Bloody, explicit and very on the nose humour. Not that either of those is a bad thing. Its just that its not entirely in good taste. For instance in the first 5 pages, there is a meeting, a ongoing sexual affair and a murder. It seemed rushed with overuse of cliches. And trying too hard to be like a female Hannibal Lecter without the cannibalisim.

It seems like a missed attempt but maybe it could be grown into, Each to their own.

Dorothy Daniels has always known, and appreciated delectable food. Growing up with a mother who grew her own, and cooked and baked from scratch, with a passion for perfection, it was no wonder Dorothy inherited this passion. Dorothy developed exquisite tastes, and channelled her love for fine food into a career as a food critic, then progressing on to become an author of cookbooks on her passion subject. Not only a lover of fine food, she is also an excellent chef.

Dorothy is not just passionate about food, she has an equally healthy appetite for sex. Dorothy is bold, brazen and outspoken, a sassy woman who knows what she wants, and how to get it. The only problem is, for her, food and sex go together. She considers her lovers good enough to eat - literally - and she can cook them to perfection.

This story is written as if a memoir looking back on how the character has ended up where she is. It is full of dark humour, murder in descriptive detail, and a descent into loss of control. I love that we have a female self identified psychopath, who embraces who she is and works to keep a facade of normality in her everyday life. All while discussing how best to cook pieces of her lovers in the best way, as if you were having a conversation about shoes with a female friend. The language used in the book is rich, descriptive and emotive, trying to evoke a passion in you of the food on the plate that Dorothy feels. However, the continual descriptions of food or likening things to food did get repetitive and a little tedious at times.

We know that Dorothy gets caught from the outset of the story, but all throughout we are just waiting to find out why and how. When we did, it felt almost anticlimactic and rushed, without the same level of detail in the rest of the story. I am usually a big fan of dark humour, macabre, twisted stories. This one however lost me a bit at times. It was an enjoyable read, but dragged a bit at times for me.

*I received this copy from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

The protagonist and narrator of A Certain Hunger is a sassy, female serial killer and food critic who likes to eat her kills. In a sense there is very little more I need to say.
She is writing from prison. Slowly she reveals the reasons and methods of her murders, along with some sumptuous writing about food.
I have no doubt that the book will sell incredibly well, but it wasn’t really for me. It is salacious. It does exactly what it sets out to do and it is fast-paced. If the description tickles, you’ll know if it’s for you.

An absolute triumph which will make you fall in love with the English language all over again, you will just devour it!
If a female Hannibal starred in Orange in the new black, it would give you a pretty good idea of what to expect from this novel. The writing could be have been seen as pompous but it is so masterfully executed that you find yourself astonished by the fluidity of the prose. The story is original and so well cadenced, you end up being completely absorbed in the deviant world of the narrator and want more.
I could write pages about how much I loved this book but it would still not do it justice. Just read it!

“Any old human woman can see a man orgasm. We so rarely get to see them die; it has been my greatest gift and my most divine pleasure.”

Dorothy Daniels: food critic by day, self-proclaimed female psychopath and serial killer by night. Writing from prison, Dorothy divulges how she came to kill her lovers, as well as chronicling her career as a food writer. Conveniently, her sophisticated palette and her love of killing are two things that work together very well - it means she knows exactly the right way to cook her lovers’ organs and what wine to pair them with.

“Few women come into maturity unscathed by the suffocating pink press of girlhood, and even psychopaths are touched by the long, frilly arm of feminine expectations. It’s not that women psychopaths don’t exist; it’s that we fake it better than men.”

I knew from the first few pages that I was going to love this book. The prose is exquisite; our protagonist Dorothy narrates a deliciously gruesome account of her life. A typical psychopath, Dorothy’s grandiose sense of self-worth along with her dark humour (she describes manslaughter as “insufficiently ambitious homicide”) makes for compelling reading.

“The meat was quite tasty, chewier than beef, certainly, but with an earthy thrum, a kind of truffled bass note, and the piquancy that comes only from the deepest flavor of nostalgia.”

Food writing is in Dorothy’s blood; everything she writes is with the gusto and language of a food lover - each comparison, each description and each killing. Dorothy wants the reader to know the details of every slaughter, every organ harvest and every indulgent meal they culminate in. As a result, the descriptions are gory, bloody and visceral, in a very matter of fact way. This is not one for the faint of heart.

“I wanted to spend time with him again and I wanted to kill him again; I wanted them both, and I wanted them at once, and neither was possible.”

The pacing of the book was perfect, and I quickly devoured it. The first three quarters were a romp through Dorothy’s life, love and career. The final quarter was a frantic rush to the end to discover Dorothy’s downfall - I couldn’t put it down. It’s not your typical serial killer book in that we know who’s been killed, we know who’s done the killing, but what we don’t know is how our cunning and intelligent protagonist gets caught.

Compelling, gory and cleverly satirical; it’s a female American Psycho with added cannibalism. In the interests of equality, I’m going to need more books about female psychopaths (but only if they’re as well written as this). It seems like this novel was a long time in the making - for the literary world's sake, I hope the next release from Summers is a lot quicker.

A Certain Hunger is released on 7 July 2022. Thank you to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

“Few women come into maturity unscathed by the suffocating pink press of girlhood, and even psychopaths are touched by the long, frilly arm of feminine expectations. It’s not that women psychopaths don’t exist; it’s that we fake it better than men.”

This is the fake memoir of popular food critic Dorothy Daniels - she adores food, adores sex - oh and she happens to be a serial killer who eats parts of her victims!

Daniels is a cold and cunning woman - ok you’d probably expect that given the fact that she’s a serial killer, but she makes no attempt to charm her readers, however, her one liners stop you in your tracks, on the one hand shocking you in the calm and distanced manner in which she describes killing and eating parts of her victims, while on the other, the accompanying dialogue is so damned amusing at times that you can’t help but chuckle. She has a huge appetite for both food and sex and indulges to her heart’s content! *A word of warning* this is not for the squeamish, with graphic and gory descriptions of killing and eating the offal of Dorothy’s former lovers!

3.5 stars

This felt like a gossipy chat with your best friend, who just happens to have a sense of the darkest humour.
It's gory at times, but it's saved by how amusing it is.
I thought midway through it might get a bit "same old" as another story of sex and death is recalled... but it never did.

Most definitely not for the easily offended or faint at heart, but fantastic for us who like our stories dark and funny.

Chelsea certainly writes a book that packs a serious punch. I couldn’t decide what to compare it to, certainly nothing I’ve ever read before. A female serial killer is definitely a rather an alternative route.
Thank you Netgalley & Chelsea for the advanced copy of this book. All the sex talk put me off an otherwise great book if you are into female psychopaths.

“In death, I am closer to them than I ever was in life. I carry them with me”

Chelsea G. Summers’ ‘A Certain Hunger’ is Joe from YOU and American Psycho all wrapped up in the form of an unhinged female food critic with serial killing cannibalistic tendencies and it is one of the most interesting books I have read in a long time.

From the start, the writing of this book was so good, the first chapter made me feel sick as it was so descriptive. The depictions of the murders are so in-depth, but that is what comes with basically living inside the main characters complex head for the entirety of the book.

Dorothy is a confusing character, she isn’t necessarily unlikable but her self-aware nature makes the book more interesting than say other books where the killer is totally in denial. Her sick and depraved thinking can make uncomfortable reading, but the writing is so good I just couldn’t put it down.

I would definitely recommend this book, it’s a dark concept but the author does it so well. Definitely one of my favourite reads of the year!

Absolutely delectable! Megan Abbott’s endorsement led me to this, and I’m so glad it did - the writing is as lip-smackingly luscious and succulent as Abbott’s noir and contemporary novels of what it is to be a woman today. I devoured it, looking up all the dishes as I read so that I can add them to my bucket list of things I’d like to taste one day! I will for sure be looking out for more from this author. Also recommended if you’re a fan of CJ Skuse’s Rhiannon books.

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.

‘A Certain Hunger’ by Chelsea G Summers is a noteworthy debut and such a refreshingly fun read. Not for the faint hearted though! Full of satirical humour and beautiful prose, this book o is a breath of fresh air. It’s one of those novels that you know you should be taking time to read, in order to savour it, but before you know it, oops, it’s finished. It’s almost impossible to pace. I had it read in one sitting. I literally cannot wait to see what this author cooks up for us with her next novel. Cooks… see what I did there? Go read this!!

Would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys their books with a different spin and who just appreciates a good read.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for an unbiased review.

Loved this. Sharp, savage, clean. Very metaphor-heavy, but somehow that irritated me for just the first few pages - it's a stylistic choice which actually really suits the over-richness of the narrator's voice.

Of course the food descriptions are mouth-watering. I learned a lot, and googled so many things I want to try! And the narrative is spikily funny - sort of campy B-movie-esque, like a cross between <i>Death Proof</i> and <i>Elvira: Mistress of the Dark</i>.

It's really a lot of fun.

My thanks to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for the ARC.

pardon the pun, but i absolutely devoured this in one sitting. to summarise, it’s a book exploring the food critic to cannibal pipeline. i am a huge i lover of true crime, but somehow until now this didn’t spill over to my reading preferences. but i’m glad i gave this one a read. it was done so well and i literally couldn’t look away at any point.

it’s so interesting to me how the scenes of her describing animals being killed were more traumatising for me to read than her literally consuming men. didn’t expect to come out of this calling a 50 year old cannibal? an icon? but that’s what dorothy is.

also, emma the star of the book, i too would love my best friend to the end, even if she was a cannibal/serial killer/psychopath. and if i could i’d never step foot out of my house either.

massive thank you as always to netgalley and faber and faber for the chance to read this!!

I wasn’t sure what to expect when reading this, but it was better than I expected! Loved every page.

I really appreciate the main character of this book we don't have enough female murders who act as main characters. I think the author captured the uncaring and calculating personality of a phycopath.

Where the novel falls short for me is the nonstop description of comparing everything to sex or food, while I understand it's to show that the main character has no interest in anything else. It's extremely tedious and after a while it felt like the author was trying to hit a word count.

This was everything I wanted from a book. Exciting, funny, gory, and most of all the absolutely exquisite writing.

It ticked all of the boxes for me and I absolutely can't wait for its release so I can rave about it with friends!

Based on this book alone, Chelsea G Summers could probably write a 300 page novel containing only one word repeated over and over again and I'd probably still love it. Super excited for what she does next!

This was such a good read, well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters that were completely addictive if not somewhat unstable, especially the protagonist - who I adored.
It was a gripping read that was twisty, unpredictable and full of vivid descriptions and graphic imagery but I was totally there for it. I really enjoyed it.

A very unique story to say the least! Very graphic at times but also very entertaining and disturbingly quite addictive!

Well. Dearie me, where do I begin?
Absolutely speechless.
This is not for the faint hearted, and for the stronger stomachs, be prepared to gasp, and coil in horror at these confessions and admissions.
Startling but my goodness entertaining.

This book is horrendous in the best way possible. I loved the unhinged female lead and watching her story unfold was fascinating. Definitely a heavy and, most often, gory read, but fantastic