Rumors of Her Death

by J.M. Donellan, Joshua Donellan

In this kaleidoscopic psychological thriller, a man haunted by his girlfriend's suicide dons a revolving door of identities in a futile attempt to outrun his past.

When the man calling himself Archie Leach begins spotting his dead lover at random locations around the city, he must finally stop running and face the truth—which may not be quite as he's remembered it all these years. An American living in Australia, Archie's had so many aliases that when he wakes up handcuffed to a hospital bed, he almost forgets which one he's supposed to use.

With his delivery job derailed by a brief and inconvenient death, he's earned the wrath of his underworld boss, landing him an exorbitant repayment plan and the commandeering of his apartment for everything from corpse storage to Tuesday night yoga class. While recovering from his injuries, Archie is roped into dog-sitting for his new neighbor, Nisha, and a reluctant friendship ensues.

She introduces Archie to the strange world of the Orrery, a nine-story mecca of surreal hedonism whose ninth level promises to hold the answers they're both seeking. But Nisha has spun plenty of her own deceptions, as Archie realizes too late. At this rate, they may both end up dead without ever knowing who's been fooling whom.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

Also writes as Joshua Donellan.

Reviews

[Harish Namboothiri]

Rumors Of Her Death is an upcoming novel by J M Donellan that chronicles the plight of an antihero possessing a chameleon like skill of shifting through identities which he employs to escape from his past. His whole life used to be an escape attempt and now it is time for him to stop and face the tormenting demons- both inside and outside him. This is a fast paced psychological thriller with elements of black comedy which is set in Australia.

Read the full review here

[Reading_ Tamishly]

It’s fast paced with an unreliable narrator. Well that’s all you will need to know.

I would have loved this if I read it when I just started reading thrillers. However, at this point, I feel like I have read too many similar settings for thrillers. I would say it’s a me problem.

The writing is good and it will keep you entertained. And it’s the best part when you read thrillers.

However, the plot and the ending fell a little flat for me.

Thank you, Poisoned Pen Press, for the advance reading copy.

[Rachel the Page-Turner]

This was such a fun and quirky read! When a thriller or horror book is also in the humor category, it can go one of two ways: cheesy as hell, or quite entertaining. Luckily, this mystery/crime/thriller is in the latter category. Kaleidoscopic is definitely the word for it!

Archie (one of his many personas) is involved in a criminal organization, mainly because a life of legitimacy is out of the question for him. The love of his life, Sophia, killed herself in front of him, and he’s been on the run ever since. The police could think that he was responsible, and that’s a chance he wasn’t going to take. His family believes he is dead, but he’s actually halfway around the world in Australia, hiding in plain sight.

One day he meets his new neighbor, Nisha, and her dog, Dante. He doesn’t want a new friend, he doesn’t want to get to know a new neighbor, but when her father in India is dying, she begs Archie to take care of her dog and a quasi-friendship is formed. How good of a relationship can two friends have when they are both pretending to be something they aren’t?

As the story goes along, the two become closer and Nisha invites Archie to an exclusive club, Orrery. Each of the nine levels has something for everyone, and the elusive ninth floor is supposed to be the pinnacle of life. Few have been there, but these two might have a chance. Archie also starts seeing Sophia everywhere … how is that possible, and what does it mean?

This book was full of action, great characters (Nisha was my favorite!), lots of drugs, and the mystery of Orrery. The main characters were charming in their own way, and the whole story was kind of a trip (pun totally intended). It’s hard to describe, but it’s easy to read. Four stars.

(Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press, J.M. Donellan, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on September 19, 2023.)

[Joshua Donellan]

This book has much in common with some of literature's all-time greatest works; like Moby Dick it has sentences and paragraphs; similarly to The Road it has page numbers and pertinent copyright information; and in a style akin to Pride & Prejudice it has both a back and front cover.

However, Rumors of Her Death has one important distinction from all of these iconic works: if you buy it you'll help feed my children.

Publisher's Weekly says: "Donellan gets readers to root for an unsavoury lead in this funny, off-kilter thriller."

My accountant says: "I dunno what to tell you bud, if you want to make serious money from this writing gig you need to write either Self-help or Erotica. Maybe combine the two?"

[PattyMacDotComma]

DNF at 23% pages
“’You keep company with violent criminals who harm dogs. You’re a f*cking liar, Sam. And do you know what is worse? You are good at it. You’ve had practise.’ ” F*ck. I start running my heuristics, visualising a decision tree in my mind’s eye, branches splitting and growing across diverging pathways.”

I usually like books with a narrator like this who has so many false identities he has to keep announcing to himself who he is as he sees people. “Sam” was this persona as the tenant of an apartment who finds himself minding a new neighbour’s dog that is kicked by a visiting (unwelcome) crim.

The way Archie (real name, I think) talks about his mind’s eye and making a decision seems pretty typical for the way he approaches everything – from an angle, preferable whichever angle is the most beneficial for him.

He addresses his absent girlfriend/lover/ex (we don’t know yet) and is beginning to imagine more and more often that he sees her in the street or on a balcony. He’s a mess. And when he loses a big ‘package” that belongs to the Demons, he’s on notice that he’d better make good, and soon, or else. He comments about them.

“All the Demons look more or less identical; shaved heads, prodigious beards, mirrored shades and—oddly enough for a motorcycle gang—no visible tattoos. It’s Saklas’s strategy to make identification and prosecution as complicated for the authorities as possible. It’s smart, and it works.”

When he questions the boss how he is expected to “make good” the loss, he gets a painful backhand for his trouble,

“Revenge fantasies would be blossoming in my mind if not for the fact that its entire bandwidth is currently occupied with terror.”

It promises to be a quirky thriller with black humour, but for some reason it doesn’t appeal to me. However, it might appeal to you and others. I’ve now read some other reviews, so I suggest you do too.

Thanks to #NetGalley and Poisoned Press for the copy for review. I generally enjoy Poisoned Press publications, so maybe it’s just a mood thing today.

[Leah]

Absolutely loved this book. Archie and Nisha are amazing characters and have such a well thought-out character arc, as well as each supporting character.

What inspired me to read this story is the fact that the author, J.M/Josh/Joshua Donellan, is visiting our school on Tuesday and talking about speculative fiction. So I decided I needed to read his work just before he came, so I could strike up some conversation with him.

It really IS a good thriller, and I think either Goldie or Archie are my favourite characters, Goldie for the humour added to the storyline through his oafishness, and Archie for just being… well, Archie.

As I finished the book I read the acknowledgments and ‘About the Author’ section. And I love what Mr Donellan has done with it, as most authors don’t tend to crack jokes in this section, especially not ones about werewolves.

There is *one* teeny-tiny thing though. If the book had ended at the second-to-last chapter, it’d have been a 5 stars. But then I read the last chapter, and it felt almost unfinished.
As if the big reveal wasn’t so big after all. The characters weren’t the least bit shocked, so I didn’t feel as… I guess ‘satisfied?’ with it, as if there needed to be more. Or less.
I wonder that if it had been worded slightly differently it would have had that ‘ohhhh, makes so much more sense now’ effect on me.
That affect do happen after the other reveals though, especially what goes on in Level 9.

(The Orrery is also a really cool setting for parts of the book—thanks for adding that, I enjoyed it.)

Overall, a really good read, and for my first adult fiction thriller, it certainly exceeded my expectations and lived up to the hype.

I think I also liked Archie because of his mannerisms, for lack of a better word. I felt as if I was able to connect to his multiple-faced life, each personality a carefully-picked charade in his life of lies.

But that’s just my two cents.

Looking forward to seeing you though, Mr Donellan!

[Hanaluci]

I absolutely loved this book! The pace is so fast right from the start, I found I couldn’t put it down. I thought the characters were really well written and just loved the elements of black comedy. Loved how the underworld criminals were written, so funny and unique.

The Orrery is so weird and almost surreal, I thought it was such an original concept and described in such a visual way, I kind of want to read more stories set there.

I personally really like books that cross over genres a bit, I think it makes for a more interesting read and less predictable.

This book is such a unique and interesting read, I highly recommend it. Especially if you love thrillers and mysteries.

[Troy Henderson]

Funny, dark, unique, and rapid-fire, with a sympathetic criminal (the protagonist, not the author), Rumours of Her Death is exactly the type of book I enjoy reading.

The story drags you through the twists and surprising revelations at breakneck speed, whether you like it or not, and sure I did.

A thriller, but more than a thriller, a genre-bending mystery wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in exciting, dangerous possibilities.

The strange world of the Orrery and its hedonistic levels was an awesome touch, and where some of the most thrilling sequences occur, but all I want to know is, when can I go there?

Rumours of her Death went straight to the top of my tbr pile, I was not disappointed, and I will be reading anything J.M Donellan writes ongoing.

[Karla]

3.5 rounded up - wasn't crazy about the abrupt ending

[Sky]

It's about a man with many different aliases and unreliable narrative, and the pace of the story was face – definitely will keep you hooked up. I liked the idea of the Ottery, a building with up to nine levels – each level has its own perks/identity/activity; creative! There was also a mention of mental disorder Munchausen syndrome by Nisha's mother. However, the book only gets 3.5 stars from me because I expected the book will be mostly about the man and his girlfriend. That wasn't what happened here and the ending was flat and confusing to me.

[Annika]

While the story isn't going to be super memorable for me, it was certainly unique and highly entertaining!

[Rocky Hirajeta]

A kaleidoscopic wild ride through pastiches of memory, crime, and deceit, Rumors of Her Death finds the man at the center of it all striving for a seemingly unattainable atonement. It’s easy to append the phrase “unreliable narrator” to a story such as this. After all, our protag—Leachy, as he’s called by his criminal buddies—does don and doff a myriad of personalities, coupled with their own mannerisms and inflections, throughout this novel. And his mind is also afflicted by recurring nightmarish memories that interject into the prose. However, as we follow our hero (or antihero, as the case may be) through the streets of Sydney—a city whose literary representation has rarely looked more begrimed—I am inclined to say this isn’t a man whose narration reaches Usual Suspects levels of unreliability. More accurately, he is constantly struggling and wrestling with his own past, and his recollections of actions he has taken, choices he’s made. He’s unreliable to himself, not in his telling.

The book intelligently keeps us in the dark about Sophia (the mysterious “you”) for as long as possible. Although it is evident that whoever “you” were, things did not end well between her and our hero. This is part of the mystery that pulls us, the reader, more deeply into what seems at the onset to be a standard crime story. But the nature of the telling, and these lingering mysteries, inform us that little is as it seems. It’s not long before we meet the other characters who encompass our main cast—namely, Nisha. Also at the start, Nisha seems to symbolize an antithesis to our narrator’s life of crime. Where our hero’s crime boss Saklas and henchman Goldie are concerned with money owed, threatening deadlines, and ocular prostheses, our protag’s run-ins with Nisha mostly involve more humanly mundane tasks like dog-sitting.

As “Leachy’s” life entwines more and more irreversibly with Nisha’s, physical manifestations of his past via the ghost Sophia become more insistent. We traverse alongside them to vivid destinations, most notably the Orrery, which is a place you both long to visit, and are terrified of setting foot inside. Donellan’s prose and dialogue drip with both vibrant, breathing imagery as well as witty, clever humor, which only serves to keep you flying through the pages.

We ride the roller coaster through perilous terrain of unknown shadows, until every lie is finally banished, every untold truth is revealed. And once the 3000-piece jigsaw is finally assembled, like after a good magic trick, you are both startled and delighted by the experience.

In Rumors of Her Death, Donellan has crafted a story that is at once fiercely entertaining and philosophically and emotionally impactful. Its wit, setting, and characters help it to stand out among other thrillers of its type as memorable. I look forward to reading all that Donellan writes next.

[Ivanka Fear]

A roller coaster of a ride! Different from your average psychological thriller, Rumors of Her Death delves into the mind of a man haunted by grief and guilt he can’t escape. To make his existence more miserable are the bad guys who won’t allow him to break free from his criminal lifestyle.

I was hooked from the first page as Leach wakes in the hospital, having cheated death. From there, the book follows him as he tries to make restitution for failing to deliver a valuable package to the kingpin of a motorcycle gang. In his world, being clinically dead for a short time is no excuse for not getting the job done. What really drives Leach, though, is the need to punish himself for his culpability in the death of a woman he loved years ago.

The dark nature of the plot is tempered with wry humor as Donellan recounts Leach’s story through a first person point of view. As the reader gets into Leach’s head, it is revealed that he’s not who he claims to be. Nor is he any of the other personalities he has taken on. Although Leach doesn’t believe he’s a good person and his involvement with thugs, along with his reaction to dealing with dead bodies, would have one thinking he lacks human emotion and empathy, I found myself totally invested in this anti-hero, rooting for him to have a satisfying outcome.

As the plot progresses, it takes what I can only describe as a ‘weird’ turn of events with an element of fantasy in a strange new world. When Leach meets his new neighbor, Nisha, she takes him to an establishment called the Orrery, where each floor delivers a different type of sensory experience, and his current life and his past intertwine. The building’s levels act as a metaphor for the complex layers of Leach’s mind, and both are peeled back gradually to expose their true essence. In a journey of self-discovery, Leach’s subconscious grapples with who he truly is and the consequences of that.

The scenes of criminal activity, personal regret, his new friendship, and the ever-present past lead to a heart-pounding conclusion, linking to the beginning of the book, in which Leach (or some version of himself) finds atonement for his sins.

With constant twists in the plot and new revelations about Leach’s identity and his past life, the book will have you racing to discover what’s real and what Leach has fabricated. An unputdownable thriller full of sardonic wit, Rumors of Her Death will have you reading late into the night.

[J Kromrie]

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

"Rumors of Her Death" by J.M. Donellan is a labyrinthine psychological thriller that takes readers on a dizzying journey through identity, memory, and the elusive nature of truth. The protagonist, known by the alias Archie Leach among countless others, is a man haunted by the suicide of his girlfriend, Sophia. His life, a series of identity changes and courier jobs for dubious employers, is a testament to his desperate attempt to escape the past.

The narrative unfolds in Australia, where Leach wakes up handcuffed to a hospital bed, a stark reminder of the perils of his profession. With a botched delivery job, he finds himself indebted to his underworld boss and his apartment commandeered for purposes as varied as corpse storage to yoga classes. It's a life teetering on the edge of absurdity and despair.

Enter Nisha Mukherjee, the new neighbor with a dog named Dante, who manages to penetrate Leach's hardened exterior. Her connection to the Orrery, a temple of hedonism, promises a path to answers and possibly redemption. But as Leach is drawn into the Orrery's enigmatic world, he must confront the reality that the truth about Sophia—and himself—might be more fragmented than he ever imagined.

Donellan's writing is sharp and idiosyncratic, imbued with a dark humor that underscores the novel's exploration of loss and the human capacity for self-deception. The plot, with its twists and turns, may leave readers with more questions than answers, mirroring the protagonist's own disorienting experience.

In "Rumors of Her Death," Donellan crafts a story that is as much about the mysteries we harbor within as it is about the ones we try to solve. It's a tale that doesn't shy away from the complexities of the psyche, making it a compelling read for those who are drawn to the shadows where truth and illusion intertwine.

[Gayle Brown]

Prepare yourself for a heart-pounding, mind-bending journey through the intricate web of J.M. Donellan's psychological thriller, Rumors of Her Death. In this gripping tale, readers are plunged into the world of a man on the run, skillfully emulating various personas to escape his haunting past. With a compelling narrative and a rollercoaster of twists and turns, Donellan masterfully keeps readers on the edge of their seats, questioning the very identities of the characters they encounter.

The story opens with the enigmatic protagonist, whose past remains shrouded in secrecy. As Archie Leach (his latest persona) awakens in a hospital bed, late for a critical delivery to his biker gang boss, readers are immediately thrust into a world of high-stakes danger. The tension builds relentlessly, and the stakes are raised when he crosses paths with his next-door neighbor, Nisha. The encounter with Nisha forces Anthony, the protagonist's true identity, to confront his past and stop running from the demons that have been chasing him.

Rumors of Her Death is a testament to Donellan’s storytelling prowess. His skillful writing weaves a complex tapestry of characters, each adding depth and intrigue to the narrative. The pacing of the novel is nothing short of masterful. The expertly crafted tension-filled scenes keep the reader utterly engrossed and yearning for more, propelling the reader toward an unpredictable ending.

At its core, the novel explores themes of identity, deception, and the consequences of one's past actions. Donellan delves deep into the human psyche, unraveling the complexities of the human mind and the lengths some will go to bury their past.

This psychological thriller offers a tantalizing blend of suspense, mystery, and psychological intrigue. As secrets are revealed, Rumors of Her Death is a page-turner that you won't be able to put down.

[Bandit]

Now there’s a title that gives a lot away. Don’t think about the title when you’re reading the book. What I’m thinking about is why such low reviews and ratings on GR? I rather liked it.
Thought it had a lot to offer for a debut thriller, for a thriller, in general. The genre is so overdone at the moment and here’s the author offering something fresh. Something weird, even. And definitely something cleverer than average.
A narrator with enough personalities to pass for an SNL cast member finds himself in a bind after failing to complete the job. Of course, it would be easier if he didn’t work for a mysterious criminal, a leader of what’s got to be the only untattooed bike gang in the world, but hey…pobody’s nerfect.
Now, our many-named protagonist got to scramble. But things just keep coming up. Like an overly friendly new neighbor. Or his past–a tragic love affair that haunts him still nearly a decade later.
Anyway, eventually, the guy ends up caught up in a profoundly complicated, intricately designed web of crime and drama and mystery. A multi-level situation, one that actually included a multi-level multi-purpose social club that’s…well, it’s unique.
I quite enjoyed the story. The two main characters are wildly unreliable but fun, and all the narrative convolutions were very entertaining. Except for the last one. I found the genre- prerequisite final plot twist to be a cry too far.
But overall, very entertaining, And daringly smarter than the average genre book. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

[Emily]

This novel was engaging and terrifying at times, in a good way. The clues were all there but not obvious. The name tells you something important, but we all know that from the get go. The characters brilliant, creepy, amoral and fascinating. Leach is definitely in hiding and working for a very dangerous gang. His new neighbor, Nisha, befriends him and -- out of character for Leach -- he connects with her over time. But he is in constant danger, she is a strange person with a bizarre way of making a living and hidden trauma and someone is very directly bringing up Leach's past. And he is dead set against that and yearning for it at the same time. Nisha draws him out to try things he doesn't usually do. The plot kept me going, until it didn't. At some point, it felt like this fabulous book I was excited to review reached a crescendo too soon and then. FLOP. And I'm not sure why. I'm glad I read it. The journey was great. The parts near and at the end... not so much. It seems as though it should have stopped a tad sooner or wrapped up more completely or created the solution in a more interesting way. So, I want to recommend it but I just don't feel satisfied. Some books drop off for a reason. This just felt odd near and at the end. Like there was no particular point to it. Yet the story screams at me, "Here's the point! Get it?" Sure, I wanted to know what happened, but it didn't really sell me.. Good concept. Ok but execution but so much weaker than the overall book. Could have reached the same results some other way I think. This just jarred.

[Savannah]

Rumors of Her Death is a psychological thriller focusing on "Archie Leach." Archie is a man with a rather unique talent, he can shift in and out of personalities at will. As such, he inhabits multiple, complex identities that he utilizes as part of his crime spree. But his life soon gets complicated as he not only loses a valuable package, causing him to be millions in debt to a the leader of an organized criminal syndicate, but he keeps seeing the ghost of his dead girlfriend. Soon, Archie's life is spiraling out of control. The reader is left wondering if our antihero will ever get his redemption arc, or if his past will catch up to him first.


This novel starts as a regular thriller but quickly includes multiple psychological elements, such as Archie's shifting identities, the ghostly girlfriend sightings, and flashbacks. The characters are complex and fun, with Nisha being my favorite. This novel incorporates several very original concepts, such as the elusive club The Orrery. I also liked the comedic elements and of course the dog! Ultimately, if you want a mind bending thriller, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and and views expressed are my own.

[Rebecca]

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.


My review has tiny spoilers so don't read any further if you haven't read the book!
*
*
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First of all, I loved the way it was written. The pacing and the humour of the writing was spot on. The character development was strong and effective and I enjoyed Anthony's progress and self discovery.

The only thing I struggled with was the genre. It started off as a crime/thriller which then watered down as the story went on. Upon reflection, the book falls more into a general fiction category with the main themes of relationships, redemption and growth. I enjoyed these elements now that I finished but I felt confused throughout as to the lack of crime/thriller aspects. Just my own experience though, it's possible that other readers won't feel the same!

Overall, I give the book 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed the way it was written and definitely laughed out loud at a few one liners! I'll be on the look out for future books by this author.

[Ranjini Shankar]

2.5 rounding up. I had a really hard time just getting through this book. I know it’s supposed to be funny and quirky and I usually love dark humor but it didn’t work for me at all. There was way too much going on and yet none of it connected with me. With so many aliases I never felt like I knew the main characters, even up until the very end.

Archie Leach is in trouble with a local thug, his neighbor has dropped off her dog for him to watch, and he can’t stop seeing his dead girlfriend everywhere. When he decides to finally face his past, he realizes that the only way to get past it is to go through it and it may end up killing him.

The ending really bothered me. That relationship should not have stayed strong after all the reveals and it made it feel very cheap. All in all, this didn’t work for me but it appears to have worked for many others!

[Char]

I was really excited to read this book. I love a good thriller. The fact the main character was a little shady, was a happy twist. All that being said I did not enjoy this book. I am not sure if I was not in the right head space for it or if the novel was just out in left field. There was a lot of over description through the book that I needed to stop and ponder the meaning of. These descriptions were reminiscent of someone in a drug induced, dream like state that made very little sense, but probably would make great sense if you were stoned. I found these incredibly disruptive and they ultimately impacted my enjoyment of the novel. I would like to thank Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Amy Tan]

This book immediately captured my attention. A couple pages in, there were at least four questions that I was excited to find answers to. The author took special care to be beautifully, sometimes poetically, descriptive - "follicular forest on my face" - these clever descriptions give this book character. There were more than a couple surprises, which keeps the reader on edge. One of my favorite relationships is between the main character and Dante the dog, as they show an adorable affection toward each other. I was pleased to read in the acknowledgements that there will be a film script version and I look forward to seeing how well the film depicts Donellan's words.

[Gary Gerlacher]

Donellan takes you on a wild ride in Rumors of her Death. Archie Leach wakes up handcuffed by the police to a hospital bed, and his situation worsens. His past pummels him, as his present problems threaten to overwhelm him. His decade on the run appears to be ending, when he does the unthinkable and trusts someone else to help him.

Sarcastically witty humor offsets the grim circumstances. The plot never slows, and each chapter takes you to a new level of the story. Donellan introduces a bizarre world of crime and outrageous excesses filled with memorable characters, each hiding their own stories. The plot will leave you guessing until the final pages of this psychological thriller.

[Book Night Reviews]

This book was filled with suspense. The protagonist of the story is Archibald Leachy, who works for Saklas. His work involves illegal things and his life is filled with uncertainty. When his new neighbour Nisha, takes him to some place where people secretly meet, the past that he has been trying to forget comes back.

The story took on a different turn after the arrival of Nisha's character. It showed their beautiful friendship. Archie's character can be seen living in the memory of a woman from his past. That was a major suspense in the story.

The only trouble I faced was the descriptions of violence and murder. Other than that, this book is definitely a great choice.

[palolibross]

I had to dnf this book. I’m so used to read mystery books and one of the things that I value most is that they engage me from the beginning, which this book didn’t achieve.
I found it predictable and similar to many series. However, I like how the author writes, so I can say that I would like to read more from him.

He tenido que dejar este libro sin terminar. Estoy acostumbrada a leer libros de misterio y una de las cosas que más me gusta es que me enganchen desde el principio, cosa que este libro no ha conseguido. Lo he encontrado predecible y similar a muchas series. Sin embargo, me ha gustado la pluma del autor y estoy deseando darle una segunda oportunidad.

[Marillyn]

Author does a fantastic job with writing the syntaxes of all the characters. I could hear the different voices distinctly in my head. I enjoyed the comedic aspects of the book.

There were a few times I wanted to quit reading, it got a little too sciencey for me (mainly when Nisha was talking). Then the author would bring in a new little twist that piqued my interest again.

Overall,  it was an interesting story with plenty of twists to make it fun.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for this ARC!
Expected Release date: 9/13/2023

[Mrs C]

I had to do a double take with the “literary” genre depiction. From the get go, it’s a fast-paced and dark thriller filled with thugs, threats, and dead bodies. The main character has many aliases. He almost dies delivering something for his crime boss and from there, witty dialogue and surreal experiences are thrust upon the reader. I agree with some early reviews that the ending felt a bit anticlimactic. Still, the characters were very fun to follow with a subtle futuristic twist with a mysterious world-building.

Thanks to the publisher for letting me read early.

[Kyle]

This was great. Every time I had to put this down, I found myself thinking about what was going to happen next, and with all the twists and turns I never knew for sure where things were heading.

I think this would make a really good movie or limited series. Specifically, The way the main character switches between his different personas would make for an interesting watch. The Orrery would be nice to see as well, it was described in such a cool way, I think visually it would make for some great scenes.

[Mutated Reviewer]

With a very interesting looking cover and premise, our main character Anthony goes by many different names in this book. He's haunted by his past, and continues to run from it, day after day. After a fight with his girlfriend, she promptly jumped off the balcony, to her death. This, of course, causes him to panic, and the only thing he can think of, is to run. And he's been running ever since.

Check out my full review here!

https://mutatedlibrary.wordpress.com/...

[Brianna]

I love an unreliable narrator as much as the next person, but it's important that we either believe the narrator OR we know we shouldn't believe them but don't understand what they are up to. This was a transparent read for anyone who has read a few thrillers. I didn't particularly like any of the characters and I definitely didn't have a 'love to hate them' relationship with them either. It was all flat.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.