This is different from other thrillers I've read before. Showing an extremely dark side of the modelling/fashion industry. The lack of protection women and children get.
However this was far too long. At around 500 pages this could have been cut by 100ish pages. Maybe it would have worked better. Instead I found this dragged at times. Losing my attention.
Despite the dark and intense moments throughout. With twists I didn't see coming.

The characters were all pretty unlikeable, and the main character was just downright stupid. The clues and red flags missed just ended up being frustrating and the twists and turns disinteresting.
The genre of this book was confusing... why did it have a sci-fi feel but was meant to be set in present day? But also seemed like a fantasy novel.
Shame as the book was quite well written, I did finish it after all, but it just never made up it's mind what it wanted to be.

This book was a trip and half. I’ll admit, the premise had me hooked in from the start but unfortunately this was not what I was expecting.

I was hoping for more Neon Demons vibes but what I got was something more of a satire/outrageous depiction of fashion models and murder.

I will commend the author for his commitment to his craft. While the story itself did have some twists to keep you reading until the end (arguably what held my attention to finish); I just think this “type” of novel was not for me.

Read this if: you like dark, dark stories. Satire. Condom dresses and skin suits?

I did read somewhere that there may be more books in this series which some readers might enjoy, but I for one will not be following this story further.

Thank as always to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with this copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a LOT. I love an edgy read, but I was not really ready for something like this one. Kudos for the ingenuity though!

I did not finish this book. I tried to read it but I won’t be finishing it. I won’t be rating this book.

Ok, interesting, totally different to anything I have read, I found it hard to get into but once a few chapters in it all started to make sense.
Lots of twists in the plot. Characters that are maybe too crazy too imagine.
But saying that I did like the book and it does keep you page turning nearer the final chapters.
I received this book for free and I wanted to leave an honest review.

I wanted to read this book because of the out-of-the-box premise. Unfortunately, the execution let this book down. Everything was too dramatic and unrealistic for me. The characters were unbelievable, the plot is downright bizarre, and I just couldn’t make sense of it all. Perhaps the entire book was meant to be satirical and over-the-top but it just wasn’t a good fit for me. There are quite a few people who enjoyed this book so maybe I’m just one of the odd few who didn’t. Either way, I’m going to have to give it 2/5 stars.

Absolutely loved this book. It was intense & insane - everything a thriller like this should be. I would also say this book is definitely not for everyone. The humour & twist on morbid things would probably not be appreciated by a lot of people but if a corpse going down the run way is your jam i’d recommend it.

There is some heavy content throughout the book including anorexia, child sexual abuse and sex trafficking, so definitely read up on the content before diving in.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I loved the idea of this book but I did not like the writing style or how the book was executed. I will try out more from this author in the future but this book was not for me. I did not connect with the characters and because the writing style wasn't for me I just did not enjoy this book.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book.
This was dire, sorry but it really wasn't for me. The idea was a good one but no it was terrible. This is only my opinion.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. This did not affect my rating.
*1.5/5*

Oi. It took me a long time to get through this book and an even longer time to try to write a review of it. When I initially read the synopsis, I was confused but intrigued. The more I read, the harder it became to turn the pages. It was just bizarre.

The book begins with an 11 year old girl named Ava being sold for a few hundred bucks and some drugs. Fast forward and Ava is at a fashion show, but she is manacled and drugged. And thrust out onto the runway wearing a bleeding corpse coat. This is the first few pages..

Overall, I think the author tried to do too much and lost steam. It was hard to connect to the character and the story and I think that was one downfall. I wish the author nothing but future success. I just don’t think they are for me.

The cover though? Stunning.

This is a tough one. Size Zero is spectacularly fucked up. Did I like it? Absolutely. Did I think it was good? Uhhhhh…kinda? It’s like watching a lot of older exploitation movies. Like, maybe you recognize that it is not the most skillful thing you’ve ever seen. Because it sort of slaps you in the face with story rather than allowing you to really get yourself into it, you know? But it’s so absolutely god damned whackadoo that you don’t really care because it’s a bunch of fun, and there’s probably blood squirting all over the place and nothing really makes sense. But it doesn’t really need to.

That’s basically how I felt about Size Zero.

Since it took me so unbelievably long to get around to reviewing it, I’ve come across a few reviews from other readers, and they have been overall pretty scathing. I don’t feel any of that animosity. Is the subject matter wild? Sure. Is it unbelievable? I don’t think it is nearly so much so as some readers seemed to believe. For example, I fully believe that there are segments of the high fashion world that front for human trafficking, for example. I believe that human beings are treated like commodities. That they’re forced to starve themselves. That in many cases they are willing participants because it means a chance at a better life, or at least an escape from their current one. This is a tough one. Size Zero is spectacularly fucked up. Did I like it? Absolutely. Did I think it was good? Uhhhhh…kinda? It’s like watching a lot of older exploitation movies. Like, maybe you recognize that it is not the most skillful thing you’ve ever seen. Because it sort of slaps you in the face with story rather than allowing you to really get yourself into it, you know? But it’s so absolutely god damned whackadoo that you don’t really care because it’s a bunch of fun, and there’s probably blood squirting all over the place and nothing really makes sense. But it doesn’t really need to.

That’s basically how I felt about Size Zero.

Since it took me so unbelievably long to get around to reviewing it, I’ve come across a few reviews from other readers, and they have been overall pretty scathing. I don’t feel any of that animosity. Is the subject matter wild? Sure. Is it unbelievable? I don’t think it is nearly so much so as some readers seemed to believe. For example, I fully believe that there are segments of the high fashion world that front for human trafficking, for example. I believe that human beings are treated like commodities. That they’re forced to starve themselves. That in many cases they are willing participants because it means a chance at a better life, or at least an escape from their current one.

I mean, the subject matter of this book is disturbing specifically because it is both completely insane and also not all that far removed from stuff we know with absolute certainty actually happens.

The other major complaint I have seen levied at Size Zero is that people didn’t like any of the characters. And I think that was the point… They’re all pretty awful. And incredibly strange. Many of them (I’m looking specifically at Margaux and Perdonna here), are basically caricatures. And I think that was the point. Again, this doesn’t really veer all that far from high-fashion reality. I mean…Roberto Cavalli is known to compare himself to Marilyn Monroe, and Karl Lagerfeld hired a team of staff…for his cat. And how many times have you heard about fashion designers/models throwing massive tantrums and hurting people around them with their antics? Naomi Campbell comes to mind. High fashion people are fucking weird, man.

One thing I will give this book’s detractors: in places the writing is a bit clunky.

“But never before had a dead body,” is not my favorite sentence ever. It feels spectacularly awkward to say. And this definitely wasn’t the only instance where I felt that way. But overall, I think the exploitation-style story is entertaining enough that it mostly kept me from dwelling on the occasional weirdly phrased sentences.

Also, the cover is absolutely gorgeous.

I can't tell if this was a satirical take on fashion and crime, or if this was meant as a hardboiled crime book addressing the twists and turns in the fashion industry. Either way, the book misses, in so many ways.

So this book was totally different and kind of bizarre. Nothing like I’ve ever read before honestly. I guess the cover should have given it away but the cover was what actually drew me in. That and the mention of condom dresses! I liked that the author tackled so many issues but be aware that it can be tough to read about. It’s an unusual crime novel with eccentric characters. I am interested to see how this series progresses.

Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. The cover + description really reeled me in. It was the writing style that ultimately decided to DNF around 60%.

Size Zero by Abigail Mangin was an unusual book. It was a satire murder mystery, and certainly not everyone cup of tea, but it didn't exactly hit for me. It discusses the twisted world of fashion and despite trying to shock ended up being a bit boring.

Ugh! This book was hard to dredge through. I wanted to DNF it so many times and finally at the end I decided to plow through just to have it over with. It was too long. It had many things added for shock value that somehow still didn't make it interesting. Perhaps the worst thing of all was the characters. None of them were believable or even that likable. Ava was perhaps the only interesting person in the whole book. Cecil was supposed to be a monk and while there was some attempt to make him a caring person, he overlooked and did many things that simply did not jibe with his supposed character...especially at the end. Perdonna was admired by Cecil and even loved by him but she turns out to be a not so nice person too...which makes it hard to believe a person of the cloth would think so highly of her. Overall, I will not be reading the next book. I might give the author another attempt in the future, but this was just bad.

A crazy story set in the not far future. Where rhe world and fashion are being pushed further and further into maddness. When someone wears skin. Yes skin as an outfit. It's instantly a hit. This is a weird crazy wild ride.

DNF - 20%
I’ve been trying to get into this book for a while now, but after reaching 20% and struggling to continue, it’s time to call it. This just wasn’t the book for me. The premise of it sounds intriguing, but when I started reading it, everything felt so incredibly exaggerated and unrealistic, which left me feeling a bit unimpressed. My main issue, apart from not being able to connect with the story, is the way that the women are portrayed. The female models were portrayed as sad, naive, vain, etc and it didn’t sit right with me. Though this may have been done for the purpose of creating an uncomfortable atmosphere, I found it to be a bit too extreme.

I started off really liking this book but very quickly this began to be a chore to read. I couldn't follow the plot and just ended up thinking to myself, why bother. But I plodded on although even now, I don't know why.