When the book started I was sucked in, however as I kept reading I felt it lost it punch at times. Its a different type of book for sure. At times I felt it was slow moving then it would speed back up. That kept me wanting to finish it. I also felt at times it was a bit juvenile. The book is a bit disturbing, sad and exciting all at the same time.

I found the first chapter of this book very disturbing. Not for people with a dodgy gut.
I thought the second chapter although it was clear he redeem it, but by the third and fourth chapters I realised they wouldn't.
I couldn't empathise with George although it was clear he had a family tat was seriously out of whack. Not did I empathise with the models - but the agency was the worst with its culture of pain and suffering for a so-called ideal figure.
I found the descriptions of the mansion horrendous (the mansion being horrendous) and as the story failed to grab me, I gave up.

I really tried, I really did but I could not get through this one. I had a really tough time with this book as it didn’t grab me the way I had hoped and I had difficulty finding the plot at all imaginable. Additionally, I had difficulty connecting to the characters and feeling invested in the story.

The slow pace of Size Zero didn’t evoke feelings of suspense or intrigue however I did not finish this @ 50%.

Thank you Netgalley and Visage Media for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange of an honest review.

The LeClaire family are highly famous in the fashion industry. Cecil, the son of the family, is trying to become a monk. He is called upon to return home when his friend, Annabelle, who went missing many years earlier is found sort of speak. Her skin is found on a model walking the catwalk...
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Cecil is the number one suspect in the murder of Annabelle. He is shocked and horrified when he learns what is family has been up to as he is been away for many years. When another one of the LeClaire family models are found dead it becomes up to Cecil to figure out what is going on and clear his name.
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This definitely was one of my most unique books I have ever read. There is a lot going on here as the story includes the topics of sex trafficking, prostitution, drugs, child molestation, and rape. The book goes into a lot of details of the fashion industry. I don’t know much about this industry but if there is any truth in the novel then consider me stunned. Part of the story also deal with futuristic technology which I did like as I am a it of a techie. I think the writing was really well done. Parts of the story were hard to follow as the story line did jump around within a chapter. This book definitely is not for everyone but I read it fairly quickly so it held my attention.

First of all thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the ARC.

I really wanted to like this book and I tried really hard to. I'm a fan of weird but this was just a slog to get through. It was verbose and lacked any real substance to keep me attached or to make me even want to finish it. There were moments that I felt were supposed to make me laugh but missed the mark.

Overall this wasn't an enjoyable experience for me unfortunately, and I'm sorry I had to DNF this. I couldn't put more time into something I wasn't enjoying.

Could not grasp the writing style of this author. The descriptions were much overdone and overtook the entire book. This was a DNF for me

First thing...Look at that cover! A statement piece in itself!

Let me begin this right away by saying this book is not going to be for everybody. I have read some strange things in books but even my mouth dropped in shock at some of the things I read between these pages!. The very first pages really set the scene in what is to come and the bizarre tale begins with a bang as we open with a model walking the runway wearing yes I say wearing a human corpse and now let the mystery begin as our main character who has walked away from all this madness to become a monk gets dragged back in to solve an age old crime from his childhood.

While I enjoyed the story, I really had no feelings for the characters one way or another. I never got any kind of connecting feeling with any of them but maybe that's a good thing.

#visageny #NetGalley

Love the cover. Read the synopsis and thought it sounded just like the type of murder mystery/thriller I needed. Ultimately though it is about exploitation and human trafficking. Unfortunately, this one was not for me.

I thought that it started out strong – a model walks the runway in what I describe as a ‘human suit’. The material of which is later revealed to be that of a missing woman. Later the agent of said model is accused and the agent’s son is drawn into the investigation too. It was disturbing, which I enjoy. There was dark comedy, again, I enjoy this. What I didn’t enjoy though was feeling disconnected between the scathing look at the fashion industry and then the brevity of the comedy, with the satirical investigation being conducted by Ava and Cecil.

The novel has gore and some definitely disturbing parts including human trafficking, abduction, sex exploitation, severed limbs, murder etc. but the swiping at obscene wealth, body image and vanity actually became a bit boring for me because I felt I was getting a lecture about it. Also, half way through I got lost with characters (it may be that my attention wasn’t 100% by this stage), and I thought Cecil’s story was a bit “wobbly” to be honest.

I recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am very happy with this book because I did not expect much, and I was quite surprised.

The book begins when they tell us about the disappearance of Anabelle, Cecil's best friend. The only thing they know is that she disappeared in Cecil's house and for the same reason, everyone assumes that it was he who abducted and killed her, but Cecil knows that it is not so and decides to look for her.

It is the only thing I will say because I think it is best to read this book with the least amount of information possible so that you can be surprised with everything you read in this book.

This book also touches on many very strong themes that women have to live with today such as (a small spoiler): the skinnier the more beautiful we are. THAT IS VERY BAD. There is also sex trafficking and such strong phrases, that many times I was shocked, but I really don't want to say more because I really want you to read this book.

What I liked is that no character is good and bad, they are all gray and have different layers that as the book progresses, one realizes how they really are or you are surprised because you realize that you have been deceived during the whole plot.

All the characters have serious problems, the truth is that I would send all of them to a psychologist. And I say this because when you already find out everything that has happened and more than anything how each character decides to act in each situation you are like: woooow they really are out of their minds.

Maybe what I didn't like is that it has parts to spare, I think it could perfectly be shorter.

Do I recommend this book? Of course yes.

This book is beautifully creepy. It raises awareness to so much that is wrong with the fashion industry. It has so many cringe worthy moments, but it is so beautifully written and so entertaining that you just don’t want to put it down.

CW: rape, sex trafficking, anorexia, mental & physical abuse

Weirdly I quite liked this book mainly for the sheer nerve and wit of writing it. Initially I thought the characters were totally unbelievable but who knows - maybe they're out there in the crazy world of child fashion, modelling or beauty pageants. It's not the easiest plot I've ever followed but I kind of plodded through with the help of the satirical humour and craziness. Give it a go - it's different!

Thanks to netgalley for the arc

I honestly don’t know where to start but please be aware this is my opinion and an honest review. Cecil was born into a family that is famous and wealthy for pioneering a high-end fashion line. Cecil refuses to participate in this lifestyle and becomes a monk instead. He is pulled back into the chaos when his eccentric mother allows a model to walk down the catwalk at New York Fashion Week sporting a coat made of human skin. It turns out the coat is made out of the skin of his childhood friend and love that went missing. Cecil leaves the monastery to figure out what in the world is going on.

This novel is one of the most obscure things I have ever read. The characters were totally vapid and difficult to follow as they were all very eccentric. I did enjoy some of the commentary Mangin tried to make about the expectations placed on models in the high-fashion world and how they are treated. The plot had very little consistency and I found the writing style to be scattered and difficult to follow. The cliffhanger ending didn’t help either as it gave me no closure after struggling to make it through the 300 pages. While I can understand some of the points Mangin was making, the oddities made it hadr to enjoy as there was just too much going on.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. It's premise fascinated me, I couldn't say I had ever read a thriller surrounding a monk in the modelling world, and I was so ready to give it a read! I really enjoyed the beginning of this book and how it portrayed a modern monk, however once Cecil returned to his family the book just lost my interest. I found it difficult to keep track of characters as the story progressed and this resulted in me struggling to engage with the story. I wish I had enjoyed the book more, but I think ultimately I am not the target audience for this one.

A disturbing, strange and fascinating book. I can't say if liked it or not I just know I was enthralled.
It's well written, the characters are fascinating and fleshed out.
I think it's an interesting reading experience and I recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I read 37% of this book and then stopped, as I did not want to read any more. I did that because I found the content disturbed me. I am sorry that I could not persevere with it.
If the book portrays an accurate picture of life in the fashion world, that offended my sense of morality. The image is graphic, gritty, demeaning of human beings, and almost totally without conscience. The glitz and the glamour are a facade for greed, lust and envy, and I found it hard to digest, and I thought I was broad-minded. It is indeed a scathing look at the world of high fashion.
I also struggled with the notion of an ex-player in that field, ending up as a monk and then investigating a murder or murders. He did not feel 'real', and di not engage me in any way. Besides that, I felt the pace of the story moved too slowly and delved unnecessarily profoundly into the background context, such that the thread of the story became lost.
I gave the book one star as the author clearly put a lot into her work, but it was not for me!

I thought I would love this book. After reading the synopsis, I thought it was about murder. It started off as promised, with a model wearing the skin of a human corpse down a runway. And I understood early on that it was satire and meant to be humorous, but I kept hoping for a real murder-mystery and took the book more seriously than it was meant to be taken, so I ended up being disappointed.

The book is a lot more about sex trafficking than murder. If I had known that going in, I wouldn't have read it. I don't enjoy that subject matter at all. Murder, I like! But this is primarily a story about the sexual abuse of women in captivity and it was unpleasant. I wish the synopsis had made that more clear. It's gross and not a matter I would have picked up a satirical book about if I had known.

Initially the zaniness of it all was entertaining, but soon the descriptions of all the outlandish decor and the outrageous behavior of all the characters eclipsed the actual plot. I kept plodding through because I genuinely wanted to know who the murderer was. And I enjoyed the plot twists and liked the story itself, but I felt like there were so many distractions that after a point they became actual obstacles to the story getting told. The characters themselves were lost in their wardrobes. (But was that the point?) I kept forgetting who the side characters were amidst all the long, descriptive narratives. In my mind, Freddy and Henry are the same person and his name just changed for no reason. For three-quarters of the book I also thought Perdonna was Cecil's grandmother, until finally it was mentioned again that she was his godmother. (Imagine my relief!)

I did like the protagonist Cecil, but less as the story progressed. In the beginning he is a monk. I am not a religious person, but I liked that he was a modern monk, especially when he protected a gay child from his homophobic family. But his behavior increasingly mimics the very institution he is fighting against and by the end I'm not sure he really learned his lesson.

I see this is the first book in a series but I don't plan to continue reading the other books. I feel like the first volume concluded as much of the story as I care to read. I felt satisfied with the way it wrapped up, and the story itself was good. I just felt that overall this book was too long to enjoy.

I wish I could say I enjoyed this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. It was supposed to be dark humour I think but it was lost on me if it was. I’m sure there will be some people who like it.

I would like to thank Visage Media and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in return for my honest review.

If you like your books full of jetblack humour and peopled with weird over the top characters then this is a book for you. Fortunately I do enjoy these kind of books, but I have to admit I did find it tedious at times and definitely too long which is a shame as it had some good points to make.
Thank you to netgalley and visage media for an advance copy of this book

I am going to keep this review short for a single reason: I REALLY DISLIKED the book. Size Zero has been categorized under the crime thriller genre but that’s only half accurate. While it lives up to the crime bit, the only thrill I felt was when I FINALLY finished reading it after constantly putting it down due to boredom and just hoping for something to happen.

The plot is dark and twisted but not in an amazing thriller way and rather in the most horrid way possible. The first chapter and the blurb belies the entire plotline. It’s nasty and this book is definitely not for everyone. There are multiple triggers to be found in the book: anorexia, abuse, rape, explicit language and more. The whole time it felt as if the author was trying too hard to assault my sensibilities instead of weaving a story and I didn’t find a single character that I liked (except maybe the mouse – Firago).

The problem with the book was that no matter how crazy the fashion industry is, the only “size zero” I found in the book was the pace, practically non-existent. You keep waiting for the book to finally start moving but all you get is a slight pulse to bring you out of the boredom-coma after every 7 chapters or so during which the pace and the story has flat lined itself. I may sound very harsh about the book but I believe the book would have been a great short story or maybe even a Netflix show with all the crazy but as an entire novella it’s a disaster.

I’m rating this book 1.5 bookmarks out of 5 solely for the cover and this is probably the first book which has let me down this year.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a copy in lieu of an honest review. I would also like to wish the author the best for her next book in this series and would like to congratulate her for coming of with this book, I unfortunately wasn't the reader for it.

I got through about a third of Size Zero but it was ultimately a DNF for me. The story is somewhat interesting in a very absurdist way but it didn’t really capture my attention. You might like this book if you like absurdist or surreal stories and a sort of dark humor/horror take on the fashion industry.