Ibiza 1980's........gosh this book took me back, as if it were yesterday!.......and if you have personally never been to this beautiful island then Justin Kurian will take you there.
I loved this story.
A great read.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.
To be honest this was going to be a DNF within several pages. The book was very oddly phrased at times. I was flipping the coin between AI generated and translated. Maybe both for extra fun?
I read it mostly for the curiosity of how much worse could it get.
At the beginning, it’s like a thesaurus awkwardly blew up. The phrasings are just weird. Although, it gets a bit more natural sounding later, it still has a few more very odd phrasings and wavers between using contractions and avoiding them.

And I got creeped out by how often the touchy-feely sand massaged his feet.
Fortunately, eventually the sand calms down and stops giving massages.

The main character, John searches Ibiza for a guy he ghosted 15 years ago when he chose investment banking over a theoretically more noble publishing endeavor. Most of the novel is about his explorations off the beaten path meeting all the local colorful natives. He is, of course, the perfect explorer, always with the right / admirable reaction to every situation. It gets rather predictable as to what will happen every time he heads out.
There’s a bit of drama at the close of the novel but nothing anyone didn’t see coming from the beginning.
Maybe they were aiming for a romance if it were written in the style of Paul Coehlo.
It does seem to have the required romance HEA.
Suggestions for next steps
Perhaps get native English speakers to read and offer more natural speech patterns more consistently throughout.
An editor would also likely reduce the alliteration/purple prose/thesaurus effects and provide guidance for better plotting.

The marvelous journey of the protagonist takes you on a breathtaking adventure through the hidden world of 1980s Ibiza, Spain. John’s search for his friend Gunther takes him on an emotional tour de force and also on a romantic trip with Diana, an English DJ. John is desperately seeking meaning in his life, and meets some of the strangest, most fascinating characters I’ve ever read about in a novel.

The landscape descriptions are vivid and realistic, you feel like you’re right there in the beautiful Ibizan countryside.

There’s also a magical and mystical element in the novel, which comes to a thrilling twist in the end.

It’s a classic! Will be enjoyed by anyone who likes a great read! I couldn’t put this novel down!