So Close: The unmissable Sunday Times bestseller (Blacklist, 1)

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Three women, linked by buried secrets, circle the man who unquestioningly accepts the return of his beloved long-dead wife. Kane is happier than he's ever been, and he'll do anything to stay that way. I glance around the living room, assuring myself that the waiting staff are present but unobtrusive, supplying canapés and beverages while clearing away the discarded Baccarat glasses and Limoges plates.

My gaze darts around the darkened room, skipping across the pale blue walls. I find your tall, dark form untangling from the shadows in the corner and gliding swiftly to the door. In his room, her image is the only spot of colour, but that isn’t what makes the photograph so striking. It is the look in her eyes, feverish and incisive. Our relationship is tenuous at best, and I won’t risk a rift that might jeopardize my position at Baharan until I can take over the company.I have urged him to take a moment to enjoy his accomplishments. He tells me he’ll enjoy life better when he’s dead. Reuniting with Lily is his only true aspiration. Everything else is simply killing time. So far, superficial resemblance seems to be all Kane requires to nail a woman six ways to Sunday. He’s a total headcase. Suzanne needs to write a book about him. In fact, I’d give her the title of my study for her next novel. I can be generous when I’m not sitting next to a lookalike who’s glowing, puffy-lipped and sleepy-eyed.

I keep mentioning Kane because the story revolves around him, but interesting enough we never get his POV. Everything we know about him, and his actions comes from these four people – and three of them may or may not be unreliable narrators. (I’m still trying to figure that unreliable thing out.) It made me even more curious about what is going through his head and the decisions he makes. I really loved that. I’m hoping we get his POV in the second book. At first I thought. Okay. The writing is kinda beautiful but also a bit weird. She uses soo many big words. I gave up googling them after a couple. Once we signed the paperwork, it wasn’t long before she began undermining me and my ideas and questioning my business ethics. She stole the loyalty of my staff with gifts and bonuses, most of which were my idea, but she took credit for them. Would-be allies distanced themselves to avoid repercussions from her until the whole company was against me. He reaches for the coffee I set in front of him, his mind clearly running through his agenda for the day, his latest lover dismissed from his thoughts for ever. He rarely sleeps and works far too much. Deep grooves on either side of his mouth shouldn’t be there on one so young. I’ve seen him smile and have even heard him laugh, but the amusement never reaches his eyes. He suffers life; he does not live it.And just like that, Suzanne’s anxiety is gone, replaced with a bright smile. She has the most beautiful lips – plush and naturally darker around the edges and softly pink within, like natural lip liner. “Oh, thank you! I’m so happy you enjoy my work.” The party is a lively crush, yet I’m keenly aware of one singularly significant presence—my employer’s wife, a woman who has been dead for many years. Manhattan glitters in the vast night enfolding the penthouse tower. Clouds froth against the floor-to-ceiling windows, at turns obscuring then revealing the stygian spread of Central Park and its reservoir far below. The tower creaks as it sways ever so slightly in gusts of evening wind, the plaintive sound hidden beneath the music and sea of conversation. Every opportunity I’ve afforded her to reveal something – anything – about herself has been passed over. She never discusses her past, even fleetingly. During the years when she was believed to be deceased, her acquaintances spoke of her as a woman deeply interested in others. Now that I’ve become acquainted with her, I know she encourages people to talk about themselves, so there’s little room for her to do likewise. And then ... it gets weirder. We get multiple POVs. The butler. The mom. The sister in law. The ex-dead-wife.

I’ve caught myself staring more than once, arrested by her flawless face and potent sensuality. Some women entrap men in webs by the simple act of existing. They sit there together, husband and wife. Passionate lovers and professed soulmates who share everything but honesty. Well, we didn’t talk about it because it’s no fun hearing about a book you can’t get your hands on for the foreseeable future. But the wait is finally over, and I’m excited to talk about So Close! I can answer your questions, and best of all, you can reserve your copy today. His most frequent escort, the slender blonde who hovers nearby, gleams in ivory and pearls. She’s his mother, although no one would suspect the relationship if it weren’t widely known. Age isn’t the only thing Aliyah hides well. The lone clue to her nature is her manicure, the long nails filed into a modish almond shape resembling talons.I figure she left him,” he continues, “and he’s been lying to everyone this whole time to save face.” My employer knew yesterday what had transpired – I told him myself. That he should inform his wife of the murder this way, second-hand with feigned surprise . . . ? ALIYAH: Kane’s mother. She was desperately trying to control her entire family and their company. I hated this woman. I thought she was evil except for a couple of moments when I wondered if she was right to be concerned about certain things. The look he shoots me is caustic, but I don’t care if he thinks I’m a hypocrite. I did what I had to do to survive. Because of how I changed after Paul’s betrayal, I did better with my second marriage and outlasted the terms of the prenup, so I got what I was due. And it’s not like I didn’t support Kane to adulthood.

Lily claims not to know her mother’s true identity – Stephanie Laska is one of many aliases – and she’s confessed to matricide to escape a smothering influence that threatened all she holds dear. The lover, Valon Laska, was a criminal hunted by state and federal law enforcement agencies. He was killed yesterday by an assassin who very closely resembles my employer’s wife. So Close by Sylvia Day comes soooo close to actually being decent. I grew up on Gideon and Eva. In fact, I've read those books so much that even to this day, I remember every event that happened in all of those books. I have been waiting for this book since 2017... and for it to completely fall short? I am actually disappointed. I didn't enjoy Amy’s and Alyiah’s point of view because their chapters felt soapy, trying to one up each other. I just wanted to know more about Lily, Kane’s obsession and their relationship but I had to get through other chapters.At times I thought it was familiar, but it didn’t take long for Sylvia Day to have me meandering down a convoluted path of betrayal and danger, intrigue and surprise. I love a story I cannot figure out and she kept me guessing. I still don’t know if their visit had anything to do with his wife. I didn’t even know he was married at the time of the interview. And I’ve never discussed it with anyone, not even Kane, who appeared on my doorstep just days later to discuss rebuilding Baharan. A statuesque brunette hurries away from us. Her hair is short and sleek, cut into a bob that skims her sculpted jaw. It’s not Lily’s luxuriant mane, not at all. But when she turns to walk down the pavement, I think it might be her incomparable face. Darius isn’t faithless like Paul, my first husband. I’d suspected Kane’s father was having an affair but couldn’t prove it. I chose to believe I was too essential for him ever to end our marriage, not just as the mother of his child but to the company I’d helped him build. Baharan Pharmaceuticals was everything to him, our shared life’s work, and he adored Kane – or so I’d thought, right up to the moment I learned he’d pulled every cent he could out of the company and run off to South America. Steamy sex scenes and intriguing plot twists will have readers clamouring for more * Library Journal *