“Revenge is tough to swallow…

Things for Renee Landis are finally looking up. She just quit her dead-end job at a chicken shop after landing the coveted role of junior chef at London’s pristine NOVA restaurant.

But it’s not the restaurant that draws Renee in – it’s the executive chef. Gracie Fitzgerald is as legendary as she is secretive, known for her succulent, signature dishes and the notorious methods in which she runs her kitchen. No one can touch her workspace with bare hands. No other chef can taste her signature dishes. And no one, under any circumstances, is allowed to enter her personal freezer…”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of Maneater by Ellie Graves. Maneater was published by Bantam Books on 26th March 2026 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free eARC of Maneater but that has in no way influenced my review.

Junior chef Renee held the culinary world in the palm of her hand, she was set to be the next big thing in food, until her mother became ill and she was called home to take care of her. When the time came to return to her dream, it soon became clear that things had moved on. Renee had been forgotten about and was, in fact, now a nobody, a mere hazy memory, with the only food-related job available to her in a fried chicken shop. Putting up with rude, drunk customers, high on their own self-importance was never part of Renee’s plan. So when an opportunity of a lifetime presents itself, she’d be a fool to let it pass. With a little help from her flatmate, Renee applies for a job at NOVA, one of London’s most prestigious Michelin-starred restaurants, overseen by infamous, some would say ‘notorious’ Executive Chef, Gracie Fitzgerald. Before long, Renee is learning to fine-tune her skills. Gracie Fitzgerald is, unbelievably, her mentor, and Renee is keen to learn from the best. But there’s something undeniably off about NOVA, and about Gracie. There are so many rules. Things the chefs can and can’t do. Things they’re not allowed to touch, food they’re not allowed to taste. And what’s the deal with Gracie’s private freezer…?

Maneater is a delectable feminist revenge thriller with a deliciously dark horror edge to proceedings. You can probably broadly guess the direction the story takes thanks to the eye-catching cover and the ‘says-nothing-really-but-actually-tells-you-everything-you-need-to-know’ blurb. But that’s what was so appealing about this book to me. I know what the mysterious freezer is all about. YOU know what the mysterious freezer is all about, but oh my gosh, poor Renee doesn’t have a clue!

Following a bright start, Renee finds herself on the bottom rung of the career ladder cooking chicken to order in a chicken shop. A chicken shop which she put on the map thanks to her skill and talent. But this was never the dream. Renee wants more for herself. Renee wants ‘Michelin star more’. So when an interview at NOVA with Gracie Fitzgerald’s second in command seems to go well, Renee has to pinch herself. The chance to prove what she can do to one of the best in the business is a nerve-racking opportunity, and one Renee cannot screw up. Before long, Renee is being offered a permanent role in the small kitchen, and it’s everything she ever dreamt of. So much so, she puts all of herself into her work. Neglecting her best friend and flatmate, Lola, and her long-term boyfriend, Graham. The reader watches as Renee’s drive to succeed, to be a cog in the NOVA wheel, takes over her life. She’s so close that she can’t see what her nearest and dearest can. That there’s something not quite right about the boss Renee adores or the set-up of her meticulously run kitchen.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Maneater is a highly entertaining, thoroughly engrossing female-led horror thriller. The story moves at a steady pace with Renee becoming more and more obsessed with her job, with her boss and the overall ethos of NOVA. But in truth, she doesn’t know the half of it. I really liked Renee. I believed in this career-driven woman who wanted more for herself. The more drawn into the restaurant Renee becomes, the more that impending sense of doom makes itself known. I loved the kitchen setting, the camaraderie and team spirit amongst the kitchen staff, the intricacies of preparing a lunch or dinner service (I’ve learnt so much!). I thought the characters were all well-written and played their individual parts in the story perfectly. I thought the pace of the novel was darn near perfect, keeping me turning the pages and within Renee’s world when I should have been doing other, much more boring things (adulting/sleeping etc). All in all, I enjoyed the time I spent with Maneater. It’s a compelling, irresistible tale of feminist revenge, which simmers with darkness. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of Maneater. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Maneater by Ellie Graves was published in the UK by Bantam Books on 26th March and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Ellie Graves has always been drawn to the darker side of life, be it through human psychology or the supernatural. She has had a life-long love affair with the written word, be it writing, reading or teaching. She has lived in and around Portsmouth all of her life, and currently lives there now with her family. She can’t imagine living anywhere else; the sea is in her bones. She also likes to collect rocks, draw fantastical creatures and watch horror movies. Ellie also writes psychological thrillers under the name Claire Lunn.