This was a very interesting read I would best describe as a Medical Mystery Thriller. I had some Criminal Minds/CSI vibes reading the book which is definitely not a bad thing! These are the kind of TV shows which give me life!

The novel hits the topic of body/fat shaming, how social media can negatively influence people’s perspectives, the fact people are looking for the ultimate easy weight loss fix and an underground black market selling deadly diet pills for profit.

After a string of deaths, including the son of a Senator and a famous pop star, the cause of death is found to be a deadly toxin called DNP. As the investigation is underway, the DNP is found linked to diet pills and drinks. Tracking down where they are manufactured and who is distributing them becomes the focus.

I was a little wary when I began the book because there are quite a few characters, each with their own POV. There did not seem to be a “main” character but rather, a lot of people who were invested in the same case, who were either affected by the loss of someone to DNP or who were behind the supply of DNP. There were a lot of players to get to know which took place in two different cities – Vancouver and Los Angeles. { I, personally, love a book written in a Canadian setting}

After I figured out the who is who, the storyline I found fascinating. I was shocked when I read the Author’s Notes at the end of the book to find out DNP really is a product in illicit diet pills and being distributed in our society. The book wasn’t necessarily a fast paced read full of action but rather, a good steady flow of characters and information which held my attention. It touched on the personal lives of the main characters but not enough for me to really get to know them to feel anything for them. The focus was on the crime and getting the people behind it to do the time. ( bahaha cheesy rhyme I know lol)

Four solid stars, would recommend when you are in the mood for a medical mystery. Watch for it – publication date May 9, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the digital ARC.

Synopsis (It's a fiction book, so it helps….)
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From internationally bestselling author Daniel Kalla comes a riveting thriller about online body shaming, toxic diet pills, a vulnerable mega-celebrity, and a rapidly rising body count.

When Owen Galloway, the track star son of a prominent US senator, is found dead of an overdose in his bedroom, LAPD Detective Cari Garcia suspects that he’s just another teenager who hid a drug addiction. In Vancouver, Dr. Julie Rees, an experienced toxicologist, notices a growing number of overdoses among the eating disordered and bodybuilders and mentions it to her boyfriend, Detective Anson Chen.
Then Rain Flynn, a famous pop star and social media influencer, dies in her Vancouver hotel room showing the same symptoms of a fatally high fever and uncontrollable seizures as Julie’s other ER patients, including the co-owner of a wildly popular wellness center with locations in both Vancouver and LA.
After an autopsy confirms that Rain overdosed on illicit diet pills containing a deadly toxin known as DNP—an explosive agent originally used in the trenches of World War I—the media gets hold of the story and runs wild with it. But who’s behind the online marketing and distribution of DNP? And how is the wellness center connected? The daunting challenge of putting the pieces together falls to Detectives Garcia in LA and Chen in Vancouver. Can they solve these crimes before DNP becomes the next viral TikTok challenge?

TikTok challenges....oy vey - that is a good enough reason for Dr. Rees to solve this problem alone: the world would be a better place without TikTok. DIabtribe aside, this is another great medical mystery by Dr. Kalla that looks at our diet culture and how people will literally do anything to be thin. DNP (2,4-Dinitrophenol) is a real phenomenon as I found by using Dr. Google and it is a scary one and I am sure that that was the impetus behind this drug being the killer in this excellently written novel.

I will recommend this book to friends, family, book clubs and patrons alike as it is a great medical thriller with so much at stake: body shaming is at an all-time high and some people will do literally anything to lose weight...even kill themselves..to be GOOP-approved-thin-enough. Take that, GOOP...you are as toxic and evil as the drug.

HiGHLY recommended.

#shortbutsweetreviews

Edge of your seat medical thriller. My favourite genre of thrillers! High end wellness centre selling drinks laced with DNP, or an explosive. Loved the settings, LA, Vancouver. Great characters! Overall fun read. Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for the arc of this book.

This is an earth shattering ride on the west coast!

Thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for this ARC.

Fit to Die by Daniel Kalla reads quickly. While the plot-driven nature of Kalla's story kept me interested enough to keep turning pages, I found myself longing for further character development and searching for nuance between the lines. However, Kalla's experience as a medical doctor lends credibility to the story - he's certainly got a finger on the pulse of contemporary fad diet trends.

If you enjoy crime procedurals such as Law & Order: SVU, you'll likely devour Fit to Die in a sitting or two. 3 Stars.

If you are looking for a fast paced medical thriller that involves diet/ wellness culture and influencers then this is the book for you. I couldn't put this down because I needed to find out what would happen next. I really loved that detectives from LA and Vancouver were central to this book and I really enjoyed that they (and the doctor who helps them crack the case) had their own back stories that made them seem much more relatable. I haven't read the previous book that feature the Vancouver characters of Anson Chen and Julia Rees but that book also sounds very topical and a thriller that I won't be able to put down. (3.5 stars)

Thanks @netgalley for read number 31 of 2023 (& March Break read number 2). There were a few different intersecting plot lines in this book. While the book was fast-paced, keeping all of the characters straight could be challenging at times. I didn’t expect any twists, so I was pleased with the couple that there were. This was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 read in my books. ⭐️TW - eating disorders⭐️

Another fantastic read by Daniel Kalla Fit to Die was well researched. I’m happy that the author has brought awareness to an important issues of body shaming and eating disorders the toxic diet industry and banned diet pills that are killing people around the world. I found it engaging from the first chapter, I was happy to see characters from the last high woven into the story seamlessly..It was a fast paced read that I couldn’t press the turn page button on my e-reader fast enough. It had some plot twists I didn’t see coming and some I did.. Highly recommend
I would like to thank Net Galley and
Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to Netgalley, and Simon & Schuster Canada for the advanced copy of Fit To Die in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this ARC as I was particularly interested in the subject matter to begin with, and the Vancouver setting. With an exciting and realistic medical element, written by an actual physician, Fit to Die is an action packed page-turner from start to finish.

An illicit (and very real) drug being used for weight loss is killing people as a cast of characters tries to figure out how to stop it. Since we’re given multiple POVs to follow, the reader gets to be the most immersed in the story as it unfolds.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a weekend thriller to read , but would definitely want readers to be aware of any CW’s as it does address the realities of the toxic weight loss industry, eating disorders, body shaming and drug use.

Daniel Kalla, author of riveting best-selling medical thrillers, is also experienced as an ER doctor in Vancouver. He writes gripping and informative books about medical issues. Central to the Fit to Die plot are the dangers caused by unscrupulous distributors of drugs to the diet-obsessed and to competitive athletes, which can lead to rapid death. The focus here is DNP, which has been added to pills and 'health drinks'. The sellers avoid being charged by selling online under various company names, moving to the dark web, and routing their online presence through several countries. Tracking them down to face legal charges is difficult. A quick search shows that DNP originated as an explosive in WW1, and was recently sold for weight loss and has been banned for competitive athletes and in diet pills.

In this story, doctors in LA and Vancouver are seeing patients exhibiting high fevers, seizures, and organ failure leading to death. When traces of DNP is found in their bodies, Detectives Cari Garcia in LA and Anson Chen in Vancouver try to track down the source of the drugs so the illegal distributors can be shut down. A Wellness clinic in both cities may be involved as a co-owner has died from a huge dose of DNP. We observe the strenuous and futile attempts to save the lives of some of the patients.

The psychology of people obsessed with body image, where the victims would risk anything to lose healthy weight quickly, was well explained. I would have preferred less focus on the detective's and a toxicologist's personal lives, and I initially had trouble sorting out which characters were based in LA or Vancouver. Still, it all came together well in this engaging and frightening story with a basis in reality. this was a cautionary tale about taking unapproved medications and the necessity to shut down their distributors.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an early ARC. Publication is expected on May 9th.

(Dr.) Daniel Kalla has again presented a life issue with intense drama. A toxic, explosive chemical developed for WW 1 has become the latest toxic addition to weight loss and body building products. Fatal consequences are the basis for this fictionalized investigation when a series of deaths are attributed to DNP. Police in Los Angeles and Vancouver team up to find the sources and shut them down.

Characters face intense emotional reactions and the grueling amount of hours put in to find the 'bad guys' kept me reading this thriller until I finished it!