The Arrangement : Robyn Harding
Genre : Thriller
Release Date : July 30, 2019
Rating : 3.5 Stars
This is another tricky one for me. On one hand, I COULD NOT put this down. I read it in two sittings. But on the other, there were parts of this I just didn’t like. Most of my notes are on the negative side, or at least it’s the problematic things I noticed.
As always with Thrillers, read the blurb at your own risk. I prefer to go in blind.
GOODREADS BLURB
Natalie, a young art student in New York City, is struggling to pay her bills when a friend makes a suggestion: Why not go online and find a sugar daddy—a wealthy, older man who will pay her for dates, and even give her a monthly allowance? Lots of girls do it, Nat learns. All that’s required is to look pretty and hang on his every word. Sexual favours are optional.
Though more than thirty years her senior, Gabe, a handsome corporate finance attorney, seems like the perfect candidate, and within a month, they are madly in love. At least, Nat is…Gabe already has a family, whom he has no intention of leaving.
So when he abruptly ends things, Nat can’t let go. She begins drinking heavily and stalking him: watching him at work, spying on his wife, even befriending his daughter, who is not much younger than she is. But Gabe’s not about to let his sugar baby destroy his perfect life. What was supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement devolves into a nightmare of deception, obsession, and, when a body is found near Gabe’s posh Upper East Side apartment, murder.
REVIEW
One of the biggest reasons I did not rate this higher was because of the writing style. It was both lacking and too descriptive at the same time. What I mean by that is, when describing what the characters were doing, what they were eating, where they were, it was all so wordy. But when it came to the action parts, the thrilling parts, when I wanted to know more, it was lacking. It was also more of a “let me tell you” writing style as opposed to a “let me show you” writing style. Some parts felt like a flashback, even though the events only happened yesterday in the book timeline. When I am reading a mystery/thriller, I want to be in the action in the story. Not be told about it later.
Now, on to the characters in the book. Simply put, they are all horrible people. Nat, who is the main female character, is just terrible from the beginning. As is Gabe who is the main male character. Nat is a 21 year old struggling art school student. She comes from a broken home with no real male role models or father figures. Which later plays a huge role in her Sugar Daddy/Sugar Baby relationship. Gabe becomes her first Sugar Daddy. The things he says, it is like, “did he really just say that?”. The overall feel with these characters is I just really didn’t care what happened to them. They could have all been killed off and I would just be like okay.
I don’t know if there were mental health issues going on in either or both of these characters. It was never addressed, but personalities changed in a matter of a few pages, like completely new characters, especially Nat. There was no real explanation for it. You would think it was because of this new lifestyle she had, money and freedom and no worries. But that wasn’t it. It was all weird and confusing.
What I did like about this book was the pacing. Although a little lackluster in parts, the story kept moving. I wanted to know more, it was intriguing. Aside for the more “tell up” rather than “show you” style, the writing was fine. And even though everyone in this book was a horrible human being, it was still a decent read.
If you are like me, and do not need to like the characters in a book to enjoy it, then I would recommend this.
3.5 Stars
Thoughts to Pages 