Nothing Tastes as Good

Description

He finally got the body he wanted. Now he’s hungry for something worse.

The nationally bestselling author of The Paleontologist and A History of Fear returns with a spine-tingling new thriller about a weight loss treatment with terrifying 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 unputdownable thriller that combines the body horror and social commentary of The Substance with the best of Stephen King and keeps you guessing until the final page.
Binding Type: Hardcover
Author: Luke Dumas
Published: 03/31/2026
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 9781668068410
Pages: 352
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 1.50″ H x 8.90″ L x 6.10″ W

About the Author
Luke Dumas is the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Paleontologist and A History of Fear. He is the winner of the 2024 ITW Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original, 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. Luke was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he works for a biomedical research institute.