Are you looking for a great book to sit by a body of water with and read? Maybe with a cold drink in hand? Some salacious, sReal Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars
Are you looking for a great book to sit by a body of water with and read? Maybe with a cold drink in hand? Some salacious, soapy, and thrilling? Then you might be looking for Ladykiller.
Ladykiller is author Katherine Wood’s debut novel, and even if it’s pretty obvious this is a debut novel, it’s a pretty good shot for a debut thriller beach read being published smack dab in the middle of summer. Set mostly in the sublime Greek islands and filled with sun, food, drink, sex, and secrets, there is nothing about this book that doesn’t meet the criteria needed for something fun and diverting to read when it’s hot outside and you just want to drink your daiquiri and be left alone.
This book is mostly told from two POVs: Gia is the scion of a wealthy family who is in the midst of divesting herself of the beloved family estate in Greece, and Abby is her best friend who was also the daughter of their family cook growing up. Abby’s story is told in first-person POV, while Gia’s is told in chapters from a manuscript she wrote for the majority of the book. Along for the ride as a narrative foil is Gia’s younger brother, Benny. If you’re thinking unreliable narrator, you got it. If you’re thinking “best friend’s brother” trope, you got it. Is it spicy? Not in my opinion. There’s titillation, but no explicitness. Nudity, but not smut. Fade to black, mostly.
This book isn’t heavy and it’s not meant to be; even so, there’s just so much of this book that seems to breeze by and so much stuff that seems to be a bit too incredulous. I can only suspend disbelief so much. Either that, or I’m more of a cynic than I thought I was. Either way, I just wasn’t as engaged as I’d hoped. I want to be swept away by my beach reads. This was fun, but not quite fun enough for me.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
Want something salacious, titillating, fun, and just engrossing enough to keep you engaged without you letting your mai tai become watered-down mush, Want something salacious, titillating, fun, and just engrossing enough to keep you engaged without you letting your mai tai become watered-down mush, miss the time when your sunscreen needs to be re-applied, or making sure your little ones (fur or not) haven’t wandered out of sight? I honestly think Sun Damage is a great book for that. If I had to pick a book that fits my definition of a “beach read” this would be it (disclaimer: I read this in bed because my ankle is still broken, so it is what it is).
This is a really entertaining book, even if it’s not a masterpiece. It’s just fun. For start, they’re hitting me in my soft spot: grifters. I love a good grift. I love a good con. I love fictional people who lie for a living. Who lie to live. I guess you could even say I love just thieves in general, of which grifters are a particular type of. Grifters, however, are more than thieves: they’re actors, psychologists, cultural anthropologists, human geographers, linguists, sociologists, demographers, philosophers, and jacks of all trades. They have to be able to pick up just about anything on the fly and learn it to competency in a very compact time frame. You have to be quick, smart, and able to turn on a dime. That’s what makes books about grifting so dang fun.
I get the feeling this book was supposed to be evenly character-driven and plot-driven, but I felt it was a combination of plot-driven and atmosphere-driven, if that makes sense. I didn’t really get a solid feel for any of the people staying at the house our FMC takes refuge at under the auspices of LuLu under the pretense of being their holiday chef. I feel like I was supposed to, but I really didn’t end up caring about any of them except Rob, the author. I was, however, living for the constant feeling of weight: the oppressive heat and humidity weighing everyone down, the sun beating on everyone’s heads, the guilt weighing our protagonist down, the secrets like stones in her pockets, the sweat soaking her clothing, the constant suspense of whether or not she was going to be caught or found suffocating her more and more with every day that passes…
Like I said: It’s a good read. Something you’d read once and really enjoy on a lovely vacation and then tell a friend they really should get a copy to take with them to the beach. Or you can just lay under your ceiling fan with a cold drink and imagine you’re at the beach. That’ll work too.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, ideas, and views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.
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