Peter Rosch

A dreary and muddled narrative about a an anorexic/bullimic able to tell the future when he binge eats. Food is gratuitously described as disgusting and the specificity of prose on the topics of taste, scent, and texture are probably the strongest point of the novel. Most likely a good read for people interested on getting into the head of a person with a very unhealthy relationship to food, but nihilistic self-harm doesn't interest me unless it's delivered at a higher level of a technical skill.… (plus d'informations)

Review based on ARC (Advanced Readers Copy received in exchange for honest review).

Trigger warnings: eating disorder, anorexia, perhaps bulimia, body image, bodily violence.

I took forever to read the book right before this one, so was hesitant to start an early reviewer by a new-to-me author, concerned about getting into a book slump... I'm so happy I started reading it anyway! I read this book in a day, flying through the story which, admittedly, starts out in a truly gross scene.

You see, Casey, our protagonist, is a committed, self-aware anorexic man who discovers he can see a portion of a person's future by binge eating. And I mean, binge eating, which is how this book starts. All the greasiest, fattiest, easiest-to-go-down foods he can manage, preferably without having to purge, before he focuses his attentions on his client to tell them something life-changing. It doesn't just pay the bills, it can be rather lucrative.

But Casey and his side-kick girlfriend also have a complex and challenging personal life/history, that they're running from, running toward, running around... Oh, right, Casey also runs a lot. That's how he generally manages his weight.

It's a book of dark humor, with a protagonist who has his own dark sense of humor, of love and obligation, of family and sacrifice, of food and violence, and of hope, with maybe a little bit of precognition thrown in for good measure.

Absolutely enjoyed. Absolutely recommend. A very strong 4 stars.… (plus d'informations)

The premise of this book is original and intriguing: Casey is an anorexic/bulimic man who can see the future when he binge-eats. What happens to him as a result of this talent is the plot, which propels the action forward. Interwoven with the plot is a "transcript" from an ongoing interview between a psychologist and the protagonist. There were many points of confusion or questions, at which I found it helpful to place sticky arrows, to better enable me to come back to the those points in the future, having (correctly) anticipated that reading further along in the narrative would help me understand those moments I didn't get upon a first reading.

The book is well-written, with plenty of twists and turns, and a pace that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The ending will leave you breathless, and make you want to go back to the "interview" to put all the pieces together. Definitely a great twisty read.… (plus d'informations)

I really enjoyed this story! Future Skinny by Peter Rosch is a unique, quick read that is hard to categorize. I would say it is mostly a thriller, but it has just a bit of horror flair that I love.

Casey is an anorexic man who finds out he can see the future when he binge eats. All hell breaks loose when he has a premonition of his girlfriend committing a murder and Casey gets involved with dangerous people who want to exploit his gifts.

I’m a sucker for stories about psychics, and I loved the themes of destiny and fate in the context of premonitions. If Casey knows the future, can he change it? Or can he only witness a fixed timeline? Readers also get an interesting glimpse into the psyche of a person with an eating disorder and the internal torture they can go through. I found the portrayal of body dysmorphia and control issues around eating really relatable and there was something personally validating about seeing these issues in print. This story is a gripping mix of real-world and supernatural fiction that’s not quite like anything I’ve read before. In just over 200 pages, Future Skinny manages to pack a lot of punch with interesting twists! I can’t say a lot more about the plot without spoilers, but this is a fast-paced, low-commitment story that is well worth the read!

Thank you so much to Peter Rosch, the publisher, and LibraryThing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Some trigger warnings: eating disorders, mention of child abuse, violence, murder, gore… (plus d'informations)