Great first novel by Craig Willse. I feel like the story could have carried more depth and the characters could have been more developed however still an entertaining read. Thanks NETGALLEY for the ARC

Thank you NetGalley, Union Square & Co., and Craig Willse for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I sadly never finished this one, but I think others would likely enjoy it more. I still recommend giving it a shot!

loved the concept of Providence, and the idea of a teacher obsessed with a student.

It was exciting to see a psychological thriller with a LGBT lead but the story was just serviceable at best. There are a few issues throughout including the writing style

Just from the first chapter alone, I wish I knew more about The Talented Mr. Ripley. It's a book and a movie that have been on my radar for a while now, but I just never found the time to read or watch them. Just within the first chapter, Mark was making excuses for Tyler; granted, it was over little things like financial aid or being caught up in class, but the way he mentioned the excuses was very interesting and foreshadowed what you would see as their relationship developed. You can get a great feel for Mark's personality just from how the author wrote about his interactions in class and with his work. He was the type of person to blame things around him for actions he took. A little self-seeking at times as well as cowardly and pessimistic, there's a deep shame you can sense in the tone of his inner monologue. Also, after reading the book, Mark is so dumb, but to an infuriating level, not the loveable level that some characters have.

This book is anything but a love story; it's about obsession. Mark was obsessed with Tyler after their first conversations. As you read Mark's inner monologue within the first chapters, you can see that Tyler is different from everyone else, but in an unnerving, obsession-type way. I appreciate the way the author wrote about the character's appearance, especially for Tyler. I've noticed a trend where, when authors write a MLM romance, they make both characters try to look like apollos amongst men. But for Tyler's, it was obvious he didn't fit modern-day beauty standards, but there was something. You can easily tell that Tyler was trouble from their descriptions, and Tyler had the same tendencies as Mark in the beginning. The amount of foreshadowing made the end a little obvious. 

However, literary analysis aside, as I was reading the book, there was nothing keeping my attention on reading this book. It felt like it was going nowhere. I couldn't connect with the book, and sometimes continuing to read it was difficult. At times, it was very wordy, and it felt like there were more characters than were necessary.

Check out my blog it has more of my reviews: http://ashsstuff.liveblog365.com/

This book was so much fun and I read it in two sittings. I normally don't prioritize dark academia books, but the cover and synopsis drew me in immediately. This book will turn in ways you won't expect and its steamy in all the right ways without going over the top. At its core, PROVIDENCE is a mystery/thriller, but there's moments in which we get social commentary on LGBTQ+ culture as well. I absolutely loved how the story ended and was surprised to see it go that direction (in a good way). I can't wait to see what Craig Willse has in store for readers next.

the synopsis of Willse’s debut is right up my alley - a gay psychological thriller revolving around a tryst between a professor and his student. it sounds JUICY but the execution just wasn’t quite there. Willse’s writing is great and there are definitely the bones of a fantastic book in here somewhere but it felt like he tried to put too many ideas into this story and a lot of it ended up feeling like it lacked development. the mentioned professor-student romance was bizarrely sudden, and needed more tension. Mark as a character was also a bit confusing to follow, there were certain parts where he felt like a completely different character.

Willse is a promising queer fiction author, and if a few things were tightened up a little more this would’ve been great.

"Providence" is unfortunately the victim of poor marketing. The book is advertised as a thriller/murder mystery but it's not that. It's ​​intense, dark and psychological — an immersive slow burn with themes of unhappiness, restlessness, stagnancy and a yearning for something more. The atmosphere is so immersive, but the plot is flat in comparison and everything quickly begins to feel less meaningful. The ending itself is abrupt and doesn't provide closure. There's no aftermath and we don't get the same sort of introspection we saw from the main character throughout the rest of the book.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

I thought this book was fine. A little too introspective and cerebral for my taste. Definte Talented Mr. Ripley vibes.

I'll start with the good: Willse's writing style is very enjoyable and calming. I liked the main character Mark: a flawed, lonely gay academic in Ohio. I liked the setting and the environment. I even enjoyed the evil twink ruining Mark's life. This was all Willse's doing.

But, maybe to his detriment, Willse was too good at making me think I understood this "Mark." That this "Mark" was a reasonable person who got caught up in a bad situation.

Then, the big event happens, and everything that happens thereafter was mind-bogglingly unbelievable and silly. The character I thought I knew became a caricature of himself, abandoning all logic and leaning into pure insanity.

This story devolved into a plot that was ripped straight from an SVU or Criminal Minds script. There was much promise, but ultimately things went very wrong after about the three-quarters mark. So much of Willse's hard work and good writing came to mean nothing as the story limped into the epilogue.

I would read Willse's next piece, but I can't recommend this one for consumption. Two stars.

“𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.”

Between the stunning cover and early buzz from friends Dennis (@ScaredStraightReads) and Matt (@MattyAndTheBooks) on this gay dark academia, I knew I had to pick up this debut from Craig Willse.

From the opening line, Willse creates a sense of forboding: "𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘐 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘸𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘖𝘩𝘪𝘰" that doesn’t let up until the final page. As narrator, professor Mark Lausson falls further into a web of obsession with his student, Tyler, you can’t help but keep turning the pages to see just how far it will go. I’ve never met a character that I disliked so much (Mark’s sense of ennui feels very woe-is-me at times), yet I needed know see what was coming next. Both Mark and Tyler are impulsive, selfish, and drown in their own paranoia, allowing for assumptions to happen, much like Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. Mark is a loner and every time someone tried to get close to him, like friend Safie or boyfriend Stephen, he would shut down and push them away, and in turn, it felt like we never got to know them well. Willse’s writing style was very accessible tackling a lofty topic with the right amount of steam and social commentary. I did feel the pacing was a bit off - at times it moved slowly, and others felt like it needed more fleshing out.

Providence is a story of desire, unhappiness, deception, obsession, and lust. It shows that Willse has a lot of potential and I’ll definitely check out what he writes next. If you’re a fan of Brett Easton Ellis’ The Shards, I recommend this one. Thank you to Union Square & Co. and NetGalley for the ARC!

I have two minds of this book, one - that it wasn't as marketed, it is not a murder/mystery type, it's more of a literary study on how to ruin a career and two - that the writing was very strong and that alone kept me reading to the end. Mark is a professor at a small college in the middle of Ohio, he's gay, has a boyfriend that he's not really keen on and when he claps eyes on Tyler, a young man that is in his class, he immediately falls head over heels in love, like literally instantly. Tyler though is a bit of a weird kid, comes from a poor background, is attending on a soccer scholarship and appears to be in lust with his roommate the uber wealthy Addison. Mark and Tyler do have interactions n social settings, though Mark desires much more even though he already has a boyfriend and a solid circle of friends. Even knowing that getting intimately involved with a student is a huge NO. But eventually Mark and Tyler do become intimate and Mark attempts to break it off, but Tyler keeps coming back, saying the right things to Mark (although Mark finds out that a lot of what he's told is not true) and their weird intimacy continues. Until Mark is given the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to apply for a position at a college away from Ohio, away from all the issues, and things are looking very good after he goes through the interview process. When he gets back to Ohio, that's when things fall apart and the murder issue happens, that last part of the book was interesting, sad for all involved. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Unionsquare&co for the ARC.

I want to extend my sincere gratitude to NetGalley, the publishing team, and Craig Willse for providing me with an ARC copy of "Providence" in exchange for my honest review. (And a brief apology for the late review as I was ill)

Let me start by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

As a fan of novels like "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "The Secret History," "Providence" was right up my alley.

However, it's worth noting that the novel has a very slow start in terms of building the suspense and darker elements of the story. It took me a few tries to power through the initial chapters, but once the narrative gained momentum, I found myself completely immersed in the world Willse created.

While "Providence" is marketed as a thriller, I felt that the thriller aspect was somewhat of a miss. The intensity was certainly there, but not in the traditional thriller genre sense that I was expecting. If the novel had been marketed differently, perhaps as a psychological drama, I believe my expectations would have been better aligned with the actual content.

Additionally, I couldn't help but feel that Tyler's character could have been more developed. I expected him to possess a bit more of an edge, and I found myself wanting to see him show more interest in Mark beyond the surface level. This could have added another layer of complexity to their relationship dynamics.

Despite these minor criticisms, I found "Providence" to be a great read. While it may not have fully delivered on the thriller front, its exploration of desire, deceit, and the complexities of human relationships made for a compelling narrative. With that in mind, I'm giving this book a rating of 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 for its overall impact and the skillful execution of its themes.

Finally!!! A queer novel about “Bad Gays”…

“Providence” introduces us to Mark, a young teacher in an elite Sawyer Colege, in Ohio. Stuck in a small town with deadlines piling up and paychecks falling short, Mark can already feel his life crumbling. But when Tyler Cunningham a sophomore student Tyler shows up in class, Mark glimpses another way of being in the world. The self-confidence of the popular Tyler, as well as his mysterious aura, are like a magnetic force for Mark. Caught in the rush of sex and secrets, Mark ignores the increasing evidence that Tyler can’t be trusted. But by the time Mark comes to his senses, the irreparable damage has already been done.

First of all, let me state that “Providence” has conquered me! I have to say that it´s probably one of my favorite books of the year… But let me clarify something: I don´t consider this book a thriller! I would say it´s a dark romance novel, with very enigmatic suspenseful vibes.
In “Providence”, the taboo relationship between Mark and Tyler is the central emotional core of the narrative. Craig Willse is magnificent at building this relationship between the two main protagonists. Let´s focus first on Mark, who is drawn deeper and deeper into Tyler's world, finding himself caught in a web of intrigue that challenges his very perceptions of love, desire, trust and truth. Willse also masterfully explores themes of identity, obsession and the human need for connection, while Mark’s admiration for Tyler develops into an intense fixation. Mark´s character is fascinatingly portrayed and the reader can empathize with his vulnerability and raw ambition in his voice (both are almost palpable).
In contrast, Tyler has a mysterious and paradoxical voice. The charismatic yet inscrutable, Tyler is portrayed by Willse with an enigmatic charming voice that evokes an irresistible mix of allure and danger in the readers…and just like Mark, they are drawn to his orbit.

As I mentioned, I wouldn´t categorize this book as a thriller, mainly because we have no crime until we reach 80% of the book. Although readers will experience a few twists and turns in the story, I would say that it´s the complex characters and their dark undertones that drive the narrative forward. Willsen's writing style is captivating and provocative, drawing readers into this complicated relationship and building tense narrative moments with dynamic and intriguing dialogues. Definitely, a must-read!

A slow, suspenseful read that takes on gay intergenerational relationships. It does it in a very squicky way, as the power dynamic between teachers and students is (even when inverted as here) very, very fraught. There is a lot of pornography in the gay-male pornosphere that centers on incest...a thing that causes me no little discomfort for obvious reasons...and then, one step lower on the transgression ladder, a fair bit of teacher/student porn.

I'm not going to label this read as a one-handed reading story, but a few judicious pacing changes and a bit more descriptive instead of allusive language et voilà!

Mark gets tangled up in his history...not fully explored or explained...and Tyler uses his youthful beauty to make that history come alive; the results are predictable. The story isn't groundbreaking, the pacing isn't thrilling, so it sounds like my hatchet's about to come out, doesn't it? Nope. No hatchet job, this.

I'd label this a psychological suspense novel not a mystery or a thriller. The crime doesn't need solving; the pace is not thrilling. There is a lot of suspense, however, in the psychology of the developing relationship between Mark and Tyler; what is this kid after, and why did her target Mark, for starters. Had Author Willse and/or his editors developed Tyler and his motivations more, I'd be five-star hollerin' about this book. Tyler is the weakest part of the narrative: A kind of ambulatory "why, how come". Tyler's calculating nature is seen solely in its results and that leaves me thinking only about the nasty results of his manipulations for those he doesn't notice or even care about. Mark's perfectly nice, if boring, life gets upended and ruined from the outside. His boyfriend, whose name utterly escapes me, gets his world crashed by the narrative equivalent of a rock from space...for what? I'm not advocating for an excuse for Tyler's actions. Just a reason.

That said, this is a first novel and so gets most of a pass on some structural issues. I recommend the read to fellow old gay men who have much younger men in their lives; to those seeking a weekend's immersion into the consequences of a disastrous affair; and psychological suspense readers needing a fresh angle on their preferred genre.

I didn’t end up liking this one bit. I didn’t find it to be thrilling and had no idea where the story was going or what the author was trying to say. All the characters were unlike able.

Mark is a teacher at Sawyer College, located in Ohio. It’s a prestigious institution where the students are rich — often very rich — and the professors … not so much. It’s a college of polite colorism, where the dean’s parties host very white professors (and the token black woman fighting for tenure) who barely notice the Mexican staff serving them. While teaching, Mark is also writing a book about gay murderers. Not so much the crimes they committed, but how those crimes, committed by gay men, were reported, how they were spoken of then and now. He teaches his students about The Talented Mr. Ripley, a story in which a poor young man becomes obsessed with a rich man, going so far as to befriend him … and then kill him.

It’s in his class that Mark meets Tyler, a young man with golden hair who Mark can’t get out of his thoughts. Tyler, careless and brilliant, speaking up in class only that once and never again, and yet whose papers speak to Mark’s own heart. Bored with his boyfriend, tired of his quiet life, Mark wants to be part of the bright, vibrant world Tyler seems to live in. And when Tyler leans in for a kiss, how is Mark to ever refuse? He knows the risks; professors have been fired for just this thing, but Mark has to have this, and so long as Tyler doesn’t say no … he can.

Providence is a book full of questions: Is Tyler a mastermind or an innocent victim? Does Mark love Tyler, want to own him, or become him? Mark is proven again and again to be an unreliable narrator, oblivious to the people around him and to their emotions and thoughts. He is both indifferent and certain at the same time that he knows all he needs to know. And even at the very end, who can you really trust between Tyler and Mark? As Tyler said, he realized early on that Mark saw him as someone needing saving, and so he performed that role. He was using Mark, but to what end, and how much? Was it the excitement of sleeping with a professor, someone he could manipulate more easily, or was he just lonely, reaching out to another lonely person?

The book has no answers to any of these questions. And that might leave some people unsatisfied, and I get it if they feel that way. But this book was never about the big twist or the clever reveal for me. Personally, I think any answer the author could have given would have been worse than the dangling threads, limiting and defining the events in a way that gives all of the questions pat answers and cheap resolutions. Instead, the book seems to be waiting for the reader to decide what they think, what they want to be the answer, and I appreciate that. It’s a hard task, to write a book with no ending and yet to end it well, and in such a way that a reader has to make a choice … and it leaves me irked that I didn’t like the book enough to want to answer those questions.

I think that’s mostly because I didn’t like Mark, but presumably that’s by design. He’s a complicated man, shallow and plodding, with only his good looks to recommend him. Bailing on his boyfriend again and again because he’s bored, disinterested, unwilling to be bothered. Mark’s one friend at work, and the one black woman on staff, Safie, is performing epic feats of emotional labor, forever chipping away at him, receiving nothing in return but the disdainful attention of someone who takes her friendship for granted. And when she needs Mark, he’s too busy doing … nothing much to reach out to her. Until, that is, he needs something from her.

Mark is, by all accounts, a brilliant and gifted professor. He’s clever and insightful, but only on paper. In his own head, the place we are joining him for this book, he’s a schmuck, and a whiny, boring one. I’ve said before that I enjoy difficult characters, because it takes skill for an author to make them human rather than a caricature, to make them sympathetic, to make them in such a way that you want to shake them and make them better because you care about them. Here, with Mark, I just wanted to get away from him. The character is well written, but he’s also a character I’m glad to be done with.

The book only shows Tyler through Mark’s eyes. He’s young, gorgeous in the way an animal is — fluid muscle, glowing vitality, action and grace and passion. Mark stalks Tyler’s Facebook, thinks about him constantly, thinks about being with him, touching him, having him .. and then ignores it, only to be drawn back again and again by the object that is Tyler. When Mark finally has him, when Tyler finally stands still long enough for Mark to try to catch his interest, Mark is as flustered as a kid with their first crush. And it’s clear Mark falls hard and fast for the idea of Tyler — always the idea — rather than the boy he’s fucking. He listens as Tyler talks about anything and everything, but never asks a question. It’s Tyler who decides every action, ever encounter, because Mark is, as ever, as always, a passive witness to his own life.

I never felt the urge to shake Mark. I never felt sympathy for him. I was tired of being in his company; I wanted to see anyone else — be it Safie, his boyfriend Stephen, or even his coworker Colin, who all seemed more vibrant and interesting. But that’s the point, I suppose. It’s just hard for me to enjoy a character study when I find it so hard to connect with the character in question, so hard to feel any interest in his self-inflicted pain. Again, technically, it’s a decent book. It’s just not the book for me.

However, that doesn’t mean that this book might not work for someone else. I admit my reviews are highly, blatantly subjective. The author’s writing style is smooth, their storytelling is good, the pace was a touch on the slow side for me, with some interludes that just felt like giant rocks were dropped down to establish a setting already in place. I’d be very curious to see more of the author’s other works … just as long as Mark is left in this one.

A soapy thriller for fans of BATH HAUS and TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. The story centers on a college professor (MARK) who starts up an affair with a student (TYLER) who may or may not be a manipulative sociopath. The narrative challenges the reader to question whether Mark is being manipulated, or whether he is in denial about his own actions/culpability. The narrative sustained my interest as Mark's increasingly self-destructive choices send him into a tailspin driven by desire; however, the pacing of the novel loses a bit of steam with descriptions of Mark's day-to-day in the world of academia. Tyler is the object of Mark's desire, therefore our understanding of Tyler is filtered through Mark's perception. I would have liked to learn more about Tyler, but we are denied a peek into his subjectivity in service of the novel's theme of how we make assumptions about others based off idle markers. I bristled over Mark's feelings of victimhood despite being in a position of power and driving many of the fateful decisions that lead to the story's climax. Is Tyler a manipulative sociopath, or a self-preserving survivalist? Your answer to this question may say more about you than it does about Tyler.

Providence by Craig Willse was an enjoyed read.
I was honestly surprised that I read it as quickly as I did.
The wrong flowed very well. And the characters were very well developed.

Thank You NetGalley and Union Square & Co. for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This book surprised me in many ways. A dark novel with flawed characters. I really enjoyed the writing and will definitely read more books by this author. Regardless, I felt something missing but I am not quite sure what it is.

Reading this book was like watching a train wreck happen in slow motion. It’s going to be awful, you wish you could step in to interfere, but you are helpless in its face. You sense right away that things will end badly for the MC because he’s severely depressed and self-isolating. He’s a bystander in his own life, disconnected from everyone and everything. Once you learn his backstory, you understand that he’s stuck in his childhood and has never recovered from something. I guess the feeling of dread which welled up in me from the start and didn’t let go until the end is born from gifted writing and not just my own imagination. I liked how the character owned his story by the end and didn’t try to run from it. That choice made this a true tragedy, so the the ultimate fall. The one drawback is not really knowing or understanding Tyler’s story. I’m not sure that’s a choice which benefits the book or not.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for honest feedback.