The Secret Dinner

A Novel

By Raphael Montes
A bloody knife rests on a white plate with the title "The Secret Dinner" by Raphael Montes.
Title: The Secret Dinner
Author: Raphael Montes
ISBN: 9781250442413
ON SALE: 08/18/2026

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ISBN: 9781250442437
ISBN: 9781250446787

The internationally acclaimed #1 bestselling thriller, now in English

Four childhood friends, eager for a taste of city life, swap rural Brazil for an apartment in Copacabana, Rio. But they can have no idea of the fate that awaits them there…

Dante, Leitão, Miguel and Hugo are your average students trying to make ends meet with part-time jobs, excited about the bright future at their fingertips. So when their rent skyrockets, they struggle to keep their new life and big dreams afloat. They need to make money however they can. In order to keep their apartment, the friends adopt an unorthodox plan, and are soon sucked into a dark world of secret dinner parties catering to the twisted fantasies of Rio’s elite.

But what starts as a joke quickly spirals out of their control. As the four friends fall deeper into this dark new world and earn more money, the stakes get higher and the consequences deadlier, revealing the twisted depths that lurk within each of them, and threatening not only their friendship, but their lives.

Smiling person with glasses and a beard wearing a blue shirt, standing against a pink background.
RAPHAEL MONTES is the biggest thriller writer in Brazil. His eight novels have sold more than a million copies and have been published in more than twenty-five countries. Also a screenwriter, Montes is the showrunner of Scars of Beauty—the most-watched original show on HBO Max in Latin America—and Netflix’s award-winning series Good Morning, Verônica. He splits his time between Rio and New York and has a strong presence on social media, where he shares his creative process with his readers.

Praise for Raphael Montes

“Fair warning; it’s dark. So yes, there’s plenty of gore here, but beneath the blood and black humor is a sharp examination of greed, class, and just how far a really bad idea can go. Twisted, funny, and fast-paced, but very much not for the squeamish among us.”


“Themes of cannibalism abound in this dark comedy about friendship and ambition. Safe to say you might want to be vegetarian for a while after reading this one.”

Nod Magazine

“Tightly paced and provocatively drawn […] a propulsive blend of literary thriller and outright horror.”

Bookreporter

“On the first page of this hugely popular Brazilian thriller, which involves four broke friends who get involved in the dark underworld scheme involving dinner parties for the wealthy of Rio de Janeiro, a man in a blood-soaked tuxedo enters a police station to confess to an as-yet unexplained crime. How can you not read on?”

Southern California News Group

“One of the more successful devices that threads the beginning to the end has to do with one character’s trauma and how that can change a personality. Combined with the overall quick pacing and introduction of twists (some of them red herrings), that device will help the book find readers who will gobble it up.”

Kirkus

“Montes keeps readers hooked to see just how far the group will go, if their friendship will survive, and what the outcome will be. A top thriller in Brazil, this bold mix of satire and horror is not for the weak of stomach.”

Booklist