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A review by noirverse
Confidence by Rafael Frumkin
3.0
In all honesty this feels like a two star, but I'm bumping it up to three stars because I liked the first half of the book that much. I loved Ezra and Orson's relationship in the start. The story's biggest strength lies in their bond when we have it. I thought their smaller time cons were interesting, but once they hit it big, the plot derails.
The pacing gets thrown off and the time skips happen really suddenly. It loses its emotional heart as Orson and Ezra become like strangers to each other with the rest of the story not being nearly as compelling as it should've been. I wanted to feel more of what was happening since Ezra's narration becomes so distant that it's difficult to really care.
Orson by the end borders on feeling like a minor character with how much actual relevance he has to the plot beyond Ezra yearning for him. I also thought most of the women in this book had questionable writing with how the narrative described and treated them in comparison to the men. I have the feeling it could've been an all-time favorite book had the writer spent more time ironing out the pacing, and diving into the emotions of scenes (both already given to us and those skimmed over in a mention), while keeping a focus on Orson and Ezra's relationship. The ending should've hit hard, but it ended up being more like a tepid whimper because of these issues.
The pacing gets thrown off and the time skips happen really suddenly. It loses its emotional heart as Orson and Ezra become like strangers to each other with the rest of the story not being nearly as compelling as it should've been. I wanted to feel more of what was happening since Ezra's narration becomes so distant that it's difficult to really care.
Orson by the end borders on feeling like a minor character with how much actual relevance he has to the plot beyond Ezra yearning for him. I also thought most of the women in this book had questionable writing with how the narrative described and treated them in comparison to the men. I have the feeling it could've been an all-time favorite book had the writer spent more time ironing out the pacing, and diving into the emotions of scenes (both already given to us and those skimmed over in a mention), while keeping a focus on Orson and Ezra's relationship. The ending should've hit hard, but it ended up being more like a tepid whimper because of these issues.