I really wanted to love this novel but it didn't click all the way for me. There are many themes in this story that I felt could've been great in theory, we deal with classism, racism, drug use, grief, NYC nightlife and social scene. So much was going on but this book only scratched the surface, I don't feel like we really dug deep. The writing style was straightforward and the plot itself was easy to follow along. I think what shines in this book is the main character. Smith is deeply flawed, and infuriating at times, but I still found that I cared about the story and his ending.

This was such a strong debut from Rob Franklin and was engaged with the concept and characters. It was realistic and worked with the description that I was hoping for. I was never bored when reading this and thought it dealt with topics that were needed to. I never felt like this was one dimensional and though the characters and world felt based in reality.

The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****