Review: Bath Haus, by P.J. Vernon

Rating:

🧖🏻‍♂️🧖🏻‍♂️🧖🏻‍♂️🧖🏻‍♂️

First Response:

I don't usually go in for thrillers, but this one was pretty fun. And unexpectedly political.

One Sentence Summary:

Oliver makes one bad decision, which leads to a web of diabolical lies, a stalker, and unfortunate revelations about the everything he loves.

Tell Me More:

This one was a step outside my comfort zone. I don't usually go for thrillers. Mysteries, yes! I love me an Agatha Christie or a Ruth Ware. Personally, I feel like the thriller has overcome the mystery genre in our present literary landscape; and while I'm sure there's probably a good reason for this upset, I mourn it every day.

That being said, this book was really good. There were parts of it that were textbook thriller, but it read more like Ruth Ware than Dan Brown. The character work was particularly good. Oliver and Nathan felt like real people. Sometimes aggrevatingly so.

All of these characters need therapy; and not the kind Nathan's mother can provide (she's a psychotherapist and, IMHO, a psychopath). The rich people in this book are controlling, manipulative assholes. Oliver, while not a rich asshole and portrayed somewhat sympathetically, still has a whole swath of issues he needs help with. He's a recovering opioid addict. He's in an abusive relationship (and hopefully enjoying a good view of the pyramids because he's definitely in denial.). He's been sexually assaulted multiple times (some of them are portrayed in this book, so if that's a trigger for you, be warned). And he's living as an outsider even while he's living the most authentic version of himself.

Which brings me to the unexpectedly political side of this novel. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with its queerness.

Oliver is a Midwesterner living in Washington, D.C., and this book is incredibly sympathetic to the Midwestern side of his heritage. It's clear that the circles Oliver's moving in now, full of ultra-rich New York and Washington elites, care very little for anyone who isn't in their tax bracket. The blue-red divide has never felt so sharp. I don't mean to imply that Oliver is a gun-totin', Bible-thumpin' republican, and those around him are dyed-in-the-wool dems. What I am trying to say is that the classism is on full display, and the divide between rural poverty and urban decadence is a sharp contrast.

I don't want to dive too deeply into the plot of this novel, because the tension of the thriller is in learning as it goes. I'm giving it 4 steam bath emojis (seems appropriate, given the material); which means that I'd even be willing to read it again. I might put it on one day when I feel like re-reading something fun, tense, and gratitude inducing. (I'm so glad my marriage and relationships aren't like the people in this novel.)