I’m sorry to say that this book was not a favorite of mine. Because of that it took me forever to finish.
I don’t know if it’s because I watch the news daily, read news articles and follow what is happening in the world but to me this felt like it had too many events in it. I found myself skipping over many of the parts of the book that described events that had been all over the news many times. The cryptocurrency storyline never seemed to get off the ground. The only character that I actually cared for was Marisa. The ending felt too rushed and was sewn up nice and neat, not realistic.

I didn’t expect anything less than spectacular from Chris Bohjalian’s The Princess of Las Vegas. Estranged sisters Chrissy and Betsy Dowling find themselves entangled in a suspensful, crypto currency, mafia fueled, nightmare. This was an absolute page turner!

What I love about Chris Bohjalian’s novels is that they are all so different from one another, while also giving readers that feeling of familiarity. I was feeling some major Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands vibes from Marisa, but overall, this was a fresh storyline.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 rounded up

Another great Bohjalian! I've loved Chris Bohjalian since he was a little know regional Vermont author. He has since stepped out of Vermont onto the world stage in a big way. Vegas is about as far from Vermont as you can get. This book has an interesting premise- Crissy, a Diana tribute performer in a D list Vegas hotel, is barely holding her life together with a "better living through chemistry" scenario. Her sister and her adopted daughter arrive, along with a sketchy boyfriend involved with somehow crypto, unexpectedly arrive to upend her world. Before she knows what happened, she finds herself enmeshed with murder, the Mob, corrupt Maga politics, and family secrets best left unearthed. And she's running out of time!

This is a fast- paced page turner the will keep you up into the wee hours to find out what happens next.! Thanks to NetGalley for this much anticipated ARC from one of my favorite authors.

I will read anything that Chris Bohjalian writes - somehow he manages to write completely unique stories that hook me from the first page. As someone who has always admired Princess Diana, the synopsis of this book lured me in immediately, and the writing kept me turning the page until the ending. I inhaled this book! I loved reading about the life of a Vegas performer, the family storyline was intriguing, and the murder mystery kept me guessing. This book has a bit of everything!
Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the e-galley!

This started off very promising and I was excited about a character impersonating Princess Diana. However, certain parts of the story I couldn’t get with. The crypto currency talk definitely lost me along the way.

Chris Bohjalian has done it again--created a fascinating story about "different" characters that keep the reader on the edge of his/her seat. I am still fascinated with Princess Diana and Crissy (the Princess of Las Vegas) is just as fascinating. However, I found the best character in the book to be a thirteen year old girl, Marissa, Crissy's niece. I loved her asides sprinkled throughout the book and she proved herself to be the hero of the book. My one criticism (and it is not a big one) is that the book felt like it ended quite abruptly, I felt kind of bereft and empty t the end. The epilogue helped to mitigate it but I still would have like more...

I've enjoyed author Bohjalian's work before, although not as much the historic fictions as his domestics & mystery/thrillers - so his latest, "The Princess of Las Vegas" was right up my alley & quite readable & enjoyable. I know Vegas well & I really appreciated the look at the town here & the MC, a Princess Diana impersonator at a faded hotel/casino who gets into a mess with murder & mayhem along with her family. Quite well plotted & a bit off the rails at times with the crypto & crazies, this was often hard to put down. My sincere thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the complimentary DRC, my pleasure to review it.

Crissy Dowling is Princess Diana - she is a professional impersonator with a residency in a low level hotel in Las Vegas where she is the reigning royalty. Early on in the story there is a string of deaths..suicides..murders? Crissy is unsure but knows that these events do not fare well for her beloved hotel or her residency.

At the same time, her estranged sister is moving to Las Vegas with her crypto boyfriend. With no good news in site, the Princess thinks of hiding out in her cabana and allowing her days to just pass. But family secrets, murders, organized crime and dirty politics all rise up to a crescendo of danger.

As always, Bohjalian constructs a unique, complex and believable story that will mesmerize you, surprise you and have you take a second look at Sin City. #doubleday #theprincessoflasvegas #chrisbohjalian

Another good book. Characters are complicated and interesting. Some of it is funny. I recommend for an easy read m

Started out captivating with an interesting premise, but the story started to get too convoluted and bogged down. So much of the book was explaining crypto that it took away from the mystery aspect. You’ll also need to suspend reality a bit for the number of coincidences that happen to make this storyline possible.

This book is not as much of a whirlwind as Bohjalians other novels but the character development is richer in my opinion. It’s a great read that blends together my love for the British family and fascination with Las Vegas.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like maybe I like Chris Bohjalian’s *ideas* more than his actual novels? I requested this as soon as I saw it on NetGalley, and while I enjoyed parts of it, I think it kind of fell flat. I really liked The Red Lotus and I’m pretty sure I enjoyed The Lioness (although I apparently never bothered to actually review it…), but I feel the same way about this book as I did about The Hour of the Witch - something is just kind of missing.

It’s tough to explain what didn’t work without giving away too much, but I’ll do my best! The novel is told in alternating perspectives between Chrissy and Betsy Dowling, estranged sisters. Betsy is a year or two older, but the two could pass for twins. Betsy is a social worker, still living in the same Vermont town where they grew up, while Chrissy…is a Princess Diana impersonator with a Las Vegas residency (at a fairly budget hotel that’s off-strip, but she does have quite the cult following!). Chrissy and Betsy haven’t spoken much since their mother died, which Chrissy blames entirely on Betsy. But Betsy has taken up with a new boyfriend who’s getting into the crypto game and wants her to come out to Vegas with him while he sets up his new enterprise. Oh, and Betsy has also recently adopted one of her troubled clients (she met the aforementioned boyfriend when *his* son was a client as well - no word at all on how his father abandoning his mother to take up with his social worker affected the kid!).

The sisters’ chapters are separated by short vignettes from a third, unnamed perspective, but someone who is clearly looking back at things as they went down. Once we’re told who it is, I found that I actually enjoyed those chapters more than Betsy’s, and found myself wishing that character had taken Betsy’s chapters instead. Betsy is kind of a sad sack, and she’s also pretty gullible. Boyfriend Frankie is basically made up of red flags, but she just keeps believing everything is going to work out, despite one million pieces of evidence to the contrary. Chrissy, for her part, is kind of unlikable, but in a way that makes her interesting to watch. She’s basically taken on the Diana affectation for her entire life - she can’t turn it off anymore.

Ultimately, there’s a LOT happening here - there’s the crypto stuff, which is exactly as skeezy as it sounds (luckily, one does not need to know anything about crypto to follow the machinations of the plot here!). There’s also maybe some mob action (makes sense, as this is Vegas) and a murder mystery. Plus there’s all the sister stuff and the history between Chrissy and Betsy - and I can’t decide how I feel about that angle. On the one hand, when we eventually learn everything that happened in their childhood and after, the estrangement makes more sense. It’s dealt with in a way that’s almost perfunctory, but on the flip side, I’m not sure I wanted more focus taken away from what was happening in Vegas. I feel like there’s a separate novel in here somewhere all about Chrissy and Betsy’s childhood. In The Hour of the Witch, the truly interesting stuff doesn’t start happening until close to the end. Here, all of the backstory was taking away from the parts of the story I was more interested in.

Much like The Flight Attendant (which I have tried and failed to read no less than 3 times!), I feel like this may play better on screen than on page? Either way, the parts I enjoyed, I really enjoyed, but that made the parts I didn't like all the more frustrating.

Once again Chris Bohjalian has comeup with a totally unique idea for a story and leaves me wanting more. I felt like I was just getting to know the two main characters when their story was over! And similar to The Flight Attendant, this would make an amazing movie or mini-series! Crissy and Betsy are sisters who have been through a lot and have decided to lead separate lives. Then people in their lives seem to force them together, and some crazy things happen - people are dead and the number keeps rising. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and their family and would love to read more about them!
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! Four and a half stars!

I really love almost all the books Chris Bohjalian has written but this one just wasn't for me. Most of the plots in his books are so intricate and well thought out that you just keep turning pages to figure out what will happen next and then BAM he surprises you with something you could not imagine. There are some exceptions to this rule but this book was way out in left field. The story was inventive but it just slogged along and I kept wondering when something of significance would happen. The crypto currency angle was difficult to follow and ultimately just not very interesting. I will continue to be a fan and am sure there is an audience for this book, just not me this time.

Crissy works in Vegas as a Princess Diana impersonator. Her lifestyle fits her perfectly. Until there’s a murder and her sister comes to town.

I enjoy Chris Bohjalian’s books because they are all so different. The plot and idea for this one was great; especially the setting of Las Vegas. The action was on par for Las Vegas for the latter half of the story. The bitcoin stuff kind of lost me; not my thing but I appreciated the action and the characters.

“When a person so completely subsumes herself behind the mask of another, what must it be like to stare into the mirror? What must it be like to gaze upon your reflection and see someone else - someone who just isn’t you?”

The Princess of Las Vegas comes out 3/19.

I loved the unique protagonist and setting of this novel: a Princess Diana impersonator who lives and works in a casino just off the Las Vegas strip, and rarely falls out of character. I also loved the fact that the beginning of the book, where you get to know the princess, aka Crissy Dowling, and her very unusual and interesting life, does not in the least prepare you for what happens next. I didn’t expect the story to turn quite so dark, but it was fascinating. My only complaint was that I didn’t quite understand how or why Crissy and her sister Betsy became the target of the evil-doers; their involvement just seemed to happen too easily and I felt that something was missing. But, beyond that element the story unfolds quickly, with a lot of action. Chris Bohjalian is able to take so many quintessential Vegas elements and put them together into a book which evokes a classic 1960s Rat Pack-esque vibe but is very much a 21st century tale. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Interesting characters, but somewhat of an odd plot. Not very relatable and I can't say I liked any of the characters enough to feel invested. I like Bohjalian's earlier work, but as with The Lioness, it seems as if he's stretching for deliberately unusual settings/plots to keep things interesting. Not one of my favorites.

This was well written and a good story/premise, but this just wasn't for me. I guess the genre this falls under isn't my jam, because I just found my mind wandering while trying to read.

Chrissy Dowling plays to a Vegas full house every night as Lady Diana.. She likes her life and if the lines blur between her true self and Diana, that’s okay isn’t it. When her estranged sister Betsy, daughter and boyfriend move to town at the same time the owner’s of her casino are murdered, and a group of gangsters want to take over, her world suddenly becomes a lot smaller. A novel of identity, Vegas and family, Bohjalian shows himself to be a master of every genre.

I love the idea of this book. A famous sister who has paved her way to being one of the top impersonators on the strip. Then a sister who has not always been easy to get along with who moves to Vegas. When their worlds collide, they come together fast and furious. Little could they know that the people around them have plans for them both, and they are not always as straight forward as they seem. I felt like the pacing of this book sometimes went incredibly slow. Also, some of the revelations I am not quite sure were necessary. I did enjoy having Brit interject every now and then throughout the story. Her perspective, while not always super detailed, helped tie together the end of the book nicely.
Thank you to Double Day Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.