I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately I ended up dnfing this book I couldn’t really get in to the story it started of good but then it started to lose me half way thru

Thank you to netgalley and Pushkin Press, Pushkin Vertigo for allowing me to read this book. I enjoyed the book overall.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing Can Hurt You Now is a propulsive thriller that forces readers to ask the question: how well do you know your family? This short, translated book begins with Lucinda learning her younger sister, Vivianna, is missing. Lucinda jumps into action. When the police refuse to help, she goes across Brazil to find out the truth about her sister’s disappearance. Along the way, she discovers that her sister has moved from modelling to sex work and has a life that Lucinda is completely unaware of. Lucinda must team up with Graziane, Viviana’s girlfriend to find Viviana before it is too late.

First off there were some cool noir aesthetics in this book, and I’m a sucker for a bit of noir. The amateur detective putting themselves in danger and infiltrating a lawless world, which was captured quite nicely. It was also cool to see queer women inhabiting the noir space as both Viviana and Lucinda are bisexual. While some of the messaging about objectification and feminism was heavy-handed and reductive, there were some great bits around the colourism and racism that both sisters faced when trying to make it in the world. They are two women shaped by a childhood of pretending to fit in.

“The game being played by both sisters was that of appearing normal — in other words, white — just like everyone else at their school.”

These moments did serve to show how both women have taken different trajectories in their lives based on social barriers that keep them constrained and work against them when one of them goes missing.

This story had two major plot lines running through it: Lucinda and Graziane attempting to track down Viviana, and Viviana trying to understand the new situation she has found herself in after being abducted. These two storylines appeared disjointed and seemed to exist because the story had written itself into a corner with Lucinda’s investigation and had to switch to Viviana’s perspective to keep the story going.

The perspectives themselves occasionally got in the way of the story itself. Lucinda narrates what she is doing moment by moment, often passing judgment on her sister before backpedalling to absolve her sister in her mind. She comes across as dismissive of Vivianna’s struggles as a neurodivergent person and sex worker. She refers to her sister’s style as potentially “a chaotic attempt at self-expression by someone who had, let’s not forget, been diagnosed as autistic”.

Lucinda seems to view her sister as some form of warning of what her life could have been like. “If I hadn’t toed the line, it would have been me”. These moments are indicative of the universalist feminist claims that run through this book, often lacking nuance, which is unfortunate in a book that could have said some really important things surrounding the objectification of women. Lucinda’s views are never challenged and are passed off as the thoughts of a protective and scared older sister.

Within Lucinda’s narration there is plenty of cutting in and out of flashbacks and jumping into other’s heads for their thoughts before jumping back to Lucinda. These flashbacks are only signalled by the shift from past to present tense and vice versa. They serve to dump the information on you rather than explain or integrate pertinent details.

Viviana on the other hand becomes a manic pixie dream girl version of the sex work industry. She’s (potentially) autistic but refutes the diagnosis — which is fair enough but the way it's done seems to be done in the “I’m not autistic I’m just quirky”. She’s aloof, she's well-read, she’s unconventional, she’s well travelled, she’s hot. As a reader, we are forced into Viviana’s head and are only given her assertions when it comes to what’s happening around her. She mentions that she “could detect some bisexual signals coming from” a character but as the reader this is never shown to the reader, we just have to trust her assertion. She decides that she “wasn’t all that special in this whole mess” of her kidnapping using some Freudian psychoanalysis to explain things. This is never proven again we have to take her word for it.

This book has a lot of potential as a thriller, however, I struggled with the writing.

This was such a great debut thriller novel, I enjoyed the use of the missing model. It had a great concept overall and I was engaged with trying to figure out what was going on. The characters worked in this story and I was never bored when reading this. Simone Campos has a great writing style and glad it was so good.

I really liked the concept and outline of this book, but the execution was not entirely there. The writing was quite hard to read at times and felt unrealistic and difficult to follow.

"Nothing Can Hurt You Now" by Simone Campos is a gripping and intense thriller that delves into themes of mystery, sisterly relationships, and societal attitudes towards women.

The plot's exploration of the complex dynamics between the two sisters and the revelation of Viviana's hidden life as a sex worker adds a layer of depth and intrigue to the storyline.

The narrative is fast-paced and emotionally charged journey as Lucinda and Graziane navigate the search for Viviana while confronting the harsh realities of gender inequality and exploitation.

With its focus on women's agency and the urgency of a kidnapping situation, this book may appeal to readers who enjoy compelling and thought-provoking suspenseful tales. I just didn't particularly connect with the characters in this book.

Spooky and nerve inducing. I never knew what was happening next and I love books where I can’t guess what the ending will be. A quick and good read.

2.5/5

This book had so much potential, but just didn’t get there for me.

The first part of this book felt a little disjointed with time and point of view changes. We got maybe one or two pov’s from Griaziane which didn’t really add anything to the story and felt very haphazard. I did enjoy the second part from Viviana’s point of view, I found the writing and her thoughts interesting. I also felt that the themes of racial and sexual prejudice from law enforcement were important but could have been explored more.

Full review posted to Goodreads

This was a dark thriller, and I enjoyed it . However, something seemed to be lost in translation. The wording was a bit stilted and made it difficult to read at some moments. Overall, I think the writer is very talented and I enjoyed it overall.

Nothing Can Hurt You Now tells the story of two sisters, Lucinda and Viviana, living in Brazil. From the first chapter, it is obvious that Lucinda has long felt overshadowed by her gorgeous, glamour model sister. Rather than jealousy, Lucinda becomes comfortable with living her life in the shadow of her sister, until one day she can’t. Viviana goes missing, supposedly on a work trip to São Paulo, forcing Lucinda to step into the light. When it becomes clear that the police won’t take Viviana’s case seriously, Lucinda investigates - and finds out a lot more about her sister than she bargained for. It becomes obvious to Lucinda that she didn’t really know her sister at all. Lucinda discovers Viviana’s secret girlfriend and thriving sex work career - which only multiplies the possibilities of her whereabouts.

If I’m being totally honest, I don’t think there’s a lot of originality in this book. Whilst I was reading it, I thought it was distinctly similar to another that I’ve read recently. I also don’t think that the execution of the novel has been carried out very well. It’s split into three parts: Lucinda’s POV, Viviana’s POV and then the resolution at the end. I enjoyed the first part from Lucinda’s point of view. Campos builds the suspense and mystery very carefully and I quickly became invested in Viviana’s case and Lucinda’s mission to solve it. Then we switched to Viviana’s perspective, and all the mystery was torn away. This happens about halfway through the book. After this point, my interest unfortunately declined - Nothing Can Hurt You Now had the potential to be an exciting mystery thriller, but Campos needed to maintain the energy she captured in the early chapters. Furthermore, the first part is written in the third person (which is a pet peeve of mine in books anyway, but I was willing to overlook it), and the second and third in first person. Whilst I assume this was a stylistic choice intended to divide the prose (before and after finding Viviana), in reality it only served to create a disjointed and incongruous narrative.

I also (perhaps controversially) don’t feel as if Graziane’s character adds anything to the story. I love to see inclusivity in novels, but in cases like this it reads like inclusivity for inclusivity’s sake. I don’t think that Lucinda or Viviana’s characters were particularly developed either. For Lucinda, there was just a lack of detail about anything not directly related to Viviana. Viviana’s character is different, with most of the book describing her. The reader is often told that despite working as a prostitute for some high profile clients, Viviana is actually really normal and down-to-earth because she watches Anime and plays video games. She’s not like other girls.

This so far reads like a particularly negative review, which might be unfair. I rated Nothing Can Hurt You Now 3*, as it is quite an enjoyable, easy read. The story itself is not complex to understand, neither is the language. At only 192 pages, this book is a good choice if you’re searching for something quick.

The story focuses on two sisters- Lucinda and Viviana. The sisters have very different outlooks on life and have drifted apart over the years. But then Lucinda receives a distraught phone call from Graziana, Viviana's girlfriend, saying she's suddenly missing. Lucinda starts to investigate and delves into some really dark secrets.
Nothing Can Hurt You Now is a short novel but Campos manages to pack a powerful emotional punch and open up some frank discourse about the world of sex work. 3.5 ⭐️

Simone Campos has a voice and plenty to say, and I'm here for it. There's a lot of excellent information, and observation, in ‘Nothing Can Hurt You Now’ about women and the sex industry. I think I would have preferred to hear what the author has to say in essay format, as opposed to wound into the plot of this novel which fell a little short of the mark for me. It's a translated work, so it's difficult to say whether anything is lost as a result of that process. Some of it felt quite disjointed. Having said that, I feel some of the reviews are unnecessarily harsh and that is not my intention here. This book was ok. I really look forward to what Simone does next.

It has been suggested that there’s a translation issue at play here? The reviews in author’s native language are absolutely raving. I feel like the translated version got an entirely different book,

This one fell a bit flat for me and I cannot place the exact reasons why. I finally landed on the pacing, this did not read as a typical thriller, which is what I was needing.

I had high hopes initially but unfortunately I struggled to get into this book and it didn't keep my attention.

"Nothing Can Hurt You Now" by Simone Campos is a Brazilian debut thriller that unfolds a gripping tale about a missing model leading a double life as a sex worker. Lucinda, the protagonist, has always lived in the shadow of her glamorous and outgoing high-end model sister, Viviana. When Viviana mysteriously disappears during a trip to São Paulo, Lucinda becomes determined to find her.

Facing indifference from the police, Lucinda teams up with Viviana's girlfriend, Graziane, to launch her own investigation. As she delves into her sister's life, Lucinda discovers that Viviana had a secret career as a sex worker, which adds complexity to the mystery. The list of possible suspects grows, and when Lucinda receives a cryptic text suggesting that Viviana is still alive but being held hostage, the urgency of the investigation intensifies.

The novel promises a fast-paced and contemporary thriller with elements of humor, political consciousness, and a feminist perspective. It explores the complexities of relationships and the challenges faced by women in the context of a suspenseful mystery.

i'm truly glad this was a short read as I did not find the story compelling or thrilling at all. I did not enjoy it.

Lucinda has lived in her sister's shadow for most of her life. But when Viviana inexplicably goes missing, she is immediately driven to join in the search for her sister. The story is set in Brazil and offers insights into a very different milieu.

In the course of her attempt to trace Viviana, Lucinda discovers some unexpected things about her sister. Not least that she had achieved some success working as a sex provider.

There is mixed messaging on the issue of sex work in the book. But this also, of course, raised further questions about who might be behind Viviana's disappearance.

This novel was something of a mixed bag for me. The pacing in the first and second half of the story is different, and may be enjoyed more or less, depending on which part the reader finds most interesting. Overall, it is worth reading as something different, both in terms of multicultural interest and to some extent, storyline.

This book was an interesting and compelling short read - I loved the setting, the first half of the plot was fast paced and I was immediately dragged into the story. Overall, 3.5/5. Thank you.

I wasn't sure where this story was going to take me-- something I feel at the beginning of each new read. However, there was something different about this book (in a good way!). The characters' culture and experiences are very different from mine and what I experience, but it was so well written, that I felt I could understand them; I could see myself in them both (even though the two main characters were vastly distinct in their individuality).

Around halfway through this novel, the story really began to pick up for me. The suspense of what was going on and how it was going to end kept me from putting it down. I had to know how it would play out. In an attempt to avoid sharing spoilers, I will leave it at this: even til the last page, I was enraptured by the characters. (and I mean all of them). Each person and point of view was carefully crafted in a way that no difference in lifestyle or culture could hinder. I believed in these women and I was rooting for them til the end.

Truly a great read, but it is worth noting that the book's description could possibly use a trigger warning. There wasn't anything too graphic, but there are situations within the novel that could make some readers uncomfortable or upset.

Thanks to NetGalley!

3.6
There are components here that are really fantastic, and then there's the rest. Mostly I was relieved it was short, prolonging what was left of the story would have been a big mistake.