Scan barcode
annarella's review
5.0
I loved it because the author is a great storyteller and it mixes the literary and the thriller in a great way making you turn pages as fast as you can.
It's also a long love letter to Venice and I loved the descriptions of the city that are so vivid and realistic.
The characters are well written and interesting, the thriller part well crafted.
It was an excellent read, strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
It's also a long love letter to Venice and I loved the descriptions of the city that are so vivid and realistic.
The characters are well written and interesting, the thriller part well crafted.
It was an excellent read, strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
zzzazzzy's review against another edition
1.0
This book is trash. My entire book club hated it. It is slow, and the characters and plot never get fleshed out or go anywhere. The book is over 300 pages and about 200 of that is filler. There were arcs that never paid off and motivations that didn't make sense. Only one character is mildly likeable, and he gets some of the least attention. Several people described it as straight-gazing despite the author being gay. The one Black character is obviously written by a white man, which isn't always bad but here it is. This book feels like it was written back in earlier 2000s in terms of representation. The relationships make no sense, and TW: there is a completely unnecessary rape scene. In summary, don't bother with this book. It deserves no hype, and the hype it has gotten is from its own author who works for vanity fair who is promoting the book.
kskillz's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
kiramccomb's review against another edition
4.0
Loved it! You become invested in the characters, their relationships , and their well-being. You root for them despite everything.
theseliterarydelights's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting how this novel has the sort of ending I desperately wanted Bollen’s The Destroyers to have and yet as a whole A Beautiful Crime is just so meh. There is no doubt in my mind that Christopher Bollen can write his ass off and I appreciate the level of research he did for this book, but that’s really where my admiration ends. I was entertained by the plot and liked the characters well enough at first, but somewhere around the halfway mark I definitely lost interest in both.
So basically skip this and read The Destroyers instead. ✌️
So basically skip this and read The Destroyers instead. ✌️
molliesmith's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mb918's review against another edition
3.0
This book had fantastic writing, a thoroughly outlined plot, and some very intriguing and interesting characters. But looking back on the story as a whole, I really didn’t feel the suspense until 3/4 of the way through. The plot really escalated from there, and I was definitely on the edge of my seat as it drew to a close, but the beginning was just too drawn out.
bookishlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Unlike the title and cover and the book's opening scene, which indicates a crime novel or thriller, this book reads more like a literary novel. Nick and Clay travel to Venice plotting to pull off the perfect con. But once there, their plan escalates in other directions they can't anticipate. The con itself was the least interesting part of the story: what the story lacked in tension is made up with the character details and the rich Venice setting.