Anyone expecting high literature here will be disappointed. Anyone expecting a high-octane, page-turning follow up to the author's first novel, 'Maestra', absolutely will not.

This story picks up with the protagonist of the first after the events of 'Maestra'. Judith Rashleigh, now living under an alias and running her own gallery, is back for a second adventure in the world of art crime, sexy but dodgy billionaires, fast cars and designer dresses. Yes, it's unrealistic. Yes, it's got plot holes you could drive a bus through. Yes, it's overly complicated and a bit show-off about art at times. Despite all that, I didn't want to put it down.

Essentially, Hilton's writing is a bit Marmite. If you hate it, I can totally see why, but these novels have become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me and (I suspect) many other readers. Put your feet up and enjoy!

First, I’d like to thank Zaffre for granting my wish to read the book via NetGalley. I appreciate it. As always, my review will be honest, but this time it won’t be quite a positive one. The novel did not turn out to be what I had expected. I was quite disappointed. I never managed to delve into the story. I was expecting a thriller, a storyline focused on an investigation. But I felt as though I was reading an avatar of 50 shades of grey with a Russian mafia-like background story. I had the impression the different scenes and events unfolded one after the other but there was too feeble a linkage between each event — a compilation of moments with protagonists that failed to catch my interest.

In all fairness, the narrative style is complex, interesting and challenging, which is a good point. Sometimes, you want to be challenged when reading a book. However, the wording and extremely elaborate descriptions are sometimes a hindrance to the subject matter. You end up feeling like the intricate descriptions about art and whatnot become the main focus of interest at the expense of the core plot. Also, I felt like some sex scenes were saucy to the point that it was frivolously provocative and it didn’t help advance the intrigue. Maybe I need to read the first book Maestra to have a better sense of the main character’s psychology where there might lie some explanation in this regard. Anyhow, I felt it was unnecessarily raunchy.

I was hoping for a more regular thriller/investigation. But I felt like I ended up with an experimental novel about the racy life of the wealthy and rare fact, I couldn’t finish it because, maybe, it was too unconventional a thriller for my liking. I wasn’t convinced but I hope the book will find its public.

All the best of luck to the author!