Luke Dumas’s 2026 novel, Nothing Tastes as Good, is a work of body and psychological horror that satirizes contemporary diet culture. The story follows Emmett Truesdale, a 28-year-old man living with severe obesity whose life is defined by trauma and shame. Desperate to escape a world that constantly judges his body, he enrolls in a clinical trial for Obexity, a revolutionary drug that promises rapid weight loss without diet or exercise. While the treatment initially delivers the physical transformation and social acceptance he craves, it soon unleashes terrifying side effects, including violent blackouts and an insatiable hunger for human flesh.

A USA Today best-selling author, Dumas is known for his novels The Paleontologist (2023) and A History of Fear (2022), the latter of which won a 2024 International Thriller Writers Award. Nothing Tastes as Good continues his work in the horror and thriller genres while providing a sharp critique of the systems that profit from body shame. The novel explores the theme of The Exploitative Nature of the Weight-Loss Industry, examining how the pharmaceutical industry preys on the desperation of individuals marginalized by societal standards. It also examines The Social Currency of Appearances, demonstrating how respect, opportunity, and desirability are granted based on superficial standards, such as proximity to a narrow physical ideal. Ultimately, the narrative is a dark cautionary tale about The Violence of Body Shaming, illustrating how relentless psychological abuse over a person’s body can fracture their identity.

This guide refers to the 2026 Atria Books hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, graphic violence, physical abuse, emotional abuse, child abuse, bullying, ableism, mental illness, disordered eating, self-harm, addiction, substance use, sexual content, and cursing.

Plot Summary

The novel is framed as a case study into a drug called ephaloma-copiramate (EmaC-8), which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently denied approval for general distribution. The novel interweaves documents exploring the life of a trial patient for the drug with the narrative of his experience during the trial to reveal the truth about EmaC-8.

Emmett Truesdale, a 28-year-old Target employee, has severe obesity and is unhappy with his life. He lives in San Diego, California, with his best friend, Lizette Castillo, a body-positive fashion designer who encourages him to accept himself. Haunted by a lifetime of bullying and a traumatic childhood involving his abusive stepfather, Hank Stauder, Emmett documents his weight-loss struggles on his blog, The True Me. 

After a humiliating encounter with his manager, Rick, over his weight and hygiene, Emmett sees an ad for a clinical trial for an “original” weight-loss product. He and Lizette attend an information session at Monstera BioSciences, where Dr. Jenni Saito introduces Obexity, a revolutionary treatment combining a gene-therapy procedure with a drug called EmaC-8, which rewrites a user’s DNA to drastically accelerate metabolism. Lured by the promise of losing weight without diet or exercise and a stipend totaling over $20,000, Emmett applies for the trial, despite Lizette’s warnings about its sinister implications.

Emmett is accepted into Phase II of the trial. During his medical assessment with the condescending Dr. Halleck, he’s diagnosed with type 2 diabetes but is still cleared to participate. He undergoes the gene-therapy procedure at Cronus Health Medical Complex, which incorporates several violent procedures, including a bone-marrow extraction from his hip and the forced insertion of a feeding tube. Emmett is conscious throughout the procedure, but the nurse dismisses his experience as a byproduct of the general anesthetic.

For weeks, nothing happens, but after receiving his first injection of EmaC-8, Emmett starts losing weight at a rate of a pound per day. As his body transforms, his confidence soars. He reconnects with his grad-school crush, Aaron Wolfe, who is now the education director at an anthropological museum called the Museum of Us. Emmett’s dramatic transformation earns him a large Instagram following, and he becomes a “fitfluencer,” offering online coaching. His newfound confidence leads to a promotion to team leader at Target.

The miraculous weight loss comes with terrifying side effects. Emmett begins experiencing severe, insatiable hunger; short-term memory loss; and violent blackouts. He wakes one morning with blood on his hands and no memory of the previous night. That same day, he learns that Georgina Hodge, a woman who interviewed him for a job at a nonprofit and shamed him for his weight, is missing. Emmett’s cravings shift, and he develops a ravenous desire for raw meat. Shortly after, he discovers the dismembered body of Marco Jiménez, a man who had insulted him at the gym, in the trunk of his car. With no memory of the murder, Emmett realizes that he must have killed and cannibalized him during a blackout. He disposes of the body by setting his car on fire at Fiesta Island. 

Emmett tries to regain some normalcy and starts a new job as an education manager at the museum under Aaron, whom he is now also dating. He tries to stop taking Obexity, but after his weight loss stalls and he regains some pounds, he draws scorn from his online followers. His relationship and professional life quickly deteriorate due to his erratic behavior and weight regain. Desperate, he contacts his half-brother’s friend, Niño Hofstetter, a black-market pharmaceutical dealer, to obtain more EmaC-8. He experiences a violent reaction to the high dose, causing a drastic overnight weight loss but triggering an even more powerful, uncontrollable hunger. 

During another blackout, he murders and eats Justin Matthews, a man from a past Grindr hookup who had mocked his body. Emmett posts an Instagram announcement of his paid partnership with Monstera, but it backfires spectacularly, unleashing a wave of public hatred for having “cheated” his way to being thin. He gets into a fight with Aaron, which culminates in Aaron calling him a “fucking monster.” The insult triggers a stress-induced reaction to the EmaC-8, causing Emmett’s body to rapidly expand. Enraged and overcome by his hunger, Emmett kills and cannibalizes Aaron in his apartment. 

Dr. Saito arrives, revealing that Monstera has been aware of Obexity’s deadly side effects and has been covering up the murders, even using genetically modified coyotes as a scapegoat to close investigations. She offers Emmett a deal: He will take the fall for the murders, keeping Monstera’s name clean, in exchange for a top-tier legal defense that will secure his acquittal on an insanity plea, after which he will receive a lifetime supply of Obexity. Dr. Saito leaves Emmett at a safe house belonging to Monstera’s founder, Dr. Cecil H. Smith, with a briefcase full of EmaC-8.

While exploring the safe house, Emmett discovers a Book of Mormon inscribed to “Hank” from “C. HENRY STAUDER.” He realizes that Dr. Cecil H. Smith is an alias for his abusive stepfather, Hank. He finds documents suggesting that Hank created Obexity, possibly inspired by the 17th-century tale of a cannibal named Sir Percival Blount, and had specifically targeted Emmett for the trial. Enraged by this ultimate betrayal, Emmett willfully overdoses on the EmaC-8 from the briefcase and posts a full confession and exposé to Instagram, revealing Hank as the mastermind behind the drug. 

Emmett proceeds to the Museum of Us, where he knows the portrait of Sir Percival Blount is on display. He posts a plaque on the portrait to link Hank to Blount and complete his exposé. Alerted by the post, the police, led by a compromised assistant chief, corner Emmett in the adjoining California Tower. During the confrontation, Emmett’s body rapidly expands. Hank appears, confessing that he created Obexity to “help” Emmett, and urges him to take the deal. Rejecting him, Emmett charges the officers, is shot multiple times, and lunges for Hank, pulling him over the balcony as he falls from the tower.

Emmett dies on impact, his body exploding in the courtyard below. Hank survives the fall with serious injuries. Following the incident, the investigative report commissioned by Monstera and prepared by the law firm Prentice & Darrow LLP concludes that Emmett was an individual with preexisting cannibalistic tendencies, completely exonerating Monstera and Obexity. The report dismisses Emmett’s history of surviving abuse as irrelevant “trauma porn.” 

With Emmett discredited and Dr. Smith having stepped down from Monstera, the FDA, under Dr. Smith’s influence in his new role as the director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, overturns its previous ruling. Dr. Smith writes a letter to Dr. Saito, Monstera’s new chief science officer, granting full approval for Obexity and praising her work for the good of the nation.