Luca Navarro is a broke former delivery driver living in a rundown Manhattan studio apartment. In a world struck by Global Satiety Syndrome, nearly everyone’s appetite has collapsed by 95 percent, leaving restaurants bankrupt and food meaningless. Luca is the sole exception: he is constantly, insatiably hungry. After posting a photo of twenty empty plates, he becomes a social-media laughingstock, accused of faking his appetite for attention. With his savings gone and his old Chevrolet sold just to afford an entry fee, Luca enters the Texas Big Eater Challenge, hoping the one-million-dollar prize will keep him alive.
At the contest, Luca is mocked by Brett Hicks, a muscular influencer who has built a career on a fake big-eater persona. Brett and his assistant livestream their insults, but Luca shocks the stadium by devouring three burgers in three seconds. He advances through rounds of fried chicken, pasta, boba, and ghost-pepper octopus while other contestants collapse or quit. Brett, desperate to protect his brand, cheats with pills and finally vomits on stage. Luca wins the million dollars and becomes an overnight celebrity, but his victory draws dangerous attention.
Grant Whitmore, director of Apex BioSolutions, offers Luca ten million dollars for three months of “research.” A mysterious texter named S warns him that Apex does not want a partner—it wants to slice him up and study him. At the FDA Global Food Safety Summit, Luca meets Sara Dunning, head of the Global Metab
