Although I read this book in a day, I only kept going to try and understand the story. Ben, the main character, is not very likeable, but towards the end of the book we begin to learn why.

What We Become by Reece Willis is a great read! This page-turner won't let you put it down until the very end!

Taut, thrilling, a page turner, just a few words to describe this read. It is certainly destined to be a best seller. I don't give reviews like this often (in fact, I don't think I've ever given a 5 star rating).

Ben's heart is captured by a narcacistic love interest who leaves him broken emotionally, physically and mentally. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I will give a short synapsis. This novel swings between the past and present cleverly. Leaving the reader on the edge of their seat. It is a slick thriller that keeps you guessing until close to the end of the book.

If you are looking for a fast paced book, with twists and turns all over the place, look no further.

Love, obsession and regret are the main drivers of this story according to the official description. Looks like someone forgot to mention revenge. And yet, revenge is by far the main operator here in this story of a completely emotionally and psychologically devastated man trying to get back at the woman who wreaked that devastation upon him. To this end he goes to Thailand to stalk her and that’s where majority of the story takes place. I appreciated the exotic locale as we follow our protagonist desperate attempts to obliterate what’s left of himself through various means and substances. I even appreciated the author’s attempts at giving the story a sort of noirish theme, all dark, all the time. But…overall this literary journey into the abyss didn’t work for me. The main thing…well, the characters. The entire premise is essentially a messed up love story, but the author made it and the characters too one sided to really come alive. The protagonist, a seeming decent person, is madly crazily googagone for a woman who outside of her model good looks has no redeeming qualities. None. Whatsoever. She’s the proverbial b*tch on wheels, a money and status hungry, vapid, vile and genuinely mean and unpleasant person. So this all in love for Kirsten that drives the plot isn’t so much a compelling plot driver and a credible justification for the protagonist’s actions as it is just something that represents him in an (at best) pitiable light. Why does he love her so much? Is it literally just her looks? The book offers no other explanations. And so are we supposed to care about this, about him, why would we? Even dames and femme fatales in proper noir have that certain quality, that glittering allure. Kirsten (to put it mildly) is a soulless cheating lying moody junkie. Despite apparently being popular with women, even at his shaggiest most depressive, he seems determined to exact revenge, but goes about it in such a convoluted way that it’s mostly just sad. And his friend’s assistance turns equally convoluted (and literally unbelievable) in the end. Really? That’s how you’d do that? Given the options? So yeah, the entire thing, well intentioned as it might have been, folds like it’s made out of cards, alcohol soaked ones like the protagonist. With some genuinely complex and nuanced characters, some properly believable and (oh please can we have some) logical actions this might have been decent. For the current state of affairs,…well, it’s short and reads very quickly. Stunningly so, even at 200 pages it still speeds by like a novella, an easy one sit read with nothing much to show for it, but some touristy knowledge of Thailand. Thanks Netgalley.

This is an unusual and suspenseful book that leaves the reader hanging until the very end. It’s impossible to say anything that’s not a spoiler, so I’m just going to say I read it in one sitting, was hooked into what I thought was reality from the very beginning, and was thrown completely off guard by the end. The story is told going back and forth in the protagonist’s life (Ben) and from his point of view, and it is told extremely well.

Highly recommended. I’d love to read more by this writer. I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

Great writing and strong voice. Recommend if looking for a story that is as captivating as it is well-written.