** spoiler alert ** thanks to netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

i'd like to give this a 3.5. i feel like this focused more on politics than anything about the scandal itself - of 300+ pages, i think maybe 50 of them actually went into the misconduct and its coverup. while this isn't a bad thing, i think this would be more in line for someone who likes to read political fiction. it's hard for me to consider this a "thriller" - not all that much really happened.

it also definitely finished with some loose ends (and maybe that was intentional) - like did C&R successfully and properly investigate, or was getting coach rob behind bars all they bothered to do?

i didn't find any of the characters particularly enthralling in a way that made me want to root for them - i actually found Evina to be pretty insufferable and hard to sympathize with, constantly making every conversation about herself and sitting there whining. with that being said, i do actually LIKE when characters aren't easy to root for, because they end up actually feeling more human & realistic, so i didn't actually dislike the main characters.

the only thing i think i would change is how much information the reader gets "handed" - maybe it's my own preference, but i felt like there were a number of sentences & paragraphs that kind of...overexplained things that i think most readers would be able to infer? for example, "Rick started with a mock question as he stroked his goatee with no one else but Troy in the room." i never wondered if anyone else was in the room, because the scene had already been set up that just Troy and Rick were in a conference room preparing for an interview. another example: "there was relief to know that this attempt to frame her--because that's what it was--would now disappear."i already knew it was framing her...just some examples of things that i felt didn't need to be totally spelled out.

all this being said, i think that people who enjoy political fiction will enjoy this! i just would not advertise it as a thriller!

I'll be honest, Open Bar really wasn't anything like I expected. The synopsis talks about this scandal and the fallout, etc but in reality, it felt like the scandal aspect took a backseat and the book was actually more about the politics involved in covering it up. That actually could be a very interesting book in itself, but unfortunately, for me it just fell flat. There were so many different characters to keep track of that it made it hard to actually get into the story. There was so much going on and it just seemed to miss the mark.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’m sorry I can not give feedback on this read because it’s a tough subject so I can read it I didn’t know that it had that subject in there sorry