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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Be Gay Be Greedy! Wow this novel is just wow! For the price of a hardcover you are transported to the city of Venice. You can smell, taste and imagine the sights. And it’s GAY and in the best way. You go along for the ride with boyfriends Clay and Nick and you do not want it to end. You want to keep reading and you feel a little greedy with each page.
A character study of how far a person will go to keep the con going! Highly highly recommend!!!!
A character study of how far a person will go to keep the con going! Highly highly recommend!!!!
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book establishes from the first page that it could be a thriller—but what follows is a metered, lush, high-stakes romance. Nick and Clay, betting their lives on the promise of Venice with nothing to lose, attempt to con their way out of youthful debt and into freedom, something that the two gay, American, millennials desperately crave (other than eachother, of course).
The world building alone is a detailed love letter to Venice, bolstered by Bollen's own experience of the city, and too of New York. It's one of those geography-specific reads that doubles as a story and an almost-vacation.
Some favorite quotes;
• "He wondered how many miles Ari had read in his life when the lines were totaled up. How many times around the world?" pp. 55
• The use of the world "chiaroscuroing" pp.52
• "It seems sometimes, in coming here, I've traded in for the daydream full time. Try as I might, I can't seem to shake myself into a lucid thought. It's all just drift and beauty." pp. 338
3.5/5, but for the beauty of Bollen's prose as he approaches a thriller/crime novel, a 4
Hardcover bought at the Oxford Exchange bookstore in Tampa, FL.
The world building alone is a detailed love letter to Venice, bolstered by Bollen's own experience of the city, and too of New York. It's one of those geography-specific reads that doubles as a story and an almost-vacation.
Some favorite quotes;
• "He wondered how many miles Ari had read in his life when the lines were totaled up. How many times around the world?" pp. 55
• The use of the world "chiaroscuroing" pp.52
• "It seems sometimes, in coming here, I've traded in for the daydream full time. Try as I might, I can't seem to shake myself into a lucid thought. It's all just drift and beauty." pp. 338
3.5/5, but for the beauty of Bollen's prose as he approaches a thriller/crime novel, a 4
Hardcover bought at the Oxford Exchange bookstore in Tampa, FL.
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.
“This city is sinking and has been for centuries. Enjoy it while you can. The blood is pooling around the body. Screams are blaring from all directions. The killer is making a run for the exit. But none of this has happened yet.”
When a book starts off with a prologue like that and gets you hooked from the very first page you know you’re in for an incredibly immersive ride.
This book had instantly captured my attention when I first came across it in a goodreads article. And after I finished reading it, without a doubt it has taken place as one of my most favourite reads of the year. What’s truly criminally offensive is that this book has less than a thousand ratings on the aforementioned site which I’m pretty sure is the direct pandemic effect. And I haven’t seen posts about it on bookstagram and of course that needed to change.
The story follows Nick who’s flying from NYC to meet his boyfriend Clay in Venice, to assist him in taking revenge on a man who is an old enemy. This man has subotaged Clay’s chances of pursuing his dream life in the floating city. And he is awfully manipulative and has been on the bad side of Clay’s beloved ‘friend’ Freddie.
Nick and Clay are no criminal masterminds. They’re your everyday ordinary young folks who have been dealt with the bitter lemon by life time and again. Former one, for being gay in a conservative family and the latter, the same as well as because of his race. We follow their journey in Venice and New York, through alternating perspectives between the two characters, which also switches between their current and past lives, converging into a intricately beautiful and suspenseful narrative throughout the entire book.
The author painted the picture of both the beautiful and ugly side of modern day Venice remarkably well. Even though, the book has a contemporary setting but to an outsider like myself the idea of an European landscape is always picturesque and a bit distant. And perhaps that is why this book read almost like a historical fiction to me (which it isn’t of course).
I cannot recommend this book enough >>> if you’re a fan of mystery, psychological fiction, like discussions on art and history. Pretty much if you’re a fan of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and enjoy the dark academia aesthetics make sure to put this book on the top of your priority tbr list.
When a book starts off with a prologue like that and gets you hooked from the very first page you know you’re in for an incredibly immersive ride.
This book had instantly captured my attention when I first came across it in a goodreads article. And after I finished reading it, without a doubt it has taken place as one of my most favourite reads of the year. What’s truly criminally offensive is that this book has less than a thousand ratings on the aforementioned site which I’m pretty sure is the direct pandemic effect. And I haven’t seen posts about it on bookstagram and of course that needed to change.
The story follows Nick who’s flying from NYC to meet his boyfriend Clay in Venice, to assist him in taking revenge on a man who is an old enemy. This man has subotaged Clay’s chances of pursuing his dream life in the floating city. And he is awfully manipulative and has been on the bad side of Clay’s beloved ‘friend’ Freddie.
Nick and Clay are no criminal masterminds. They’re your everyday ordinary young folks who have been dealt with the bitter lemon by life time and again. Former one, for being gay in a conservative family and the latter, the same as well as because of his race. We follow their journey in Venice and New York, through alternating perspectives between the two characters, which also switches between their current and past lives, converging into a intricately beautiful and suspenseful narrative throughout the entire book.
The author painted the picture of both the beautiful and ugly side of modern day Venice remarkably well. Even though, the book has a contemporary setting but to an outsider like myself the idea of an European landscape is always picturesque and a bit distant. And perhaps that is why this book read almost like a historical fiction to me (which it isn’t of course).
I cannot recommend this book enough >>> if you’re a fan of mystery, psychological fiction, like discussions on art and history. Pretty much if you’re a fan of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and enjoy the dark academia aesthetics make sure to put this book on the top of your priority tbr list.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The premise of this book sounds perfect (two young gay men, new lovers, move to Venice and try to pull a massive con on a rich asshole who has a thing for silver antiques!) yet I was rather bored. It never got sunspenseful enough for me, and I was never truly invested in what was happening. There was nothing inherently wrong with the book, it was well written with fleshed out characters. I just don't think this one was for me. Which is a shame cause it could have been such a me book.