I loved this. It was more complex than I had expected which was good and it kept me guessing with good plot twists. I was a little confused at times, but it didn't take too much away from the plot. I'd read more form this author.

"The Stavros Manuscript" weaves together psychological, historical, and supernatural elements to create a mind-bending and enigmatic tale. Leonard's descent into madness and obsession forms the core of this ambitious literary thriller, where reality blurs with Kafkaesque fantasy.

This is the kind of book that is hard to describe without spoilers, so I can't give away much of the plot!

The story follows Leonard Stavros, a talented linguist and cryptanalyst. At the start of the book, he is homeless and wakes up in a hotel room with a dodgy acquaintance named Ed, not remembering how they got there. Leonard previously suffered from mental health struggles and lost everything due to a nine-year obsessive attempt at deciphering the enigmatic Paisley Codex, a notoriously indecipherable Medieval book. Ed entangles Leonard in a plan to steal a book, which may or may not be the Codex which destroyed his life, from a dubious character known only as the Judge. Stavros experiences a series of events involving the book, and things take a turn when he encounters a mysterious waitress named Nina, who reminds him of his past.

The book covers many themes: codes and layers of meaning, reality, obsession, the subconscious and the complexity of the mind, but the aspect I found most interesting to ponder was the exploration of being a talented person, the extent to which their identity is built around their relationship to success, all the expectations that come with being known as talented, and the ensuing downfall if/when failure occurs to them.
The story moves fast, there are distinct settings and locations but it can feel a little chaotic to some readers. The narration feels floaty and surreal and is beautifully executed. The characters are interesting, some are explored deeper than others which makes sense, given the plot. Leonard, the protagonist comes across as a bit unlikeable with quite an ego but is an interesting character which is after all, what matters most.

From ancient books, foreign languages, and a surrealist, dreamlike setting with twists and unreliable narration, this book contains a lot of my favourite things in a work of fiction. It has stayed with me for days, I hugely recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Leonard Stavros has spent nine years of his life trying to decode the mysteries of the Paisley Codex, a manuscript that has stumped scholars for centuries. A chance meeting with an enchanting woman coincides with his reluctant return to the manuscript that has destroyed his life in the search for its meaning.

First off, I have very mixed feelings about this book and I dislike being too harsh about books I read. The description drew me in but the opening chapters truly convinced me that I had made a mistake, so much so that I nearly considered DNFing it which I NEVER do. The shaky start wasn't helped by the occasional comment which I can only describe as 'man writing' i.e. it was somehow deemed pertinent to describe every woman's breasts and some initial descriptions immediately set me against the book.

This unfortunate trend did continue throughout , especially with the introduction of the love interest - at one point the protagonist confesses that 'it was right then I quit glancing between her eyes and breasts and focused solely on the former'. The sleaziness speaks for itself, it was even more galling that the protagonist seemed to only express a measure of interest in the character as more than just a walking pair of breasts to objectify when she expressed some interest in mathematics. Even then, things went from bad to worse when he describes himself as 'awestruck' that a lowly woman working in flower shop could possibly 'nail' explaining the Fibonacci sequence which is possibly the most simple maths theorem to ever exist, Nevertheless, the woman 'marvels at his acumen' (he explains that thirteen added to eight is equal to twenty-one). While it is certainly possible that the protagonist's arrogance and insufferable misogyny was intentional rather than otherwise considering the novel does include at least two women characters described as being incredibly intelligent, however it made this rather a difficult read at times.

I will admit that I did underestimate the book's complexity slightly, it did surprise me slightly with its various twists. The book reminded me of Inception, Shutter Island, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Da Vinci Code in terms of theme, however, those comparisons imply a false sense of quality since it was nowhere near as good. I found some narrative jumps and narrative layers a bit confusing, perhaps this is partly due to my own reading but it felt a bit like things were left ambiguous to save the necessity of developing an explanation that made sense. However, once I was a third into the book, I did feel captivated enough to see the book out to the end to try and decode the book's mystery. The characters of Ed and The Judge were not very well fleshed out and nor were Nina or her father. I can understand why that might have been considering certain plot points but it did feel a bit shallow all the same.

I would say the greatest triumph of the book was that the 'meaning' of the manuscript was rather clever and I found it satisfying enough having waited for it. I don't think I would recommend this to a friend but it did have a few redeemable qualities and definitely picked up in the second half.

While I can appreciate the complexity of the plot, I was more interested in discovering about the manuscript itself than I was to continue to hear about Leonard. Unfortunately for me, the development of the characters was predictable and the chapters that took place in the hospital were a bit tedious. The story of Ferrante and Bellamente was a nice addition at the end.

Thank you for sharing this ARC copy with me.
The author is clearly a very talented writer and I would read more of their work. I am just not sure this story itself was for me.

I would like to thank NetGalley and The Marion/Manville Press for providing me with the eARC of this book. I greatly appreciate it!

Wow, “The Stavros Manuscript” was certainly interesting. While it was entertaining, the overall story left me with more questions than answers. Its intention forces you to question the character’s sense of reality, which in itself conveys the depth of his obsession. Obsession has a tendency to cloud, and this was well represented in the world he thought he lived in, until reality sunk in and the world with its natural rhythm was visible. What was clouded was then cleared to reveal a sense of awakening from his obsession. Of course, this is my observation and might be totally wrong. However, this is a story that will certainly captivate readers with its out-of-the-box storytelling.

Thank you so much for this ARC! This review will be published on August 18 on my reading Instagram account (@flickreadsfiction). This review has also been published to GoodReads.

This book was… strange, weird, dreamlike, like it was written by Kafka. I had the weirdest sensation of being trapped in the movie Inception (which happens to be one of my most favorite American movies of all time). I couldn’t tell if anything that I was reading was real or if I was being fooled the entire time. All this to say that I had an interesting time reading this book.

It’s a fast-paced book but because there’re so many odd twists and turns, you have to reread sections over and over again to make sure that you caught everything. It was an odd feeling - wondering if Leonard was an unreliable narrator or not, even now, I’m still not entirely convinced that he’s reliable. I liked how I was kept guessing, and how I was only half right about half the plot twists of this book.

I can’t say Leonard was likable. At all. there were moments when he spoke that I rolled my eyes so hard I felt like I could see into the back of my brain, but I think it really did help the unpredictability and unreliability of this book. Don’t believe anything you read!