Such a fascinating read and quite the undertaking. I'm always going to be someone who goes for a Hamlet-related story. That said, they make me nervous as a starting point. This one did not disappoint. A queer locked room mystery as a retelling of Hamlet? Nothing could be more up my alley.

Hayden was a strong protagonist, just unpredictable enough to keep me on my toes while clearly sticking to his own agenda. But these stories often live or die by the cast around the protagonist. And Felicia and Horatio really made this for me. Having the shifts to their perspectives really helped to give this life and tension and uncertainty.

Liu has quite a lyrical writing style as well. I appreciated how immersive they made the lab space, a locked room but full of nooks and crannies. Overall this is definitely going to be featuring heavily on my end of year recommendations for 2023.

This is a twist of "Hamlet" and "Hitchcock" and it works! A futuristic and creative retelling of Hamlet leaves Hayden Lichfield locked down with his father's potential killers. This is an adventurous way to tackle this story (as it's much loved) but Em X. Liu pulls it off with finesse. You may recognize some characters... others you may not - but it's an adventure.

Firmly planted in the more eclectic world of writing - enjoyable and smoothly written.

This was an interesting read from the first page as it is structured in the form of an academic paper (complete with footnotes!). We are looking at the events that take place in the novel from some distant point in the future and it uses a combination of neuromapped data (the memories of the main character and an AI), an article reflecting on the night by one of the people present, and transcripts of communications from various technology sources.
This was a relatively quick read despite the heaviness of the content and while I did enjoy it, I found myself wanting more at the end. The author "referenced" court cases and other materials that were never fleshed out in the story since they took place outside of the single night being examined and I think would have added to the narrative.

3.5 stars.

There were parts of this I really, really liked. Mostly Felicia’s parts (her narrative voice was great and her motivations were both complicated and believable; you could easily trace why her view on the situations changed and I really liked that her perspective was, like, essentially a memoir being written at a remove). But there were also parts that just felt like too much; Hayden and Horatio had the most agonized overly wordy emotional contortions that every single thought felt stretched and gnawed to death. If those parts had been trimmed down (mostly because I couldn’t figure out how our “omniscient” narrator was supposed to understand the emotional payload), this would have been a much stronger book overall.

One thing that was unfortunate for me personally was that the DRC I read wasn’t properly formatted so a lot of the mixed media style (which I’m a fan of) was hard to differentiate.

For a Hamlet retelling, this was unique and interesting and had a particularly novel solution to the question of how exactly Horatio knows so much. I would read another book by

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

Review (hopefully temporarily) removed as text of this review is being used without my consent.

First off, I am very grateful that I was given this book to review for an ARC despite the fact I received it quite late into the publication process. I hope this doesn't hinder with the review. Otherwise I have a lot of thoughts about it and I feel like my lifestyle may have impacted my review for the book. I want to preface that I am a teacher and we just got back to school so I didn't have a lot of time to sit and enjoy the book as much as I wanted. I feel like if I was on break I might have enjoyed it more (there were periods throughout my day I was able to read it though).

Some of the positives: I thought this was one of the most creatively written pieces of modern fiction I have ever read in my life. I thought it was so brilliant to read this like a graduate thesis paper (which makes sense given from the author's academic background). It did get a little jarring with how it was read between the accounts and Felicia's article and the text messages but I still admire how the author was able to string it all together in chronological order.
The story is a very blatant Hamlet retelling and quite frankly, it is a very refreshing and interesting take so there shouldn't be that much of a surprise who the main villain is.
This may be controversial but I actually enjoyed both Hayden and Felicia's characters. They are both really complex characters and I was actually on the edge of my seat with how unpredictable Hayden was, but this is also a weakness on his part too. (will get more to that on the negative parts)
The romance between Hayden and Horatio was very sweet especially towards the end. You will not believe how emotional I got towards the end with Horatio especially how sincere he was with his confession. I have read those words over and over again and I still cry over it lol


Some of the negatives: I am very inept in the scientific jargon but I tried to let that go past me and I still got most of the grasp of the story. It kind of made me feel a bit dumb but I tried to let that go over me.
The romance... yes I did praise the romance but I am personally still weirded out by the AI sex only because I can't really imagine how the whole thing worked.... that's just a personal thing though.
The whole point of the story made me really think we were going to go on a murder mystery thriller sort of ordeal but the more I sit here and think about it, it's really more of a psychological thriller with a tragedy involved. It truly is a tragedy as Felicia has written about. I guess I just wasn't really expecting to see Hayden spiral into deep depression and self loathing towards the end and that made me question what I was reading a bit. It just kind of felt like it lost its footing somewhere towards the end and then suddenly everything is alright. It may be the weird pacing but after I knew where it was going I got on board. If I knew that was what I was getting into then maybe I may have enjoyed it rather than trying to figure out how the murder happened.

Overall though, I want to say this may be one of the best books I have read this year so far along with Yellowface (look at that, I'm so proud of us Asians). It is very well written and I really want to see this book get to the hands of everyone else. I only rated it a 3.5 only because I just felt the pacing and the direction of the story just kind of lost its way in the third act until it finally got back on track. Thank you again to NetGalley and Em X. Liu, I am beyond honored to have read the ARC. I am actually looking forward to buying my own copy! (In fact, if the author or the publisher reads this, I am just curious if the actual published version will be different from the ARC since I noticed the ARC has 200 less pages?)

I'm normally not the biggest fan of retellings as too often in my experience I find that they stick too closely to the original and end up sounding more like a copy and paste story with the slightest changes in perspective or setting, but The Death I Gave Him soundly crushed those worries and left me craving more. I thought I knew where this was going because I knew Hamlet and I have never been more pleased to be wrong, this story diverged from its inspiration just enough to let the bones of the original work show in the premise, while also letting the brilliant originality of the author shine through. There was so much about this retelling that I loved- the setting of the lab felt so present and claustrophobic, the characters of Hayden, Felicia, and Horatio were all so well realized and each of their perspectives had me hooked on their changing personal thoughts and motivations, and what I would say is the shining star of this book- the character relationships. The complicated relationships between the three titular characters was so captivating to read about, specifically that of the one between Hayden and Horatio- their dynamic was so intimate and close in a way that had me glued to every single one of their interactions. Suffice to say, I really enjoyed this book, the only thing keeping it from being a 5 star read was that I wish there was a bit more to the ending as I was left with several questions that I wish were answered regarding the aftermath of the events that took place, but aside from that, this was stellar and I can't wait to spend the next few days being the most annoying person ever while I beg my friends to read this too.

This was really, really, really interesting, and the format was so great, bouncing between different POVs, interviews, security logs, etc. and I eat stuff like that up. Knowing this was a Hamlet re-telling gave me some idea of what I was getting into, even though I couldn't tell you the plot of Hamlet beyond a few very basic things. But a few of the names are dead giveaways. I actually guessed one twist and I thought, "Am I smart?? Or is this related to Hamlet in a way I don't remember but subconsciously know??" The Horatio character was by far the most interesting, but then things got real weird between Horatio and Hayden, which was... unexpected and strange. (Honestly I really liked this book but there were two scenes in particular which make it hard for me to recommend this to a wide audience.)

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley, all opinions are mine.

Hamlet if it was an electrifying science fiction locked room mystery!

I'm fully obsessed with this one, I'm not going to lie. As a Shakespeare fan I'm always a little wary walking into an adaptation, but this one knocked it out of the park!

Liu also pulled off what I consider to be the holy grail of retellings: even though I knew the answer to the original 'whodunnit', I still spent half the book entirely unsure and suspicious of everyone. The cast is a group of both delightfully and frustratingly flawed characters who all have their own agenda and values that are in immediate danger of being threatened, and each time a new perspective was revealed I had to scramble to readjust my own theories. The tension was almost unbearable, deliciously so, and the claustrophobia of being literally locked away from the rest of the world felt all too real!

And the characters! Oh, be still my heart. The Ophelia, still drenched in tragedy but with so much more agency. Her own recollections make up almost a third of the text! The choice to make Horatio an AI, watching over everyone yet still limited in the changes he could affect. The painfully true depiction of depression and suicidal ideation in our Hamlet, the way it gets into every nook and cranny of the mind.

I have to admit, I'm a complete sucker for an epistolary novel, so the way this story is structured is entirely up my alley. Even so, this is a great example of the form! The different sources are woven together masterfully, from camera footage to memoirs to interviews to scientific data. I feel like it lends itself quite well to capturing some of the vibe of watching an actual performance of Hamlet, placing the reader more definitively in the role of audience.

And last, but certainly not least, the romance. Between Hamlet and Horatio? Yes! A deeply fucked up scientist and an AI security system? You betcha! Seriously though, these beats of the story made up one of the sweetest, hottest, and most tragic love stories I've read in a while. Can confirm: they'll break your heart. Also, ridiculously hot sex scenes, yes you read that correctly!

This was an incredible read, and I definitely encourage y'all to pick it up! 5/5 easily.

Hayden and his father have been working on a cure for death, until one day he finds his father murdered in their lab. The Death I Gave Him follows the story of the events that followed this tragic discovery and how Hayden attempts to uncover the truth.

This book is like nothing I have read before.

The story is so much more than a whodunnit. I loved that there were so many fascinating elements to this book, from artificial intelligence to the need for revenge, it really had it all. Ultimately the characters and their motivations were at the heart of this book which made it such a compelling read.

When the lab went into lockdown it created the perfect claustrophobic setting. The author's education in biochemistry really shone through in the scientific elements of the writing and I enjoyed reading those aspects. The attention to detail was superb because I could imagine every single scene despite having no experience in such an environment.

I highly recommend this mystery with a twist.

Thank you Rebellion for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

ok I never knew I needed a sci-fi, queer, murder mystery, locked room, modern AU retelling of Hamlet but I certainly did need and this book was excellent.

Riveting from the first page. I love how the author took very recognizable parts of Hamlet but remixed them and created a new framework for them all.

Hayden's father is found murdered in Elsinore labs. The lab facility immediately goes on lockdown and Hayden is there with four other characters-his uncles Charles, lab tech Rasmussen, intern and his ex-girlfriend Felicia, and Felicia's dad, who is the head of security. Also present is Horatio, the labs all-seeing AI, who has been part of Elsinore since the start and who has an affinity for Hayden that is reciprocated.

Hayden is devastated at his father's loss but he is single-minded at finding his father's killer in the aftermath of his death. He uses the lockdown, his relationship with Horatio, with Felicia, with all the suspects around him, to his best advantage in his desperate search to find the answers.

The format of the book is fascinating--moving from the immediate tension of the Elsinore lockdown to Felicia's recollection and interviews interspersed within the narrative. The writing style was engaging, riveting with its language and terse exposition.

I think I read it in one day. Couldn't put it down.

Very well done retelling of Hamlet. The use of Horatio as an AI was nothing short of brilliant. The twists at the end were masterfully done.

Highly recommended.

Okay, listen, I think this is probably the best Shakespeare retelling I've ever read in terms of, you know, actually retelling Shakespeare. There's this Tumblr post that's lived in my head rent-free for the better part of the last decade that discussed how ridiculous Shakespeare would find it if he knew how seriously we're all taking him and his body of work. THE DEATH I GAVE HIM, though?

It's heartbreaking and lyrical and emotional, but it's also a closed-room thriller that does some truly beautiful out-there things and inverses tropes, like, BIG TIME. And the thing is that I'm going to live the rest of my life thinking that Shakespeare would love this retelling. Not that that really matters that much, I just though it was really, really neat and well-done.

The rest of this novel works just as well, though. The characters felt just enticing enough to me and the emotions were ACTUALLY making me emotional. I thought it clever, air-tight, while being touching and heartbreaking at the same time. I will for sure be picking up more by Liu because this was simply charming. The mixed media doesn't come across as a gimmick but rather makes it come across as a bunch of found footage you found in your attic and now it's your most delicious secret.

The only reason I'm taking down a star is that I felt like we were running in circles a little bit in the second half, which was half confusing and half frustrating to read through.

A queer telling of Hamlet in this locked room thriller centred around the secret of not ageing and the lengths people will go to to keep it.

I think my issue with this was its marketing - I don’t class it as queer and I don’t really class it as locked room, so I was disappointed on those two counts.

Hayden finds his fathers dead body in the lab where they both work; and everybody in the building is a suspect. On lockdown, Hayden must cope with his grief, the accusations that he is the murderer, and the suspicions he has for those around him. Trusting only the labs operating system Horatio, Hayden must save his fathers work.

I don’t see a digital operating system as a person, nevermind someone who can engage in any type of relationship, no matter sentient they are. So I was disappointed when there was no real queer rep despite this being promised.

I also found the locked room aspect lacking, but expanding on that would be spoilery so I shan’t. I did quite enjoy the story but some aspects were slightly disappointing.

Also this is a Hamlet retelling but I’ve never read or seen Hamlet so I’m not sure how good of a retelling it is so can’t comment on that bit.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’m not much of a Shakespeare fan but I was attracted to this Sci-Fi retelling of Hamlet with its description of a lockdown due to a murder in a science lab working on a project called the Sisyphus Formula that can heal serious wounds and even possibly reverse death. Don’t be fooled by the “locked-room thriller” description, this is still Hamlet, there is a locked lab, and there is murder, but the culprit is not a mystery to anyone who’s studied Hamlet and its themes of mortality, revenge and madness. The characters names are just slightly different from the original but easily deduced such as Hayden for Hamlet except for Horatio, who takes the form of the AI who runs the lab facility known as Elsinore, and Rasmussin who appears to be an amalgamation of the courtier characters.

The format of this story was intriguing though a bit convoluted. It’s told through the eyes of an undefined future student who researched the events that occurred in 2047 for their master’s thesis then subsequently wrote a book about what they considered the digital dark ages. It also includes excerpts from a memoir style article written by Felicia Xia in first person and various interviews with her after the events, and transcripts from data in the facility archived by Horatio for Hayden, his Uncle Charles, Felicia, her father Paul and Rasmussen. All the information is compiled with footnotes that give the reader details about the origin of the data, which parts are accurate and what is interpreted from any missing data as well as information about the currently obsolete technology and methods, and a few ambiguous details about the current state of the world outside the facility.

The first half the book had me enthralled, trying to work out all the missing pieces, figuring out the characters and who they represented, their motivations in this version of the story and why. However, around the midpoint, it slowed down for me, and the rest just failed to keep my interest. The love Horatio felt for Hayden was obvious in his actions and care, but there were some cyber-sensual scenes that felt unnecessary amid the chaos. The relationship between Hayden and Felicia was complicated and twisted with both affection and vengeance and similarly between Hayden and his uncle, as well as his parents, though neither are on the page for much of the book, their presence is palpable.

3.5 stars: Recommended to fans of SciFi and Hamlet themes.

Thank you to Netgalley and Rebellion Publishing for a copy provided for an honest review.

I was expecting so much, and who wouldn't - a Hamlet retelling as locked room mystery!
And it was a fast, interesting read. Not much of a mystery, there, I think, but still cool! What I missed most was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, though. And maybe it's because I don't like Ophelia, or because she really isn't that well written, but Felicia was a bit of an unnecessary charakter. Overall, I didn't care for how female characters were depicted.

I'm not normally one who finds herself lost for words very often (as my friends can testify to, to their detriment). But even weeks after finishing The Death I Gave Him, I am still struggling to put my thoughts into words.

First, to address the elephant in the room: There's something rotten in the state of Denmark. Yes, this is a Hamlet retelling, in as much as a story set a) in space b) in the future c) narrated partly from the POV of an AI in love about d) a medical breakthrough that may or may not bring mankind immortality can be a retelling of a 500 year-old play. I mean. So yes, if you've read Hamlet, you will likely see some parallels, but don't go in to expect reading something very Hamlet-esque. Saying this is like Hamlet is like saying blood is like soup, because it's a liquid with bits in it.

The Death I Gave him is a locked-room sci-fi tech thriller, with a tender queer romance that involves a sentient AI (and boy do I love reading those), and this may in fact be all you need to know or even should know going in, becauce no matter what I say, this book will still surprise you, and you will love it. It's one of the best sci-fis I have read this year, and you should absolutely very much go and read it.
Oh, and the prose is also really good.

I want to thank NetGalley and Solaris Books for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here expressed are my own.

What an amazing Hamlet reimagining. I liked that all characters were flawed, but you still could find reason behind their actions. The writing was also unique, and I especially enjoyed the footnotes, since the story is patched from different sources.

Thank you so much to Rebellion Solaris via NetGalley for this ARC.

I'm sad to say it, because there was a lot of cool stuff here, but I couldn't really get into this. It was sorta found footage, mixed with some of the usual "seeing through the character in the moment" storytelling, and found footage isn't something I tend to like because it makes me feel distanced. Personally, I think I might've enjoyed this more if it didn't have the found footage angle and were more focused on Hayden's POV, even if that meant it were shorter. He was the most interesting character to me. But I'm not even sure if this was Hayden's story or Felicia's, since so much of it was her POV.

Anyway, here are some of the cool things you'll get with this book:

- Characters who are seriously Not Ok.
- An AI who would do anything for the human he loves.
- A mind/body connection between said human and AI.
- Locked room murder mystery (well, more of a locked building thriller).
- Hamlet retelling.
- Some lyrical writing.

One more thing to mention, none of the characters were particularly likeable, and they didn't act in ways I would think a person would actually act in the situation. To be fair, a killer is already acting in a way most people wouldn't act, so ok. And the more I got to know Hayden, the more it became clear he was already unraveling at the seams, even before this whole thing. But everyone else seemed weirdly accepting of the situation and willing to put themselves in the middle of things. I suppose they sort of had to be for the mystery/thriller though, or maybe for the retelling.

Overall, this was definitely not bad! Just not quite for me. But the writing was nice, and perhaps readers who remember Hamlet better than I do will be able to better appreciate the twists on the story and enjoy this more.

This was simply incredible. I'm a senior creative writing major, and this is the sort of book my teachers would point to as an example of brilliantly written craft.

I devoured this in a day; I just couldn't get enough of it! The writing, the tension, the characters and their dynamics, the descriptions, the decline into madness, the queerness, it all drew me in so intensely and had its claws in me until the very last page.

I read Hamlet back in high school, but I remember it quite vividly. The themes of death, mortality, and revenge are universal and it still resonates with readers hundreds of years after the play was written. Liu takes the original story and expands upon it so goddamn well. I particularly enjoyed Felicia, the reimagined Ophelia, and her agency in this interpretation. The core elements of the original character are still there, as she does decline into her own madness, but she is so much more than the girl who went mad because her boyfriend killed her dad. Her relationship with Hayden is so complicated but I adored the depiction so much.

Another thing I loved about this book was that the story is framed from the perspective of a grad student compiling the entire story decades into the future long after the story has past. There are research notes dispersed throughout the book which expand upon little details in the story or directly cast doubt on certain elements in the story. There are even portions where the student takes creative liberty and fills in supposed missing gaps within the story. One of these gaps happens to be when Hayden and Horatio have sex, which I personally find so funny. I keep imagining the teacher reading that and just nodding to themselves. It is this type of creativity in books that makes me love reading so much; this is the sort of stuff I wanna see.

Overall, this is amazing. Read it. Buy it or request it at your local library. If you love Shakespeare and queer stories, then this is for you.

Hayden Lichfield has found his father, Graham, murdered in Elsinore Labs. The laboratory is his father’s life, his obsession, and it has come to take over Hayden’s life as well. When Hayden realizes that the security footage from the time of the murder has been erased, he knows the killer must be after the Sisyphus Formula. Hayden and his father have been studying how to create eternal life, how to keep the body from slowly breaking down over time to reach the ability to ultimately life forever. Hayden knows he can’t let that research get into the wrong hands, so he downloads and hides it. He also discovers footage of his father before death, plus a haunting message that makes it clear that Graham believes the killer is Hayden’s uncle, Charles.

With a killer potentially on the loose, Charles puts Elsinore Labs on lockdown in an attempt to find who murdered Graham, and (more importantly, Hayden suspects) to figure out what happened to the formula. The list of suspects is quite small, as the murder occurred late at night at the lab. The only ones present besides Hayden and Charles are researcher (and Hayden’s ex) Felicia Xia; her father and head of security, Paul Xia; and lab tech, Gabriel Rasmussen. Plus, the lab’s artificial intelligence system, Horatio.

Hayden is determined to avenge his father’s death, even if that means killing his uncle to see it done. But as the night wears on and secrets are revealed, the stress of the lockdown takes it toll on everyone — particularly Hayden. As Hayden slowly falls apart, everyone in the lab is caught up in the chaos as they try to find the killer and the formula before it is too late.

The Death I Gave Him is a fascinating and engaging locked room thriller. It takes Shakespeare’s Hamlet and gives it a sci fi twist. This is a fairly long book and I just tore through it, and found myself utterly caught up in the both the intensity of the story and the horror of watching the destruction unfold.

First off, as I said, this is a Hamlet retelling and I think this part is really well done. I don’t always totally click with literary retellings, often finding them either too literal a version of the original, or so far afield that I find myself struggling to see the source material in the new version. But here I think author Em X. Liu really gets things spot on. Like Hamlet, we have the story of a young man and heir apparent whose father is murdered. Hayden too gets a message from the grave (not giving away details, but wow, this part was intense) from his father accusing his uncle of the murder and tasking him with revenge. Paul fills the role of Polonius, Felicia of Ophelia, and Rasmussen sort of plays the role of assorted background characters. While Hayden’s mother and Felicia’s brother aren’t in the lab during the murder and therefore not there for the lockdown, they do play a part as well. And, of course, Hayden’s close companion and confidant, Horatio (right on the nose with that one), the building’s artificial intelligence system. The story maintains the basic plot of Hamlet, so if you read the play, you know the killer, and while the end doesn’t shake out exactly the same, it is definitely contains tragedy. The story also explores many of the same themes — Hayden’s stress and mental collapse over the course of the story, the role of his father in his life, questions of mortality and suicidal ideation, and more. It is really impressive how Liu takes a story that most people know and still manages to make it so intense and thrilling and compelling in a totally new way.

The other thing that really makes this story so fascinating to me is the structure. This is a story that take place in 2047, as told from a point further in the future by a historian who is studying the events of that night. The historian is piecing together the story from a combination of archival camera footage and recordings, an extensive article Felicia writes after that night, and various interviews, among other sources. We also get information that comes from Hayden, derived from a neuromapping with Horatio that allows the AI to sort of sync with his brain and explain what Hayden is doing and thinking at the time.The “author” of the story provides footnotes occasionally, noting things like how the science the characters discuss has since been proven or disproven, or pointing out that no one has been able to verify a particular statement, etc. So there is almost this documentary quality to this story, a sense of reviewing found footage of this catastrophic night, in some cases directly from those involved, but looking back at it all years later. It gave both this archival sense to the events, as if we are looking back and trying to make sense of this catastrophe, but at the same time, there is an immediacy, as it feels like the characters are telling us their story directly.

While Hayden is the focus of the story, and his slow descent into a sense of madness as the night wears on is the train wreck we can’t stop watching, we really get three points of view here. Hayden is the one around whom this all revolves, the one with the quest for revenge, the desperation to prove himself worthy to a father no longer alive to see it, and a sense of spiraling panic that grows throughout the night. But we also get portions told from Felicia’s POV and I liked how this version of the story gives her character more to do. She attempts to be the voice of reason, the one who ends up between Hayden and Charles, the one who is able to take a step back and try to wrest control of this disaster back. She is also the one who is perhaps the most harmed by it all when all is said and done. Her chapters are told in first-person as recounted in a story she wrote later about the events, which gives a nice intensity and immediacy to her narrative. And the third main character is Horatio, the AI. While he has no physical body, there is a sentience to Horatio. Not only that, but he has a clear emotional connection to Hayden, and while he is at times hampered by his programming as to whether he can intervene in events, he is clearly working on Hayden’s behalf and wants to help him. So these three POVs combine well to really bring things together.

My last note is that this book is labeled as a “queer sci-fi retelling” and I had a trouble quite seeing that aspect of the story. First, let me make clear that this is not a romance, this is a tragedy. There is a past romance between Hayden and Felicia, but they don’t have feelings for one another anymore. The closest this story comes is the emotional relationship between Hayden and Horatio. I’m guessing this is what the marketing is defining as the “queer” aspect of the story, based on the absence of any other indicators. Horatio is referred to as male, both by name and pronouns, though as he is a computer, his gender is more a construct. He and Hayden very clearly have an emotional relationship, as I mentioned. There are also a couple of scenes where things become physical, as the neuromapping means Horatio is able to influence Hayden’s physical sensations in a way that simulates sex. But this doesn’t feel like sexual attraction between two partners to me. There is no sense that Horatio is attracted to Hayden, more that Horatio is trying to take care of Hayden. And no sense that Hayden is attracted to Horatio, just that he is enjoying the physical sensations. I guess this just doesn’t feel like any kind of romantic or sexual attraction to me the way I was expecting from the way the story is marketed. It feels like an emotional connection and a strong friendship. But I think the whole dynamic between Hayden and Horatio is really interesting, so however one perceives their dynamic, I think it works for the story.

Overall, I found this one just really fascinating. I tore through it and was totally absorbed in watching it all unfold. If you enjoy intense thrillers, Shakespearean retellings, or just some really unique storytelling, definitely check this out.

Rating: 4.5 stars