Wow. 

This is everything The Secret History promised to be but didn’t deliver. A queer, dark academia with heavy emphasis on the dark.

Paul is different. He observes the world in a detached sort of way, he’s smart, has a strong belief in his viewpoint of morality and is quick to anger. Julian is just as smart as he is, wealthy and sees something in Paul.

Their relationship happens all at once and progresses slowly. From the beginning, they have an understanding of each other that defies words. You know immediately that they’re bonded in some fated way.

This book dives in with a prologue that hooks you. And this promise of darkness and violence to come lingers throughout the book. You know it’s coming, somehow, and it’s a heavy presence. 

Paul is desperate for Julian’s approval and can never believe it when it comes. Julian loves Paul in a way words can’t convey and never seems to sound truthful.

At it’s core is the type of love that’s all-consuming, debilitatingly so. It’s an obsession with each other and one that seems inevitably to lead to violence. There’s something in abject here (you know, how everyone turns to look at a car crash even though we know we shouldn’t and know it’s bad, but we can’t not look) and I was obsessed with it. 

I was so sucked into this world, it was hard putting it down. For those people who loved The Secret History, who like dark academia and books that border on character study. This is a brutal book in many ways, with an unflinching honesty that you can’t not enjoy. And it published yesterday so it’s the perfect opportunity to pick it up!

This is a very strong contender for best book of 2025.