Vantage Point had a lot of potential but ultimately it just didn't make it for me. There's a lot of topics covered but not all of them are explored in depth enough. Many elements were underdeveloped. The story spends much of its focus on advanced technology and deepfakes, and reads more like a tech-driven thriller.

This is the story of a love triangle between Frank, Beth and Gabriel. It’s a heart wrenching story. It moves back and forth in time, which was a bit disruptive for me. It’s a passionate story full of drama, romance, love, family tensions, grief and loss. It’s a captivating must read

Vantage Point is the name of the mansion that brother Teddy and sister Clara have inherited after their parents murder. Teddy has since married Jess and the three of them live in the mansion in Maine. Teddy decides to run for Senator, but suddenly the past seems to catch up with them as Clara gets pictures and videos of herself that she cannot remember being taken Is this all linked to her parents death?
Quite an intriguing story and I thank the author, Netgalley and publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review

OK this was GOOD! Vantage Point by Sara Sligar is a tense and sharp psychological thriller with intriguing characters. I love an unreliable interpretation of events and this book was giving it to me in spades. The pacing was great—kept you reading without being so twisty that it came at the expense of character development. The role of media in public perception was explored in very interesting ways, and in our current time period (cough cough) the journalism and ethics elements were certainly resonant. Loved the ending as well!

3⭐️ I actually liked this book a bit more than I anticipated. At first, I was not really sure what to expect. The only thing I knew going into it was that it was being compared to the TV show “Succession” which I’ve never watched but slightly knew what it was about. This was a bit different than the typical thriller books I usually read since this book has a lot of political/business aspects and themes but I still enjoyed it. At times I felt like the book lulled and other times the book seemed very fast paced and some chapters ended on some good cliffhangers that kept me intrigued. Overall, I would recommend if you are into thrillers dealing with rich family drama!

Sara Sligar delivers a mesmerizing, intricately woven thriller with Vantage Point, a novel that expertly balances psychological tension, razor-sharp storytelling, and deeply compelling characters. From the very first page, the book establishes a gripping sense of unease, pulling the reader into a world where truth and perception constantly shift.

What stands out most is Sligar’s ability to craft a mystery that feels both cerebral and deeply emotional. The protagonist is richly drawn, and the narrative skillfully unravels layers of secrets, deception, and hidden motivations. The book’s structure and pacing keep the suspense high, with revelations landing at just the right moments to keep the tension simmering.

Sligar’s writing is both elegant and immersive, making even the quieter moments feel charged with significance. The themes of memory, trust, and manipulation are handled with nuance, elevating the novel beyond a standard thriller into something more thought-provoking. Every detail matters, and by the time the final twists unfold, it’s clear just how masterfully everything was set into place.

Sara Sligar’s Vantage Point is a brilliant retelling of Charles Brockden Brown’s 1798 novel, “Wieland, or The Transformation.” Perhaps the first American Gothic novel, Wieland — like Vantage Point— is a novel of the cursed Wieland family. The novel is narrated by Clara Wieland, the sister of Theodore Wieland, and the childhood friend of Catherine Pleyel who is also Theodore’s wife. Theodore hears voices of other people who he believes tell him to kill his family. These voices are generated by a mysterious stranger named Carwin, who is a ventriloquist able to speak in different voices. One of the themes of the novel is the inability to find the truth simply by relying on sensory evidence.

As in Wieland, Vantage point is primarily narrated by Clara Wieland. Clara suffers from an eating disorder and has been in and out of multiple treatment facilities. Her brother Teddy is running for U.S. Senator, and he is married to Clara’s childhood friend, Jess Pleyel, who is also a narrator of the novel. Having both Clara and Jess narrate the novel provides dueling perspectives proving the point that we all bring our own limited perspectives to our perceptions of the truth.

These modern day Wieland’s also suffer under a curse, in which family members die in bizarre ways during the month of April. And strange events akin to hearing voices begin to take place. The ghosts of Clare and Teddy’s dead parents appear, as do embarrassing videos that no one can recall ever making. Are they as real as they appear to be, or are they the sinister work of human hands?

Sligar held my interest throughout the novel, and she does an excellent job with character development, at least with respect to the two characters we are able to see through their narratives. Sligar also does an outstanding job with her source material, deftly asking the same questions that Brown did about the nature of truth based solely on sensory perception. I can’t recommend this novel highly enough.

Thanks to MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary advance copy of this book.

I do not understand how I'm going to find anything else this twisty, twisted and compelling this year. It's dark, it's for those of us who like it REALLY REALLY REALLY dark.

It took me a minute to get into it but once I did, what a ride. Unreliable narrators and shifting viewpoints, and that last line - whew.

There are so many content warnings here, that I feel like unlisted half of them put in StoryGraph and likely missed some. Eating disorder, cyber bullying, gaslighting, death of parents, sexual assault, and toxic relationships are at the front, but honestly, I’d approach with care if reading about dark content and topics can be challenging for you - this might not be your book.

A wild ride from start to finish. Very page turning. I love a rich family behaving badly storyline and this one has it in spades, with some twists. I enjoyed the gothic vibes as well! Kind of gave me Kennedy Family Curse vibes and kept me engaged all the way through.

Wow, this book! Pay attention when you read it!

At first I thought, is this ever going to have a point? And then it did, and a complicated one at that!

What a family. It all revolves around Clara Wieland, her brother Teddy, and his wife Jess. The story switches timelines at will, moving back in their lives and then to the present, when Teddy is running for senator. His campaign is in increasing turmoil, and it all starts with Clara and her sad troubled past. I wasn’t sure whether to believe Clara was telling the truth or to think she needed to be back in the hospital! But the kinks finally began to unfurl and some things were clearer and eventually it all came to light—-there was an explanation for all these terrible occurrences!

The ending was a shocker to me and not at all what I was expecting. It’s the story of a wealthy family whose money does nothing to bring them happiness—-it only makes them more physically comfortable in their misery. But the ending leaves us with some contentment for the future.

3.5 stars rounded up.

VANTAGE POINT took me on a slow slide into madness.

This story is a profound statement about social media culture, the unrealistic and often harmful expectations placed upon women, money, power, and the dangers of AI.

Pacing is a slow unfolding, but that’s okay because the journey is the point of the story.

The audiobook is narrated by Adam Ewer, Helen Laser, and Jess Nahikian. Production is fantastic. I believed their characters, and I was fully engaged throughout.

In Vantage Point you are taken on a journey that follows two main characters, best friends Clara and Jess. Clara struggles while Jess seems to keep it together. As they progress through life, we see Clara's eating disorder play a role in how she copes with life and her personal relationships. We also see how Jess deals with the pressure of being the future-senator's wife. As boundaries are crossed and relationships are tested, the true colors of the ones you think you know are coming out to plan.

I LOVED this. Everything balances perfectly between on-edge, unlikeable, unhinged - and absolutely believable. This is so well crafted: the characters, the atmosphere, the pace, the ending. I was so on the edge of my seat throughout the story, I might as well have fallen off. There's so much to unpack here and I feel like I have a lot more to say, but for now: love love love.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in return for an honest review!

I've been waiting for another book by Sara Sligar since I read (and loved) Take Me Apart a few years ago, so Vantage Point was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. In her new novel, Sligar introduces readers to the Wieland siblings, Clara and Teddy, the only surviving members of a prominent, wealthy family widely known for being cursed. During the month of April going back more than a hundred years, countless Wielands have died tragically, often in freak accidents. Now, Teddy has decided to begin a senatorial run in April. What could possibly go wrong? The problems begin quickly, when intimate videos of Clara and, later, Teddy's wife Jess, are leaked online. And then Clara begins seeing her parents everywhere...which is impossible, because they themselves were victims of the Wieland curse years before.

Vantage Point had a lot of promise, but ultimately, it didn't completely work for me. Sligar introduces lots of timely topics and ideas into the narrative -- eating disorders, deepfakes, commentary about AI, complex female friendships, toxic romantic relationships, family secrets, political intrigue -- with varying degrees of success. I found, unfortunately, that the most interesting plot points (the family curse aspect, the complicated relationships between the three main characters) weren't given nearly as much attention as I'd hoped. This is a book that is almost entirely focused on advanced technology and the concept of deepfakes; it definitely wasn't the Gothic suspense I thought it was going to be.

Sligar is a gifted writer, and her character work is strong, even if the characters in Vantage Point are mostly unlikable. It just felt like this story was missing something. I wanted more tension, and I wanted the narrative to surprise me more instead of unfolding in a way that was so completely expected. Vantage Point is full of so many fascinating, ambitious ideas; Sligar just focused on the ones that held less interest for me as a reader.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This was an interesting tech type thriller. It had a great beginning but then I felt like I kind got confused and it feel short.

I really enjoyed the author's debut novel but the plot twist to this one was so silly and scientifically not possible that it pulled me out of the story.

This book is part domestic thriller, part psychological thriller, with a dash of sci-fi thrown in. (Or at least I’m telling myself it’s a bit of sci-fi – if it’s not, the level of technology described makes it hard to suspend disbelief.) The plot was a little bit slow to get started, but once it did, it was really compelling. The story is told from the POV of Clara and her best friend and sister-in-law, Jess. The author did a great job with the dual point of view, telling different sides of the story, giving different pieces of backstory. At one point, I felt like I was reading two different, only slightly interconnected stories, which in another book might be annoying but since the characters were not speaking to each other at that point it actually worked really well. I really enjoyed the author’s writing style. I do want to mention one content warning specifically, and that is that one of the POV characters struggles with bulimia. If you are triggered by disordered eating, particularly a first-person depiction of it, you may want to skip this book. Also, for people who can’t tolerate an unlikeable character or a character who repeatedly makes poor decisions, this may not be the book for you.

CW: eating disorder (1st person main character), sexual assault, explicit sex, misogyny, gaslighting, domestic abuse

Representation: Bisexual character

Great prose and character work. Loved the multiple narrators, both felt authentic yet distinct. Very obviously based on the Kennedys, but was very creative in bringing the family into the modern era.

Vantage point by Sara Sligar was a story surrounding Clara, her brother Teddy and Jess, Teddy's wife and Clara's long time friend. Clara and Teddy are from the affluent Wieland family living on a remote island in Maine at the Vantage Point Estate. Teddy is running for Senate when videos start to emerge to taint the Wieland name and events are reminiscent of the Wieland family curse.

While an intriguing story full of twists, there are trigger warnings with heavy topics throughout. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.