Welcome to my stop on the Love and Theft blog tour! Huge thank you to Faber & Faber for giving me the opportunity to take part in this! I was provided a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Publication Date: 06/05/2021
Length: 233 pages
Genre: Mystery | Thriller | Romance
CW: drug use
What price would you put on a second chance?
GoodReads
When Alex Cassidy and Diane Alison meet by chance at a party in Princeton, New Jersey, there are instant sparks. Both are single parents living in wealthy suburbia, independent, highly competent and seemingly settled in their lives. She runs a successful catering business. He’s part of a crew that robs banks, casinos and jewellery stores around the world. Neither realises initially that their lives have overlapped before, or that their shared history and burgeoning relationship will come to threaten everything they love. As Alex prepares for one final, daunting job, he discovers that he’s not the only one with secrets – and that both of them are playing for the highest stakes imaginable.
Review
You better buckle up when starting this novel as this is a fast paced and gripping book that is best read in one sitting, or as few sittings as possible, that is, if you’re able to put the book down. From the very beginning we’re thrown into the action with a prologue which jumps from person to person as one of the biggest robberies of Las Vegas is taking place. Not only does this clearly highlight exactly what it is we’re getting into it still creates a lot of mystery; are all these characters relevant or are some just misdirection? The story of this novel definitely suited the fast pace, as there were a lot of parts where time is of the essence and to have it drawn out would have caused the novel to lose its punch.
That being said, I would have liked slightly longer to get to know Alex and Diane, and a couple of the other key players, to better understand their motives and become invested in whether they succeed or not: although I enjoyed reading their story and found them very interesting, I wasn’t as connected to them as I could be. Regardless, I did still like the characters and the twists and turns of their personalities and their pasts, and how there was more to each character than originally meets the eye. Alex had a loveable rogue quality to him which I really enjoyed; I also liked the fact that, although Diane was from a different world to Alex, she was able to slot into his life quite easily. Whilst at first I was quite surprised at how she reacted to certain revelations, I found that Parish had written her character in such a way that it just made sense.
There was something about this novel that felt reminiscent of the glamour of LA 1970s Hollywood with the jewellery, the drugs, the alcohol and the sexy parties. Parish does a great job of transporting you to, what feels like, an entirely different world which we wouldn’t normally be able to see. You could almost feel the oppressive heat of Las Vegas and Mexico, which was great to be able to experience the feeling of travel especially where we are currently unable to.
Overall, this was a really fun read and a great way to spend the afternoon. A thrilling read that is perfect for the lead up to Summer.
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