Vantage Point by Sara Slinger was gripping and so hard to put down! The story sucked me in from the start and, especially in the first half had me questioning everything.

The back half was a bit more underwhelming. There were some ideas that I would have loved to have been further developed and others that could have been paced a bit quicker. I also wished there'd been more backstory to support the final act; in some ways it seemed to come out of nowhere and the point that Aurther was making would have been more powerful with long-term examples throughout the story.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to anyone interested in political scandals, exploring reality in a digital world, and patient suspense-fans.

Thank you Netgallery, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Sara Sligar for this ARC. All opinions shared are honest and my own.

Clara and Teddy Wieland come from old New England money. They grew up on an island off the coast of Maine, and they were haunted by the death of their parents when they were teenagers.

Now Teddy has married Jess, Clara’s best friend from childhood. Both he and Clara have returned to the island and they are living at Vantage Point, the family estate. Teddy is running for Senate, but scandalous tapes on Clara, then others are released, videos no one remembers making. Clara has demons of her own. Are the tapes real, and who could be trying to bring down the Wielands?

This was an OK story, but for the fact that I really liked the young versions of Teddy, Clara and Jess, but thought that, as adults, they all pretty much sucked, so I found it difficult to care what became of them. Poor little rich people. Vomit.

Engrossing, stunning, and troubling - I loved it! 

Clara has wealth, youth, beauty, and all the ingredients seemingly needed for happiness. But she is also tormented by the deaths of her parents and the Wieland family curse. And now is not the time to relax, for it is nearly April, the month during which Wieland family members have historically perished…

The writing is sharp and the chapters alternate between Clara’s point of view and that of Jess’s, her best friend and sister-in-law. I never quite knew what to expect as I turned each page and was immersed in this exploration of technology (vs. reality), class, ambition, and misogyny. 

Thank you very much to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy of this exciting novel.

*** Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Strauss and Giroux for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own ***

Vantage Point is both the name given to the impressive home of the ultra-rich and powerful Wieland family, and one of the motives running through the novel. The story itself is told through the point of view of the two main female characters, Clara and Jess. Although Teddy is arguably the third main character, his point of view is never explored. This, to me, creates an interesting contrast. Teddy is at the center of both women’s lives (as a protective older brother and as a husband respectively) and both come to reflect on how their lives would have panned out if it weren’t for him. Wildly different, it seems, and (probably) significantly worse. But there is a Clara and a Jess before or without Teddy, which the story explores in multiple flashback chapters, allowing both characters to reflect on their individuality, identity, and enduring friendship.

Although the novel features a cast of characters, present and past, the story itself focuses on those three characters. This gives the story of a famous and influential family a more intimate – claustrophobic even – dimension, like some sort of open-air Huis Clos (capitalized on purpose). The setting of the island nicely enhances this atmosphere.

The motive of the vantage point is also weaved into the story through two other main threads: the Wieland curse and the topic of deepfakes. In doing so, the story brings together an interesting mix of gothic mystery and contemporary technology. Both present their own kind of horror, but ultimately boil down to a lack of freedom, a sense of fate, and deceptive appearances. This is shown in Teddy’s and Clara’s identities being deeply embedded in their social class and tied to their family’s name. So much so, in fact, that it seems that they can only either lean into the family tradition or viscerally oppose it. Without even getting into the actual curse, this already launched their lives into extreme and harmful directions. As such high-profile figures the video scandal affects the public’s opinion of them and forces them to grapple with the loss of control over their image – amidst their own existential crises.

The Wikipedia pages about the Wieland deaths tied to the curse at the end of some chapters was a nice touch, weaving the curse into the story and thematizing the accessibility of such information in the age of the internet. The circumstances of some of those deaths reminded me of the The Gashlycrumb Tinies, giving the curse both a very ominous and tragic dimension, but also an almost comedic one. I enjoyed those sections and would have liked to delve even deeper into the Wieland curse lore.

While I found the story to be dragging on occasions, the chapters alternating point of views and occasionally going back into the past (23, 16, 13 and 8 years prior) did bring some dynamism and depth to the story. Enough revelations and twists were dropped along the way to keep me hooked and wanting to know how it would end. Though there was maybe one too many twists for my taste, the story was overall enjoyable and gripping.