Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Jason's Rating:
4 out of 5 stars
"Keep moving, Keep thinking"
My Thoughts:
To me, this book is a first of its kind and not what I expected it to be. The cover suggests it’s a thriller, but the title reminded me of the bath haus in the Gossip Girl reboot (which is a whole other conversation in my thoughts). I imagined this book was going to be super raunchy and heavily sex-related, which I don’t dislike. Surprisingly, though, it barely had any sex scenes and isn’t even truly relevant to the plot. It’s more focused on the couple’s toxic relationship from Oliver Park and Nathan Klein’s perspective. Their initial character description is the pretty stereotypical of gay couples, with an older rich man dating a younger poor man. Part of me wonders if the author was trying to portray real life. We see powerful rich men who are in control and practically rule society. As much as we hate to see it, I’m guessing the author did that intentionally to show the stark contrast.
"Her words, the irony in them is rich. Loneliness, the urge to feel alive again"
Let’s talk about Oliver. From the beginning to the end, you can tell life and the universe are literally against him. Drug addiction, sexual assault, deadbeat dad, deceased cancer patient mother, and now a victim of violence. But, there’s something endearing about his personality as it reminds me of a sad dog you just want to protect. He was dealt a bad hand but with Nathan’s help, Oliver was able to escape from his former life. Many people might think he’s annoying by the way he handles his assault and cheating on his husband who’s not really his husband. But, I have to give credit to the author as I think he depicts an anxious person suffering from paranoia perfectly. Perhaps people believe he’s annoying because it hits a little too close to home.
"Wanted and loved and like I still had a life worth being lived"
Nathan was a shocker. You can tell he is a suspicious character as he can deduce a lot of what Oliver does in his life. In the first 25% of the book, you can already deduce that Nathan is controlling and has OCD. Shocker sarcasm. On top of that, you can see that Nathan has a savior complex with Oliver since he was there while he was detoxing, dropping him at NA meetings, and getting him out of the small town of Tyre, Indiana. Despite the way the story ended, I genuinely believe that he’s in love with Oliver but sees him as his property.
Conclusion & Recommendation:
I truly recommend this book to folks who love thrillers but want the main characters to be queer. Most thrillers that involve a couple feature a straight man and a woman, so it was refreshing to see gay characters. It’s been a few days since I finished reading this book, and the characters are still fresh in my head. I can relate to the paranoia and anxiety from my daily life who struggle with that. Also, the trope of betraying someone you trust stung me emotionally. This was also an easy read and a page-turner, given how quickly I was able to finish reading the novel. I do want to note that there are trigger warnings, so please research it prior to reading.
"The truth is supposed to set you free, but sometimes it’s not the truth that saves you"
If you want to read more books like this, check out my Goodreads for books I've read. Or for recommendation, please check out the TBRs.
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