To be sent to the winner of the E-less challence

Hope you enjoy the book!

The book arrived today, along with the BookCrossing supplies - many thanks! I enjoyed the E-less challenge, which was a great motivator in getting some of my books moving {wry grin}.

I'd been curious about this book since reading its TV Tropes page. There's a 2013 film adaptation too, which I might try and hunt up if I enjoy the book.

Thanks again!

This is a totally riveting, and increasingly gut-wrenching, story, told from the viewpoint of a man who's meeting with his wife, brother, and sister-in-law over dinner to discuss a... problem... regarding their respective teenage sons. Turns out the boys are involved in a crime, but the degree of that involvement - and the depths to which each parent wants to go to help and/or protect their children - unfolds gradually, leading to decisions that horrified me even as I could see how people might make such appalling choices.

Our narrator has a rather off-putting style from the beginning, opening the story with details about his distaste for dining at places that require months-in-advance reservations - turns out his brother's rich and famous, and there's a lot of sibling-rivalry tension there. Details as to the narrator's relationship with his brother, with his own wife, and with his son creep in among tidbits about his feelings on food, jobs, society, and other things - along with some throwaway remarks as to incidents in his own past that color the decisions made down the line.

I don't want to give too much away here, but I did find the setup of the boys' behavior, including the Youtube-video aspect, all too believable. The narrative itself included lots of amusingly snarky observations (the narrator waxes lyrical on some of the more ridiculous extremes of exclusive-restaurant behavior), but that only lulled me into acquiescence before hitting me with the narrator's more warped world-view. I found my sympathies changing with each new chapter, cycling back around again as I wondered how much of the truth had been revealed just yet. Riveting story, reminding me in some ways of Patricia Highsmith at her best, but with the author's own style. Recommended!

I'm sending this to BCer cestmoi in Canada, to fill a wish. Enjoy! (This is a tag-it-forward from the US/Canada wishlist-tag game; no strings are attached, but you're welcome to come play if you want to!)

*** Released as part of the 2015 Keep Them Moving release challenge. ***

*** Released as part of the 2015 The 'The' release challenge. ***