Nightmare Alley

Big for his britches
wants to rip off a rich man,
impress his mommy.

No taxis. Taxi drivers remember faces.

I wasn't sure if I liked this until I got to the very end. I liked the early parts, the sideshow, but the middle dragged for me. The last page, the last paragraph really, made me appreciate it more. Which isn't fair, the story is great and disturbing, but that last bit just pulled it all together. (I feel misled by the introduction and how Dr Ritter is described. I expected more.)

This is a 2.5 rounded up to a 3. I think this just wasn't my type of novel. The plot felt very slow and the action in the novel was often misogynistic. This is seen as a classic but I think it just didn't align with my personal taste. This follows Stanton a boy raised in the carnival scene, who then gets into clairvoyance as a way to make his big break. As his cons and scams get larger he gets into deeper darker waters that impact his own identity and damage his relationships with others around him. This is a novel that follows Stanton's own self destruction due to lust and greed. It wasn't my cup of tea. I have seen that there will be a movie adaptation of this coming out in December, so if you are interested in the plot I would get reading the book now!

Thanks to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.