All Nights Die Young

by Mario Luxxor

All Nights Die Young is a gripping tale of love, loss, and addiction, set against the glittering yet unforgiving backdrop of New York City. Lincoln, a dreamer with aspirations of becoming a great writer, finds his ambitions slipping away when he meets Derrick, a charismatic but self-destructive figure who introduces him to a world of passion, chaos, and fleeting euphoria.

Lincoln's relationship with Derrick is as consuming as it is corrosive, intertwining love and self-destruction in a way that blurs the lines between salvation and ruin. Derrick’s influence leads Lincoln into the city’s nightlife, where dazzling lights and pounding beats mask the darker edges of indulgence and despair. New York City becomes a character in itself, reflecting the fragility and tension of Lincoln’s journey.

As nights bleed into each other, Lincoln’s dreams erode under addiction’s weight and his tangled bond with Derrick. The title, All Nights Die Young, captures the fleeting intensity of their shared moments—beautiful yet devastating. Mario Luxxor crafts a deeply emotional, cinematic narrative exploring human vulnerability, resilience, and the choices that shape us.

This evocative story resonates with anyone who has loved, fallen, and dared to hope again, offering glimpses of redemption amid darkness.

Genres: Fiction

270 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2025

About the author

Mario Luxxor is a Colombian-born writer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Blending bold storytelling with haunting beauty, Mario creates emotionally charged narratives that explore identity, love, and the hidden lives of the night. His debut novel, All Nights Die Young, began as a screenplay and evolved into a cinematic literary experience, earning praise for its raw honesty and lyrical depth.

A passionate advocate for queer voices and immigrant stories, Mario channels his personal journey into every project—often blurring the lines between fiction and lived experience. Through his creative company Voyaeon, he writes, directs, and publishes work that dares to ask deeper questions and refuses to look away.

Reviews

[suvi · Rating 2 out of 5]

All Night Die Young is an intriguing book with a title that immediately caught my attention. It deals with many difficult topics like loss and addiction. Honestly, I did love the idea of this book.

And then I didn't. I think my biggest problem is perhaps the writing itself. Somehow it's trying to do too much and yet it's not descriptive enough for me as a reader to get a full idea on what is currently happening. I couldn't help but at times think of Wattpad fanfiction written by 12-year-old who knows a lot of words and wants to put them all in one sentence. (Nothing against Wattpad authors, I was one of them and I fear I didn't do any better.) New York City and parties with or without drugs are not my scene. So, most of the time I felt like I was being told a story about these parties by someone who was at said party and very much high - which don't get me wrong again, could be an incredible idea. I'm just not sure if it was intended to read like that and even more if it worked.

But then again, perhaps my biggest problem is the characters. I did not like any of them. I could not understand any of them. What I do understand is that addiction is a difficult thing and when you are using your actions don't always make sense. Sometimes people just spiral into addiction - but I feel like in the context of this book, I as a reader needed a bit more tangible reason for it to happen. That way I could have probably understood the characters a little better instead of going "why on earth are you doing that" every five minutes. The relationship between Lincoln and Derrick also never made any sense to me.

The story also felt very disconnected and jumped around a lot and even after finishing, I am left quite confused with the actual timeline of events. At the end of the book, there is a mention this was originally meant for a screen and not as a book and I totally see that and think it would perhaps work a lot better that way.

I think this is supposed to be very emotional read in the way it describes addiction and loss and how the life spirals out of control. Instead, I found myself to be rather confused and frustrated through the whole book. As a reader, you are just thrust right into the story and I never really could grasp onto what exactly was happening.

I do really think this book had an excellent idea but it was just not executed in the right way. I will give Luxxor the fact that his writing is beautiful - but style just felt rather disconnected with the topics of the book itself.

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

First, I want to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest review.

I love the idea of this book. When I first read the blurb, I was instantly interested and couldn't stop thinking about this concept. The title had me intrigued as well. Therefore, my expectations for this were high from the beginning. Sadly, I ended up struggling with the execution of this.

The story kept jumping around, and I didn't get the connections. Not only did I not really find a connection to the characters and found them unbearably unlikeable, but I also could not really understand what their reasoning behind their actions were. The lack of connection might be because Mario Luxxor did not really give the reader a chance to get to know them - they weren't really introduced and the reader was just left to try and figure out the story and the things that were happening after being thrown into the story without being given context.
The story itself was honestly just confusing to me. Events were simply strung together, and I could not really get behind why or what purpose some of the scenes were supposed to serve some of the time. And as I already said, it was definitely missing a red string the reader could follow.

I have to admit that I did not really like the writing either. While the poetry the character wrote definitely did fit the story, I doubt that the poems would have been as deep and meaningful if you had taken them out of this book. After a second look, they seemed much more shallow than they were intended to be.
The descriptions of some scenes and especially some people did not work for me at all. In some moments, the way Luxxor talked about characters felt simply unsensitive and kinda put me off. Everyone got attacked and not in like verbal fights but little side notes and ways the auhtoe chose to describe someone. It felt unnecessary harmful to me.

In the end, I sadly have to admit that this story did not end up being what it wanted it to be. This wasn't an emotional, deep story. It didn't make me sad or even thoughtful. Instead, i was quite frustrated. Oftentimes, it felt rather like repetitive conversations about drug use and sex but not in a reflective way I wanted it to be.

[๑ seungchaccomin ๑]

time of dëäth: page 86 (31%)

for the first time in my reading journey, i've finally experienced to dnf-ing a book...

to be honest, this book has a lot of potential based on the cover and the description alone. but what could i get? one, everyone treated lincoln, one of the main characters, badly. as in EVERYONE in this book, including derrick, also one of the mc's. like how is he the love interest for lincoln? and two, i'm disappointed at derrick where he showed a pill to lincoln and he said he didn't need that. but what is he doing? he literally shoved the pill into his mouth and swallowed. also, i skimmed every page up until the end just to know that lincoln d!ed.

not only that, some of the contents of the book has edited by ai. liek, are you kidding me? you're an debut author, and you're writing a book by the help of ai??? bruh, that's insane (and the fact that there's a movie poster at the end page, and it looks like the picture is made by ai too).

so yep, i'm done 🤚🏻😐🤚🏻

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pre-read:

the cover caught my eye to read this (and also, i have to read this book before the archive date 😞)

thank you to netgalley and booksgosocial for automatically access with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review

[Manuela · Rating 2 out of 5]

All Nights Die Young touches on incredibly important and valid topics: trauma, addiction, abuse, and the search for love and belonging. The novel doesn't shy away from difficult realities, and I appreciate the author's willingness to dive deep into the darker corners of human experience. These are themes that matter and deserve to be explored.

That said, I struggled with the execution. The narrative felt disjointed to me — scenes often felt loosely connected, making it difficult to fully immerse myself in Lincoln's journey. I never quite "bought" into the characters, especially the central relationship between Lincoln and Derrick. While I understand that addiction often defies logic and creates unhealthy bonds, I personally found the emotional connection between them too flimsy to sustain the weight of the story. As a result, I had a hard time fully investing in Lincoln’s fate, despite wanting to.

Overall, while the book addresses significant and sensitive topics with bravery, I found the storytelling lacked the cohesion and character depth needed to fully resonate with me.

[Ashami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw and desperately feeling. It's not at all what I was expecting and all for the better. It's definitely a unique style of personally pulling that painful and realistic agony and endless decisions out of you. How you read and wish Lincoln just chose another option, didn't meet that person ect. All Nights Die Young is an apt description by itself. And Kenny, Kenny is a character haunting the narrative as much as it haunts Derrick.
I'm glad for the ending I got to read, it's true, honest and gut wretching. It's what I hoped for.
#NetGallery

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put this book down. Raw and intense and truly gripping. One of the most powerful books I have ever read. Can't wait to see more from this author.