These vibrant early chapters don’t quite gel with the rest of the narrative. This decision to tell rather than show lessens the dramatic impact at times, but for the most part the story is kept afloat through mordant humour and Summer’s ability to craft a decent sentence. The sardonic, confiding voice is perfectly suited to monologue. It makes sense that the book was first published in America as an Audible Original. The tone is satirical throughout, sustaining many ludicrous twists and turns. Dorothy is a 6ft-tall redhead whose voracious appetite, for sex, food, power and fame results in plenty of gossipy, drama-laced tales from a range of brightly drawn backdrops - a liberal arts college in Vermont, a year abroad in Italy, the staid nightlife of 1980s Boston, and by contrast, the hedonism of 1990s New York. Summers has great fun with her character. Over 19 titled chapters, with headings such as Corpse Reviver #2, Banana Bread and Silage, Dorothy writes down her story from prison, longing, like all good sociopaths, to go down in history for her terrible crimes. This approach is particularly effective when the character is someone who lives outside the confines of society, as is the case with the charming sociopathic narrator of Chelsea G Summers’ debut novel A Certain Hunger.ĭorothy Daniels, a well-known American food critic turned serial killer, is a year into a life sentence at Bedford Hills Prison in New York, after getting away with murder - and cannibalism - for decades.

We learn to see the world through their eyes. Using a single point of view in a novel can heighten intensity, creating an immediate intimacy between character and reader.

A certain hunger chelsea g summers