The premise was definitely unique—leaked videos, possible deepfake technology, a cursed wealthy family, and political scandals—initially drawing me in with strong psychological and mystery elements. What's this about the Wieland curse? However, as the story progressed, I found my interest wavering, often skipping over the Wieland curse chapters and experiencing moments of engagement followed by periods of disengagement. But holy heck, that ending!! What in the world!! Overall this one was a 3 star experience for me.

As someone who’s been devastated since it ended, the description had me at “Succession” and thank god it did because I loved this one. A messy family with one son running for office (admittedly he’s no Connor) and a curse that seems to kill off a family member every few Aprils, plus a sci fi twist. It sounds like it shouldn’t go together but I thought it was executed well and kept me engaged through the whole thing.

Sara Sligar’s Vantage Point is a clever, fast-paced thriller that explores themes of trust, deception, and the power of perspective. With sharp prose and intricate plotting, Sligar builds a tense narrative that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The characters are engaging and well-developed, and the unraveling of the story's mysteries is both satisfying and thought-provoking. This is a thrilling ride from start to finish, perfect for fans of intricate, character-driven mysteries.

Subterfuge, deep fakes, grisly deaths and a family curse. Californian writer Sara Sligar whiplashes between Gothic family drama and outrageous high-tech caper in Vantage Point, her latest thriller which is set on an island in Maine.

We meet the Wieland family. Rich, successful and cursed. Through the decades, horrible accidents have befallen members of the family in April. From run-of-the-mill stabbings, drownings, poisonings, yacht fires, suicides, collisions and being trampled by horses to being attacked by grizzly bears, a freak badminton accident, being crushed by marquee lights and flattened by steel factory rollers – the Wieland family is not one you want to be part of.

Link to the full review: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2025/02/04/vantage-point-sara-sligar/

this was a fun and interesting and unputdownable thriller! i found the characters hard to buy, which limited my enjoyment, but i had a good time anyway.

Vantage Point felt like Succession with Gossip Girl flashbacks, with a chilling AI component that made it very unsettling. Sligar delivers sharp writing and addictive drama, pulling readers into a world of wealth, power, politics, and tech-driven paranoia. While the plot veers off the rails at times, the storytelling and high-stakes tension kept me hooked. Overall, an entertaining read.

Ratings
Story Concept 4/5
Quality of Writing 5/5
Pacing 3/5
Plot Development 4/5
Character Development 4/5
Overall Enjoyability 4/5

Clara and Teddy grew up on a small island in Maine. After their parents tragic deaths, Teddy has always taken care of Clara. But now as he is running for the state Senate, strange things have started happening. Clara is beginning to figure it out, but everyone thinks that she is mentally unstable.

This is a good book with many twists and turns to hold your attention. It keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

(Actual: 3.75⭐, rounded up) This was a solid tech-based thriller for me, filled with hologram & deepfake shenanigans, dysfunctional overly-privileged and wealthy families, and more! I really didn't know what to expect but I love Succession and miss it far more than what is probably considered a healthy amount LOL, which in turn results in me wanting to discover all sorts of different media and stories that may feel similar to it. The plot of VANTAGE POINT is definitely ambitious, especially when it comes to certain subjects - such as AI and all its many pros & cons, for example - that may feel a bit overexposed in today's world (but is still very much relevant and worth discussing). I can't say with full confidence that VP stuck the landing on all accounts - the pacing felt weirdly uneven at times, with some story beats/plot points moving either painfully slow or absurdly fast, as if they just wanted to get them out of the way - but it DID do a damn good job at keeping me invested and turning pages regardless, so I'm ultimately still satisfied (even when I do take into consideration the "twist" of an ending). Definitely something different that may not work for everyone, but still a wild and fun ride that I'd recommend out to my fellow SFF lovers!

This one started off really well, but as I got further along in the book it felt like more of a family drama rather than a thriller. Still kept my interest Though! Thank you netgalley for this ARC copy!

This was a fun little suspense novel. The mystery was a little obvious from the beginning but that didn’t take away from the story.

I had high, high expectations for this, coming off a Succession high, and I’m not sure those expectations were met, but I definitely had fun! The Kennedy curse genre is alive and well.

Propulsive, twisty, stressful - I really liked it. Every character in Vantage Point has a secret and flaws, and I loved getting to uncover the mystery within.

Real Rating: 3.75* of five

Do I hope this is what happens to the richest .01% of families? Yes. Would I sit by and watch with huge schadenfreude while amplifying the most embarrassing, hurtful moments on social media despite the pain it might cause the family in question? Oh my goddesses YES! Extra speedy sharing if they issue statements deploring the hurtful invasion of privacy, and I'll find a way to automate the 24-hour-a-day posting process if they're tech scum!

This book and me? Destined to be besties.

Sounds like a five-star rave is incoming, doesn't it?

Nope. When the shock-twist ending is the same ending you've been telegraphing all along, you don't get five stars. It could be some meta thing, playing on my expectations for a twist in a thriller by not giving me one; I don't tend to read thrillers for that sort of playfulness (which is usually disappointing and annoying anyway). Why it bothered me was that the author was flagging the ending in what felt like every chapter, most unsubtly; then that's what happened; so why'd I read all this intermediate red-herring-ing?

Because this gothic, soapy, OTT strange-fest was fun. I liked reading it. It wasn't groundbreaking, or paradigm-shifting; no one promised me it would be. I was told I'd have a good time eagerly watching the twisted ending of a hypercapitalist family.

Check.

Would I have liked it more, if...fill in personal crotchet here? Sure, I can play that game all day and most of the night with almost anything. But this book delivers what it promises, and you'll have a good time getting there.

"Vantage Point" by Sara Sligar was certainly a thrilling, high tech read that kept me up late into the night wanting to read what happens next. Overall, I thought that the plot was fairly unique. As her brother Teddy is running his Senate campaign, heiress Clara Wieland is experiencing explicit deepfake videos of her posted to the internet. As the Wielands (including Clara's best friend Jess who is married to Teddy) attempt to move past the scandal, Clara starts to lose her grip on reality, haunted by the ever-looming "Wieland Curse."

I did appreciate the exploration of the impacts of these technologies and the exploration of the back stories of these characters. However, while the story was compelling, I struggled with feeling much sympathy for many of these characters. The book was described as inspired by "Succession," one of my favorite shows, but the characters were simply extremely rich. Additionally, I figured out quite quickly the cause behind these events, which made the middle portions of the book feel a bit repetitive as Clara continues to experience "the Curse."

Overall, it was a fun read, but given the length of the book, I would have liked to have seen a bit more complexity to the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and MCD for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

4 ⭐️

I enjoyed this book a lot! I thought it was a unique concept and unlike other books I typically read. I went through a bit of a reading slump while reading it, but it genuinely wasn’t because of the book. The ending left me with so many questions still, so I’ll definitely be thinking about it for a while.

Thank you to Sara Silgar, MCD, and NetGalley for the ARC.

The descriptiveness that Clara has of the videos she finds online are just terrible. I have read some off the wall things, but this just takes away from the story. Clara is self absorbed and obsessed with the videos and breaking down every aspect of them to try and prove if they are real or fake. I was really hoping for more “thrill” from this book, as the family has a messed up past and supposed curse. It fell flat and is just not one I would recommend.

The uber rich Wieland family is cursed, or so it seems. When Clara moves back to the family camp with her brother and sister in law, she's sure the curse has passed her by. But someone is gaslighting her, a sex tape that she doesn't remember being in but can't swear it's not her, she'll have to start investigating before it's her turn to die.
the plot revolves around AI and how, with the right programming, you can make anything seem real. A thriller with the ultimate question.....is this for real?

3.5 stars- I usually love techno thrillers but this was just middle of the road for me. It wasn’t bad, and it was entertaining, but the story line felt forced and the ending was not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and FSG for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Pub Date: 1/14
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I went completely blind into this book and I loved every second of it. I had no idea what I was going to be getting - but this - this was just awesome.
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I was absolutely enthralled by these characters. The Wieland family had it all, the money and the power; it just sucked they were cursed. Teddy was so interesting, charismatic but I also was sketched out by him. Clara was the family problem; she needed help in more ways that one and I really felt for her on so many levels. Jess, Teddy’s wife and Claras best friend was doing her best for both of her family members throughout the story but seemed to always get the short end of the stick. I really loved the uniqueness of each of the different ways the Wieland family members died. This story is told in multiple POV through the eyes of Teddy, Clara and Jess and I think having each POV really gave a deeper edge to this story.
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Once the videos started popping up, thats when things started to get a bit wild. I never really knew who to trust or what to believe. My head felt like it was spinning out of control with how the characters chose to act at times. When everything starts coming together in the end I was truly and utterly flabbergasted. Like this was the coolest and most terrifying outcome. I absolutely loved it.
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I listened to this one via audiobook while reading my ebook and Adam Ewer, Helen Laser and Jess Nahikian were fantastic. They each complimented one another and they created the perfect flow for this story. I highly reocmmend the audiobook if you are looking to read this one.
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Overall, this was the definition of a suspenseful mindfuck and this is one of those books that will stay with you long after you finished. Absolutely fantastic. Make sure you check this one out! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Sara Sligar, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, MCD and MacMillan Audio for the ALC / eARC in exchange fro my honest review.

Vantage point is one of the buzzy new thrillers to kick off 2025 reading season. It follows the cursed weiland siblings, teddy and Clara. The weilands have a long history of deaths in April for years, and teddy and Carla have so far survived the Curse. Their parents died in an unexpected accident years ago and now the siblings and teddys wife/claras best friend, Jessica, move back to their hometown and the sprawling family estate, vantage point. Teddy is launching a senate bid when a sex tape of Clara’s begins to circulate. Clara can’t remember who is in the tape or recognize where she is in the video, but that could be the effect of years of drinking. Are the videos deepfakes done by someone out for the family? Calara is intent on proving that it’s not her, but is she spiraling out of control? And what secrets does her brother hold on his rise to the top?

A blend of gothic and tech thriller, with family drama among the elites of society, this is a fun book! The novel bounces between Clara and Jessica’s pov both in the past and the present interspersed with “research” on the family curse. The three main characters aren’t particularly likable, but that’s not a bad thing in this type of book-just as Clara isn’t sure who to trust (including herself) neither are the readers. I like the blending of elements from various thriller sub genres. I did find the last third dragged a bit, but it was still overall a fun read!

Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.