Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC!

I thought I knew what I was signing up for with this book, but in no way was I prepared. This was DARK.

Jonah is a poor NYC transplant with dreams of being a playwright. He works at a restaurant with just a terrible human for a manager, and his finances are basically nonexistent. Then he meets Richard.

Richard, a very successful playwright some thirty years his senior, and Jonah begin a relationship that is pretty dark from the get-go. Richard convinces Jonah to come with him for a weekend to the Hamptons, and shit gets real bad, real quick.

This book was not an easy read, but I could not stop reading it. I couldn't believe what was happening and had to know what was going to go down next. Jonah is not exactly a likable character, yet I could not stop rooting for him. I wanted him to succeed and do better and STOP PUTTING HIMSELF IN TERRIBLE SITUATIONS.

As other reviewers have noted, the back half of the book hits hard on religion. I, however, thought it fit with where Jonah's headspace was and didn't necessarily mind the story going there. Also, this is a debut novel? So, like, damn. I can't wait to see what else JPR does!

This was a hard one to rate because it deals with such heavy themes. So, saying I enjoyed all this feels like the wrong words, but I did read it in less than 12 hours, so. It was a very intense reading experience, and if you can handle dark and gloomy and all the mentioned triggers above, give it a go!

TWs: rape, victim-blaming, gaslighting, abuse, super toxic relationships, conversion therapy, homophobia, drug abuse, a whole lot of religious stuff, mentions of child sexual abuse and incest, suicide, basically sexual slavery