Oh. wow. Ok. 

These Violent Delights is an extremely complex and nuanced story. On the surface it is simply a dark academia about two boys' toxic relationship, but with every layer, with every detail, you see more and more of their bare bones. 

This is fucked up ok? It deceives you and manipulates you just as much as the characters did one another. The level of psychological turmoil and, to some extent, mild gore, really surprised me. 

I felt the story took a little while to get going, wasn't feeling it as much in the beginning, but this exact build up ends up making a lot of sense with how their relationship works out. 

The setting is really interesting and the narration is phenomenal, guiding you through Paul's messy logic and you almost feel yourself following it, no matter how twisted it is. 

The book hits every point on its mood and atmosphere, and it's probably one of the best crafted psychological thrillers I have read.