

Part culinary travelogue, part horror, strewn with Hannibal Lecter riffs, Summers’ debut is nothing if not unique. This book may be distasteful, but it’s bold, original, witty and will not bore you. Prepare to devour this book in one sitting.

An unusual book about a female, murderous, cannibalistic, food critic. Not for the queasy or fainthearted. Well written, great development of a pretentious cold blooded protagonist. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc in return for an honest review. This was hard work and took me forever to get through, having to stop and read other books along the way. The whole book was far too pretentious, written in a manner that didn’t flow but rather snagged. Things were described repeatedly using many metaphors in the same sentence. Far too many fancy descriptive words used that felt out of place and unnecessary to the story, which in itself could have been interesting but just got bogged down. I felt no connection with the main character either. I felt the author was trying to make it a ‘clever’ book sadly.

I loved this book - it was surprising, darkly funny and had a superb narrative voice. I loved diving into Dorothy Daniels' captivating world of decadent cuisine and meticulously-planned murder. This is Hannibal if Hannibal was an older woman with a wicked sense of humour.

I wish I had liked this more, but it wasn't for me. There were too many similes and metaphors that were great initially but further into the book I became tired of them. The idea of the book was great though - a psychopathic female narrator, where it's like a mix of American Psycho and Hannibal.

A Certain Hunger is the fictional memoir of food critic and cannibal Dorothy Daniels. It takes us through a deliciously gory, introspective journey from her childhood to where she is now, writing from prison. The chapter list reads like a gourmet menu and that’s just the start of this look into the indulgent lifestyle of our narrator.

I’ll start by saying that it was refreshing to have a female narrator, in her 50s, who is not self-deprecating. Dorothy Daniels owns her body and her sexuality and wields them as a weapon to further her goals, both as a writer and as a serial killer.

I think Dorothy is what I would consider to be a true villain. She was morally reprehensible and I didn’t root for her at any point; she was rude, pretentious, abrasive and altogether unlikeable. That said, I loved her complete lack of remorse. I think it’s rare to see a female villain where they’re not at some point redeemed by the use of a horrific backstory to justify their deplorable actions. Dorothy Daniels is quite simply a psychopath; she has no reason for killing other than that she wants to.

The author’s descriptions of food, sex and murder were rich, luxurious, and unabashedly erotic; and the gore was well-written, though fairly sparse. The murders were graphic and vivid with some truly stomach-churning moments. I wouldn’t recommend reading over dinner, that’s for sure!

The prose throughout is elaborate, dripping in metaphors, exactly what I would expect from a narrator such as Dorothy. I love literary fiction and complex prose and at times this book really emanates that, but I had to use the built-in kindle dictionary every other page which really took me out of the story. It ended up taking me 10 days to read, much longer than my average.

Despite it taking me a while to chew through (pun intended), I did truly enjoy A Certain Hunger. It’s possibly my most-highlighted book of the year. I laughed out loud at some of the narrator’s musings and spent more than a few moments reflecting upon her social commentary because, despite Dorothy being absolutely, definitely, far, far from a role model, there is something to be said for a woman who knows what she wants and unapologetically goes after it. Even if that thing is the delicious (I’ll take her word for it) flesh of a past lover… or several...

(ARC review - thank you to NetGalley and Faber & Faber for kindly providing this copy)

The description had me hooked but sadly the reality was vastly different. Restaurant critic and Hannibal Lecter wannabe Dorothy writes her "memoir" from her prison cell. Overwritten, far too much description-7 pages about Baked Alaska? The book feels like a string of metaphors and not much else. Dare I say it, I actually found it boring. Dorothy is a rather tedious, self obsessed character who I have no sympathy with whatsoever and I'm very pleased she ended up in prison. By the way, British hospitals are not ridden with serial killers, thanks!

Decadent, sleazy, visceral, disgusting.
I can’t believe this is a first novel.
Thank you NetGalley for the copy.

Love a good exploration of a female psychopath and serial killer! The writing in A Certain Hunger is deliciously indulgent and the first-person narrative travelled in the timeline in all the right places. Would definitely recommend.

A food writer and restaurant critic who occasionally kills and eats her lovers? Yes please! I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for some years so A Certain Hunger sounded right up my street. I can see it easily becoming a huge commercial success: a strong, independent, unapologetic female who has lived her life on her own terms, satisfying her appetites and fulfilling her desires (she is in her early fifties at the time the novel is set). Also a bit of a psychopath, which leads onto some interesting thoughts about female serial killers. And I particularly liked that Chelsea G. Summers has published her debut novel at the age of 60.

Sadly though, I didn’t enjoy A Certain Hunger as much as expected. I thought it too long and overwritten. Dorothy’s (the psycho killer) exposition of one thing or another – history of cocktails, Italian slow food movement, kosher butchery, truffle hunting too often felt like a lecture and there are too many sexual organs similes, at first this is perhaps a little subversive but 300 or so pages later it’s become bland and obvious. I loved the concept, but the book wasn’t for me.

My thanks to Faber and Faber and Netgalley for the opportunity to read A Certain Hunger.

''Dorothy Daniels has always had a voracious - and adventurous - appetite. From her idyllic farm-to-table childhood (homegrown tomatoes, thick slices of freshly baked bread) to the heights of her career as a food critic (white truffles washed down with Barolo straight from the bottle) Dorothy has never been shy about indulging her exquisite tastes - even when it lead to her plunging an ice pick into her lover's neck.

There is something inside Dorothy that makes her different from everybody else. Something she's finally ready to confess. But beware: her story just might make you wonder how your lover would taste sautéed with shallots and mushrooms and deglazed with a little red wine.''

I loved this book from beginning to end, it was dark, humorous and also made me a feel a little queasy in places!

I particularly enjoyed the Memoir style of the writing and the quick witted way in which the main character told her story. She made me get on her side and even though there was no denying she was a monster, I couldn't help but like her.

The only thing I didn't particularly enjoy about this book was that I found the ending a little abrupt, I was left with many questions regarding her but that said, it didn't take away what I enjoyed.

I am grateful to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The marvellously complex protagonist of this beautifully crafted novel is a woman who kills and eats parts of her lovers. The story combines elegance, the rawest matter of humanity, and a sharp, satirical eye! Welcome to the macabre and fascinating world of Dorothy Davis, a psychopath, food critic, cannibal and raconteur!

The subject matter of Dorothy's story may well be outside the comfort zone of many, with graphic sex, cannibalism and murder references throughout, but this is a satire worth reading. Chelsea G Summers has an excellent command of the English language, and her writing is exquisite.

Dorothy's story unfolds in a sharply defined yet humorous way, at times bordering on the irreverent, and I found it gripping. So I read on and on, though some might not, as I wanted to know why Dorothy was sharing her story?

I also found that Chelsea is an excellent researcher. Much of the food critic commentary evidenced that, with numerous references to chefs and dishes previously unknown to me.

The story is reasonably lengthy and not for the faint-hearted. Still, it is a must for those that welcome some dark humour and a subject matter that is not your everyday stuff!

Very interesting and funny, I found it unputdownable and can't recommend it enough.
Thanks for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Loved this. Our flawed protagonist clearly thinks she’s much better than than everyone else, wouldn’t eat a McDonald’s cheeseburger if you put a gun to her head, holds almost everyone else in complete distain and oh yea, is a cannibal. And yet I still liked her and rooted for her?!
This mock memoir starts with Dorothy already behind bars and leads up to her finally getting caught.
It’s a dark humour, and certainly was triggering for me as a dachshund owner(!) but I loved it.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC via netgalley

I absolutely adored this book. It was dark but funny, angry but pleading. For fans of how to kill your family and triflers need not apply I’ll be recommending this to all my nearest and dearest.

Where do I start? Sex, food and gore - lots of it. Dorothy is a food writer - successful, rich and a lover of food and sex equally. In the writing the descriptions of bodily parts and exquisite meals are often interchangeable. She is also a murderer. In the opening chapter she tells us this fact - after all this is her memoir, she wants the world to know about her. For this reason, this is not a novel full of tension - we already know she is a killer. The tension is finding out how she was caught. In her memoir she tells us in meticulous detail the steps to commit the perfect murder - even she doesn't know how the police found her. That is the tension. I can't say, hand on heart that I liked Dorothy, but I can't say that I disliked her. She has some great one-liners that you have to read again just to check - did she really just say that?

Overall it is an enjoyable read - if that is correct for such a blood filled novel. A word of warning, this is not for the weak stomached which very graphic descriptions of murder and cannablism. This is also not a novel for those who dislike very explicit sex scenes. But, if you want to meet a narcissistic killer - then pick it up.

I have mixed feelings about this book, some of the subject matter is far outside my comfort zone but I am giving it four stars because it is so unusual and very well written, Chelsea G Summers has a wonderful grasp of the English language, this story is peppered with adjectives and metaphors.
It is basically Dorothy Davis telling the story of her life from behind prison bars, serving a life sentence plus twenty years for murdering and sauteing her lovers before devouring them.
Dorothy had been food critic and this story unfolds in a very tongue in cheek and amusing way, she lives in New York but spends time in beautiful Italy, her love life is varied and good until she gets bored and disposes of them
This book is quite long and not for the feint hearted (although warnings are given in the introduction). I am sure that are loads of readers who enjoy black humour and who will find this a hilarious romp but it is a little bit too far out for my tender pallet.
I received a free copy of this book and my review is voluntary.

I thought this was brilliant and can definitely see why it would appeal to the BookTok world, especially Moshfegh fans.

A surprisingly enjoyable horror satire! Absolutely hated the narrator in the best way, and this has just reconfirmed how much I love damaged and unlikeable characters. All of the stars!!!

Dorothy Daniels has always had a voracious - and adventurous - appetite. From her idyllic farm-to-table childhood (homegrown tomatoes, thick slices of freshly baked bread) to the heights of her career as a food critic (white truffles washed down with Barolo straight from the bottle) Dorothy has never been shy about indulging her exquisite tastes - even when it lead to her plunging an ice pick into her lover's neck.
There is something inside Dorothy that makes her different from everybody else. Something she's finally ready to confess. But beware: her story just might make you wonder how your lover would taste sautéed with shallots and mushrooms and deglazed with a little red wine.