MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

Initially I intended to give this book a solid 1 star for its hellish cliché format and the incessant quoting of Shakespeare by its characters. What changed my mind? Well, the clichés died out a bit and the plot developed more of a sturdy structure.

In many ways this feels analogous to Donna Tartt's "The Secret History" but not in the great way one would expect.

One of the things that really irked me about this book was the relationship established between James and Oliver, it was underdeveloped and weak. The beginning of the story does not really imply any strong connection between them and it gets inserted in around midway into the writing with no strong foundation. This would be excusable if their "connection" per se is explored and developed further on into the story, perhaps tested more than a vague acknowledgment of feelings on both sides right before James dies (classic "kill one of the queers off before they can have a relationship").

Frankly, the deaths in this book did not feel very tragic and none of the characters felt alive in any sense. The irony is these characters all claim they feel that they are no more than just the roles they play or how they look—don't get me started on the whole femme fatale thing going on with Meredith—all in all they came off as plastic and inauthentic.

The building up of the plot was the only thing that pushed my rating from a 2/5 to a 3/5. Even that, the only redeemable quality of this work, was not particularly mind-blowing.

3/5.