Where do YOU get YOUR ideas, Mr. Boyne??

Because they’re fantastic.

Expectations were high because The Heart’s Invisible Furies is pretty perfect. And I was not disappointed. I appreciate a good episodic narrative which I think is hard to pull off. Here, it’s well-executed and flawlessly punctuated by differing perspectives. I gasped, I cringed, and I laughed. Clever and darkly humorous. I loved it!

Thank you, NetGalley and Crown Publishing. It was a privilege and pleasure.

I tried not to have high expectations for this, I really did. I absolutely adored Boyne's The Heart's Invisible Furies, so naturally I was eagerly looking forward to whatever he would release next. But try as I might to moderate my expectations for this novel, A Ladder to the Sky still disappointed me. By and large, my biggest problem with this novel is that--and this is gonna sound harsh--its story felt like nothing special. The main character was a horrible person, sure, but not in a particularly interesting or compelling way. The plot was very linear and predictable; once you establish what kind of character Maurice is, nothing he does comes as a shock. The other POV characters of the story didn't interest me in the least; they seemed like a means to an end as far as Maurice's story was concerned. And then on top of all of that the ending was just underwhelming, a "that's it?" kind of ending.

This book is definitely not gonna deter me from reading Boyne's other books, but on its own it was just not a standout book for me.

Maurice Swift wants nothing more than to be a famous, prize winning author. Unfortunately, he never has ideas of his own. When he meets Erich Ackermann, an aging homosexual author with a secret past, he attaches himself to the man and draws out his story. Subsequently, he publishes a novel based on that story, destroying Ackermann's life, but gaining acclaim for himself. Thus begins his pursuit of fame, a road that leaves lives destroyed, and bodies, in its wake.
A dark and immensely readable tale, I almost had to stop reading this book, because I found Maurice so reprehensible. John Boyne has skillfully painted a portrait of a true psychopath, who has no problem at all using his ambiguous sexuality and ruthlessness to advance his own agenda. I kept waiting for his comeuppance. I won't reveal whether he receives it. I will say the book has a killer ending. Recommended!

In the same way Vampires hunger for blood, protagonist *Maurice Swift*, hungers for stories. John Boyne has created a literary Vampire! Swift will trade stories for organisms. He’s not wired sexually like most men. He has no desire for sex - with either men or women. Sex is just one of his power tools to achieve his needs: STORIES! Maurice is a writer who can’t for the life of him think of a ‘story’ to write about. Yet - Maurice is driven - obsessed - nothing else matters He studies every review of every new book published looking for clues as to “how do authors come up with stories?”

As an extremely handsome man - which means little to Swift per say - he will show off his tight abs as seduction for a story - for a juicy secret - for a story to steal and make his own. Be it an author Maurice admires, a wife who can write brilliantly, a son who needs his help, Maurice will sell out everyone and anyone that gets in his way of success.
Swift’s goals in life were clear from a young age: to become a famous writer, popular with mainstream readers, and highly respected with the literary critics. He also wanted to be a father. Swift will eventually sell out himself in time too.
With no storytelling talent of his own, Maurice Swift, is one of the most famous names in the literary world.

I still vote, “The Heart’s Invisible Furies”, best book of 2017....

I vote *Maurice Swift* as the most fascinating character of the year....2018!!! He’s toxic...dangerous....evil....and incredibly scrumptiously unavoidably alluring!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc of Ladder to the Sky, however this is no way influences my review.

Ladder to the Sky is about the life of an ambitious man, Maurice, who is mercenary in his focus to be a father and an author. He measures success largely with the goal of being awarded "The Prize" but also plans to be a commercial bestseller. The novel follows Maurice from his early 20s in 1988 to roughly the present day, with 5 sections of with 4 different POVs. My only complaint with this layout is that I wish that the section "Other People's Stories" was narrated by Theo rather than Maurice. Narration aside, this is a fascinating story about a life spent on singular focus for personal gain. I also loved how the more successful people that Maurice uses to achieve his goals are aware of their complicity but seem powerless against his charisma.
This is an accessible literary fiction book that raises a number of issues throughout - mostly surrounding naked ambition and ownership of art - and I would highly recommend it. I look forward to pub day and recommending it to everyone!

3.5 stars. A smoothly written and plotted tale of toxic ambition and fatal narcissism in the literary world. Though I found the plot quite predictable, I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story.

When you get ready to read a book by an author whose two previous books wound up at the top of your year-end best lists (and they're truly among some of the best books you've read, at least in the last decade), you get a little nervous whether lightning will strike thrice, or whether you're putting too much pressure on the book. (I am the one who has preached measured expectations when reading new books by favorite authors, because each new book deserves to be weighed on its own merit, not compared to others the author has written.)

All that being said, John Boyne, author of The Absolutist and The Heart's Invisible Furies, has done it again. He has created an unsympathetic, morally dubious character who is utterly unforgettable, and has slayed me in the process.

Maurice Swift is a handsome young writer with a tremendous amount of ambition, but he lacks the talent to back it up. No matter. When he meets noted novelist Erich Ackermann at a West Berlin hotel in 1988, he immediately recognizes that the older man is attracted to him. Ackermann is desperately lonely, and is energized by Maurice's companionship, so he invites the young man to travel with him around the world to participate in different literary events.

Maurice uses his sex appeal, and the tantalizing promise of giving Ackermann more of him, to encourage the writer to divulge a secret he has long kept hidden from the world, a secret with potentially damaging consequences if it is discovered, despite the fact that it happened when Ackermann was a teenager in the midst of World War II. Maurice realizes this story will be the perfect basis for his first novel, so once he gets what he needs from the man, he's ready to move on—and he doesn't seem to care what it does to Ackermann, or his career.

But once Maurice gets a taste of literary fame, he can't imagine life without it. After an encounter with famed writer Gore Vidal which makes him uncertain of how far his looks can help him succeed, he moves from literary circle to literary circle, from the U.S. to London and all over the world, in search of his next opportunity. And as he moves through his life, the stakes get higher and higher—until there's nothing he won't do for fame—but is a life alone worth the acclaim of success?

Although there are similarities to The Talented Mr. Ripley, A Ladder to the Sky is a novel all its own. Maurice is an utterly amoral character, and as much as you dislike him, you have to admire his cunning, his ambition, his single-minded pursuit of fame. We've seen this story before, but in Boyne's hands the suspense crackles, the longing of those Maurice strings along is tremendously affecting, and you can't wait to see whether he'll get his comeuppance.

Boyne throws some surprising twists into the plot, and takes the story to a different level. He's one of those storytellers that hooks you from the very start, and keeps you engrossed in the plot from start to finish. While his last two novels have remained in my mind because of the way they touched my heart, A Ladder to the Sky will stay in my mind because of Maurice Swift's character and his unbridled ambition.

NetGalley and Crown Publishing provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

John Boyne could write a 500 page play-by-play account of the sleeping habits of the maned three-toed sloth that inhabits the Atlantic Forest of Brazil using only words that start with the letter Q and I have no doubt that it would be anything less than a compelling example of literary excellence.

As is the norm in Boyne's stories, this book features a captivating protagonist, this time his name is Maurice Swift, a narcissist and quite possibly a psychopath, as such, he is a man willing to go to any lengths required to achieve his goal of becoming the most famous fiction writer in the world. You see, while Maurice is indeed an incredible writer, he lacks one important prerequisite for attaining the notoriety he so desperately seeks, he can't come up with an interesting plot to save his life. Being devoid of imagination, Maurice resorts to using the stories of others to achieve his goal, with no remorse for the lives he destroys along the way, and ultimately, including his own.

I dare say that nobody develops a character as intimately as Boyne. His protagonists are invariably so believable and relatable that you often feel like you are reading a biography rather than a novel. If you've never had the pleasure of reading a book by John Boyne, I cannot recommend enough that you remedy that situation immediately while you await the release of this gem. He is, arguably, the best writer of his (and mine) generation and certainly my favorite.


I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.