"Mouth to Mouth" by Antoine Wilson is the kind of slow burn thriller that keeps readers vaguely unsettled throughout before delivering the final payoff. When an unnamed narrator runs into college friend Jeff Cook at JFK Airport, Jeff invites him to the first class lounge to wait out their flight delay. It soon becomes clear, however, that Jeff has more on his mind than simply catching up with his old acquaintance: He wants to tell him the story of how he rescued a drowning man, and then insinuated himself into that saved man's life. As this story-within-the-story progresses, there's a growing sense of something sinister in Jeff's seemingly innocent desire to find out more about Francis Arsenault, the man he rescued, and in Francis' apparent ignorance of who Jeff really is. The way Antoine Wilson deftly creates an atmosphere of unease in "Mouth to Mouth" and continues to build the tension throughout reminded me a lot of French Nobel prize winner Patrick Modiano's similarly atmospheric books. If the payoff wasn't quite as satisfying as I had hoped, the creepy journey there kept me fully engrossed--I sped right through this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

Ostensibly, this book shouldn’t work. A guy tells another guy a story about his life while they’re both stuck at an airport. On the surface, that’s all it is. But it does work. It hums. It sings. It’s a philosophical thought experiment that goes to the very core of the question: what shapes is as people? Is it our actions? Is it our intentions ? What makes us good or bad? I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 by Antoine Wilson takes place entirely within a first-class lounge at JFK. There, two men who barely knew each other in college, reconnect over a long flight delay. One, Jeff, recounts the unusual, never-before shared story of his unlikely success to the other, a rather down and out writer, who also narrates. Jeff’s tale begins with rescuing a drowning man, and grows more and more complex and twisted moving forward. All the while, our narrator is wondering why Jeff is sharing his life with him and what he might do with Jeff’s story.⁣
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𝘔𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 is a most unusual story, but one I felt compelled to read quickly. Like the narrator, I wanted to see where Jeff’s life would end up. I also kept wondering what the narrator's stake in all this would be. In the end, my curiosity wasn’t entirely satisfied, but I appreciate that the author left me with a little to keep mulling over. If you’re looking for a fast (192 pages), quirky read give this a try, and let me know what you think. I’d love to talk it over with someone! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
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Thanks to @avidreaderpress for an ARC of #MouthtoMouth.

I am so glad I had the chance to read Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson and appreciate the ARC copy from NetGalley and the publisher, Avid Reader Press. I read this book in a few hours yesterday and that was such a surprise in a good way, I appreciated a shorter novel that was highly engaging and that clearly hooked me right in from start to finish. The pacing was excellent and the conversational style/storytelling aspect of the narrative and writing was a strong way to keep me engaged and wanting to see where the story went and also simply to see how the author would end the story (without a spoiler, it ended with a satisfying last sentence that made this reader appreciate the book even more). The simplicity of plot and narrative is blended with truly satisfying storytelling and a strongly developed sense of tension and unease/lack of trust in the storyteller.

Three things I liked
1. As noted, the pacing of the story. The plot is simple in ways: two old college acquaintances run into each other in an airport, one decides to tell a long story that may or may not be "True". And yet this works so well as the story being told moves along steadily. I imagine that this is harder to do as writer than I realize as a reader. The story seems simple but the pacing and narrative hint at suspense, some underlying tension, and this simmering underlying tension works very well.
2. The context/set up, I thought the use of an airport lounge was great, how else would I want to spend a long flight delay (other than with a book like this one?)
3. The conversational style between the two men, it was done well and the small changes from storytelling to conversation in some chapters worked well to keep my interest and to keep the suspense going.

I highly recommend this to mystery/suspense readers and think it would be a great choice for mystery book clubs, I would love for a lot of readers to discover this book.

Why are more people not talking about this book?!?!

Two men who were acquaintances in college meet in an airport. One man is a struggling writer while the better dressed man, Jeff, singles him out to tell him his success story. Jeff saved a drowning man without thanks and then worms his way into the man's life. He tells of his raise to power and his relationship with the saved man. But how much of the story is true and why is he telling an almost stranger?

This shorter (192 pages) novel has a slow simmering vibe. The tone (but not the content) reminded me of Herman Koch's The Dinner with a dash of Patricia Highsmith. Every time I'd pause in reading, I'd note how it seemed so "crafted". This is just a straight-forward story that is really well told with lots of atmosphere. I really enjoyed it and hope many others do too.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance readers copy for review of this little gem.

What a treat!

Mouth to Mouth is an enjoyable, intriguing read -- I was hooked from the start, and was kept guessing the entire time, to only have nearly all my assumptions fall away with the final sentence.

I never found the form -- a story within a story, told via a conversation the narrator has with an old acquaintance at an airport -- tedious, but thought Wilson played to its strengths, especially breaking away from the story by interrogating it in their IRL conversations. There's much to be said also about what the novel is saying about storytelling, art, perhaps also artmaking and class.

Anyway, loved it. Thank you for the e-galley!

While waiting for their flights in first class, our narrator sits with an old acquaintance Jeff Cook as he tells him the incredible and sometimes questionable path his life took. Jeff was walking along the beach one day when he rescued a man who was drowning in the ocean and after days of thinking about the incident becomes obsessed with the life he rescued and what had become of that man. Through his storytelling, he divulges his story to our narrator cleansing himself of all the things he's done over the last few years to get to where he is today.

I absolutely loved the way that this story was told through conversation over an executive lounge at the airport. Through his story, Jeff not only comes off as opportunistic but also relatable, in such a way that though his motives are unclear-you kind of want to be on his side. It was a fast, propulsive, page-turner that made me want to know what happens next.

The last sentence was the perfect ending to a well-told story. Loved it!

The way this book is written hooks you from the start, or it did for me anyway.

The premise is simple, two men that once vaguely knew each other in college bump into each other decades later in JFK. Whilst their flight is delayed one, Jeff, invites the other, our narrator - who is also a writer- into the first class lounge and ends up recounting his post-college life story to him.

The book comes in at under 200 pages and flits between the two men chatting and Jeff's flashbacks and recounting of the story. Most of the chapters are very short, some even a page, but it keeps the book flowing and it feels exactly as it would were someone sitting telling you a decades long story, pauses for questions, prompts, clarifications etc.

Some might ask 'what was the point?', but it felt like Wilson was diving into the idea of fate versus carving our own path, the choices we make and where the take us, and in our narrators case taking this unexpected opportunity and turning it into something, as one could argue Jeff had done. It also brings into question that age old sentiment of a reliable narrator.

Also, that last sentence... You have a feeling but think 'surely not' and then Wilson just drops it on you and fades to black and I loved that!

“Mouth to Mouth” by Antoine Wilson is an intriguing read. It’s a story within a story format with the narrator telling us about his run in with a college classmate in an airport. I found this a fascinating character study with a little twist thrown in at the end. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

MOUTH TO MOUTH evokes the feeling of sitting in an airport for an interminable amount of time, waiting for a delayed flight, while a self-important man drones on, telling you a highly detailed story you didn't ask for and don't really want to hear. That's also the book's plot, though of course you also get the plot within the plot (the story you're not even sure you want to be hearing from the navel-gazer).

There's a good ending. But was that really worth all the sitting around and waiting? Probably yes, if you're interested in questions of morality, destiny, and perspective. Definitely yes if you've got some friends to discuss this one with -- the more I think and talk about it, the more I appreciate the novel.

While a novella, I wouldn't characterize MOUTH TO MOUTH as a quick read. It does have short chapters though, which helped to move me along while reading. It felt decidedly literary; there's some suspense but I would not categorize this as a thriller.

Really enjoyed this one a lot. It was a great length and each chapter had my attention, ending on a slight cliff-hanger making me want to keep reading! The tension and suspense was not too over the top, which I think really worked well for this format. This was my first book by this author and am really excited to read more by them.

This was interesting. I enjoyed reading this little novel, and though I read it in a couple of sittings, I think it benefits from reading in one or two sittings. The framing of the story - our unnamed narrator meets an old acquaintance (Jeff) at an airport, and Jeff tells him the story of his life, basically, with interruptions from our narrator to ask a question, silently comment or get up to go to the bathroom - was really well done and made the story much more interesting. The comments in between provided the reader with reminders that Jeff, the person telling us (and the narrator) his story, was certainly not an impartial (and perhaps not a reliable) narrator. That, along with the foreshadowing comments made by Jeff from time to time, builds up a certain tension and feeling that the story is headed somewhere specific. I thought the novel was well-written, though I didn't find the style wasn't remarkable and funny at times. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, though - there was plenty of foreshadowing to a certain ending, but I didn't feel this one paid off enough to have it be satisfying.

Thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This novel is high literature with exquisite storytelling technique. The narrative begins by two acquaintances from UCLA running into each other at the airport, both waiting for their delayed flight connection. The narrator is invited by the character, Jeff Cook to the first-class lounge to talk over drinks while they wait for their flight. Through their conversation, readers are lured into a fascinating story that includes a myriad of themes such as existentialism, fate, destiny, parallels, and the what-ifs and almosts that affect your life. The author’s gift is particularly remarkable for its casual, subtle cleverness in his writing. Wilson ends the novel just like the maestro of writing that he is…. I highly recommend this book.

3.5

What a strange little book. The plot sounds simple enough, I didn't trust either narrator, I wasn't sure what it amounted to at the end, and yet I haven't been able to stop thinking about it a month later.

Is every life worth saving? Can we manipulate our fate? And is the art world just another form of manipulation?

Mouth To Mouth - Antoine Wilson
Fiction, 192 pages

While waiting for a connecting flight to Berlin, the unnamed narrator of Mouth to Mouth notices an old classmate of his from UCLA, Jeff, waiting for the same flight. As they wait out their flight's delay in the first-class lounge at JFK, Jeff regales him with stories of his life, or more specifically, the defining story of his life. Twenty years ago, a few years after they graduated from college, Jeff was running on the beach early in the morning when he noticed an unresponsive man floating in the ocean. Realizing there was no one else around, Jeff made the decision to run into the water, pull the man out, and perform life-saving CPR. After the man is whisked off to the ambulance, Jeff becomes obsessed with figuring out the identity of the swimmer as a way to understand the consequences of saving a life. He discovers that the swimmer was Francis Arsenault, a successful and excessively rich Los Angeles art dealer, and is hired as a receptionist at his art gallery. Although Francis and Jeff grow closer, Francis never acknowledges the day on the beach and Jeff is left wondering whether or not the lack of recognition is intentional, which paves the way for the novel's dramatic conclusion.

Readers are exposed to the entirety of Jeff's story through Jeff himself as he becomes intoxicated and the entire time I was left wondering what was true and what was false. While the narrator never challenges the events of the story he does become increasingly uneasy as the story progresses, especially after he discovers that he is the first person that Jeff has ever shared this story with. The combination of Wilson's unreliable narrator and the slow escalation of tension made for an exceptional novel, one that I read compulsively as I tried to figure out how it would end.

Rating: 9/10
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𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔: 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝑰’𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅?

When the narrator in Mouth to Mouth hears the name Jeff Cook announced over the PA at the airport, he immediately thinks of an acquaintance, a fellow student from his UCLA days twenty years earlier. The man who strides to the counter is handsome, dressed expensively and nothing like the ‘thrift store Adnois’ he once crossed paths with. But the Adonis, Jeff, recognizes him immediately and as the two settle into conversation in the lounge while waiting on their delayed flight the story of is success unfolds. A story about how rescuing a drowning man changed his fate and helped him achieve his rich existence.

Rescuing renowned art dealer, Francis Arsenault, from the ocean is a moment Jeff had never imagined he’d face. A ‘crisis’ he alone had to decide to act upon. The emotional upheaval caused within Jeff has a staggering effect on him, a life altering moment that urges him to track Francis down. It leads him to Arsenault’s art gallery and he decides to throw himself into his path, shadowing him for what reason he isn’t entirely sure. As he follows him, the middle aged man doesn’t even recognize Jeff as his savior. The real matter suddenly becomes “who was this man whose life I’d saved”, like an obsession. The things he discovers isn’t enough, too much surface information, he longs to plunge his depths to really know who Francis is at his core. He needs more than his biography, he wants access to the man and opportunity falls right into his hands. Lines are crossed, this is how he remakes himself and paints his future. Moments are contrived but just as often chance guides Jeff along.

The men’s lives are tangled from the moment Jeff pulls Francis from the immense ocean. Francis teaches Jeff about the world of art and sees a lot of himself in him. Francis tells him he is lucky to have someone like him to show him the way and by being welcomed into his life and family, he learns exactly the sort of man he saved. He is on the fast track to becoming Francis’s confidant but Francis is no closer to discovering Jeff’s secret, that he saved his life but Francis has secrets of his own that could destroy his family and test Jeff’s loyalty. Things get even more complicated and Jeff cannot remain neutral, one must always chose sides particularly when they’ve insinuated themselves in another’s life, particularly one that had it’s own dramas already spinning.

Is it fate or self-serving acts that have made Jeff who he is today? For me, the obsession was more about trying to figure out who Jeff is, not Francis. What is a life? For some it seems more like parts to be played. The rise and fall of a hero, that’s all I keep thinking. Imagine how many success stories share a common thread with this fiction. Is Jeff really driven by some unseen, inexplicable force or is it just a story he tells himself?

Publication Date: January 11, 2022

Simon & Schuster

Avid Reader Press

Really liking this so far! Original structure, more traditional mystery-like pacing, intriguing plot. Looking forward to finishing .

A fascinating, character-driven slow burn framed by college acquaintances running into one another in an airport and “catching up” in a lounge.

Not sure how I feel about this. You're sitting in an airport waiting for your flight unburdening yourself to someone you haven't seen in many many years? I found his voice condenscending and rubbed me the wrong way. Very much a manipulator. Maybe this is how the author wanted to come across but just not for me. Check it out though as I'm just one reader with an opinion. Happy reading!

This was a fast, fascinating read that, from the beginning, reminded me of "The Talented Mr. Ripley.". The unnamed narrator runs into a former classmate named Jeff at JFK, and though they haven't had any contact since they were in school, Jeff invites him to join him in the First Class lounge while they await their flight. There, Jeff tells an incredible story, starting when he saved the life of a man he found floating face down in the ocean years before. Eventually, Jeff tracks down the man, Francis, an art dealer who takes him under his wing. Jeff never tells Francis about their connection, and he's doesn't think Francis realizes it himself - but he's never 100% sure. The book was a fast read, but a slow-moving tale. The author uses big words but short, concise sentences and chapters, all of which l appreciated. Near the end there were two gasp-inducing sentences, including the last sentence of the book, which left me anxious to talk to someone about it. Many thanks to NetGalley, Avid Reader Press/Simon Schuster, and Mr. Wilson for the ARC of this title.