Published By: Century
Pages: 400
Released On: 05/02/2026
Ed is in trouble with the yakuza. He’s gambled away all his money and his family is at risk.
But just as he’s about to lose everything, he receives an offer he can’t refuse.
A reclusive billionaire is looking for a private chef. The only catch: she has some. . . unusual tastes.
As he prepares delicious dishes – fresh crab salad with a panko crumb, lamb shank dripping in red wine juice, sweet, fluffy soufflé pancakes – he realizes that each meal is a test, a challenge to satisfy an insatiable appetite.
Caught up in a world more sinister than he could ever have imagined, Ed finds himself entangled in another debt.
As the stakes grow, he must make a choice.
Will he stay hungry? Or will he be greedy?
Dinner is served. Eat Up.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Century for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I do own Callie’s previous book, Cuckoo, but haven’t got round to reading it yet, but I enjoyed this so much that I’ll be moving it up my TBR list.
I loved the balance between Japanese culture and our British protagonist. They are so different in many ways and I found it fascinating to read about their coming together.
I also loved Callie’s description of food and eating. I mean, I won’t spoil it obviously, but let me just say the culinary aspects aren’t always that pleasant to read, but the passion and love for good food is.
What I enjoyed was the character-heavy story. It’s light on plot (that’s not a negative – I prefer characters over plot), but very detailed on characters, particularly Ed and his new employer Hazeline. The characters aren’t always pleasant, in fact some are down right disgusting and horrid, but they were interesting to read.
Ed is gentle and naïve and a bit blind to what is happening, and I think the reader knows where the story is going before he does, so it was interesting to see him work it out.
I will say now that I didn’t think any of the characters were likeable. They’re very well written and interesting to read about, but they are very unlikeable, in my eyes anyway.
What I thought was very impressive is that considering nothing really happens – it’s a progression of weirder meals really – it never feels boring or slow or stagnant. You’re still enraptured with the story and didn’t even notice that it was quite light on plot.
I don’t know what I was expecting but it was a lot more uncomfortable to read than I thought. It’s thrilling and disgusting and frightening, but it’s this quiet fear, it sneaks up on you and burrows under your skin. It’s a thriller, mystery, and horror. It’s graphic and gruesome, and bizarrely there’s elements, I felt, of a love story, but a healthy one and not necessarily a love story between two people either. You’ll see what I mean when you read it.
I would say that whilst it is uncomfortable to read, the majority of it is suggested, hinted at, for the reader to figure out. There are moments of real graphic detail, but mostly it’s your imagination, which I often find makes the difficult bits even harder.
There’s a twist at the end which I obviously won’t spoil, but it appears that myself and every other reviewer I’ve seen did not see coming at all!
Books By Your Bedside 