Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I live in Europe and was interested in what book would be picked up by HBO Europe--which I don't think exists--to go straight to TV.
I couldn't identify with anything in this book. Not the characters, not the story, and definitely not the language. I read as much as I could to give it every chance but life is too short to read a book one thinks has no redeeming value when there are so many books out there.
I'm giving it two stars because it seems others liked it so perhaps it's just not my cup of tea.

Took me a while to get into this book I'm glad I carried on tho as I enjoyed reading it would recommend I'm also going to watch it

Thank you to NetGalley and Legend press for the arc of Blinded by the lights by Jakub Żulczyk

Thank you Jakub Żulczyk.

This follows Kuba who is a cocaine drug dealer in the night time, he believes and thinks he is smart enough to stay in control of it. There are high up lawyers, doctors, TV personalities are even in his client base....
In the debt of a failing nightclub owner, Now he is suffering under the spotlight and dragged into the underbelly of the drug world base, He really must find a way through the violence and betrayal taking him away.
It is a very enjoyable book in which is different to what i have read before but it was very thrilling and it dragged me in to it.

Recommend
4 Stars⭐⭐⭐⭐

I recognise the title of the book even though I’ve never seen the TV show. I really enjoyed this so I’ll probably check out the show at some point. This is very gritty and gripping but it took a few chapters for me to settle into the book. The prose was denser than I expected for the genre but I soon settled into an entertaining read. I don’t think I’ve read any fiction set in Warsaw, not to my knowledge anyway so I enjoyed the setting, which is very vivid and descriptive. The characters are complex and you’re never sure who’s good and who’s bad which is a new one for me. The book uses a first person POV which works really well and brought the book to life for me. I also haven’t read a book before when the main character is a drug deal so this was also a new direction for me. I really enjoyed this.

Dark gritty a thriller that drew me in kept me racing through the pages.Cant wait to watch the adaptation on Netflix.an author I will be following.#netgalley#legendpress

A wordy, descriptive book. Take your time, let the words sink in even as you feel you are floating above them with Kuba. This is grit thru and thru

Full review here: https://murderincommon.com/2020/06/07/jakub-zulczyk-blinded-by-the-lights/

An incredibly interesting read that has me very intrigued to watch the HBO adaptation of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a pre-release copy of this book for an honest review.

I really tried to get into this story and the characters. I began the book twice and thought about giving it a third chance but decided against it. I normally like edgy books like this but for me, it just didn’t work and I could not get a good hold of the characters. Maybe another time or a better translation.

Kuba is a dealer living in Warsaw, Poland. His client base is made of the powerful and wealthy, and he takes pride in the quality of his product.

One day he calls in the debt of a nightclub owner, breaking his own rules and putting himself at the centre of the storm.

Will he be able to survive the trap he inadvertently set for himself?

If you love dark and gritty themes, this is the book for you. Blinded by the Lights is now a major HBO Europe TV series available on Amazon Prime, and you can easily see why.

Full of complex characters that will leave you struggling to decide whether you are rooting for them or against, this story is told in first person from the point of view of the dealer.

Disclosure: I would like to thank NetGalley and Legend Press for a copy of Blinded by the Lights. This is my honest review.

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First i must say that I don't know the author and this book was my first by him. It's not something I would read usually because it's not my style but i was intrigued by the description of the book.
It left me with mixed feelings. It was little confusing, maybe because it was in first person and I don understand the need to do it in this story. Still the writing was good, and in a way it was interesting but i must say mostly the characters wasn't my favourite 😉

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to try something new.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The characters and world were very gritty and different than what I normally read in thrillers. Sometimes I wondered about the translation and if the original had a different feel to the writing than this translated version. I kind of wanted to be able to watch the HBO show but I'm in the US and I don't think it's available here. I found the plot to be a little unstructured at times in the way that it was mostly about the character and his life, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

I have a strong feeling this book was not for me. I am always looking forward to books that take place outside of the beaten tracks (like US/UK/Sweden), so I was interested to see Warsaw for a change. Unfortunately, I hardly felt like the setting added anything new to the story. This could have taken place anywhere.

It focuses on a rather successful coke dealer and his troubles over a period of one week. I didn't like him at all, and it seemed a rather odd choice for a first person, and it was confusing at times since the main character is hardly a good narrator. Besides the dealing of dealers and gangsters between themselves, they did not keep me interested over the entirety of the novel.

Not for me.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was a quick read that was complex enough to be interesting. I kept flipping back and forth between wanting the main character to fail or to succeed. The main character was interesting enough that disliking him at times did not stop you from wanting to know what happens next. I am curious to see how the tv show is.

I had a hard time getting into this one. The writing wasn't bad, and the translation seemed to be okay, but I just didn't connect with the characters. I may come back to this one sometime.

This book was made into a TV series for HBO Europe and I can only imagine how good it is! This book focuses on Kuba, who is a drug dealer that needs to be in control of all situations. However, he loses control due to a bad decision and has to deal with the fallout from this. This was a great read!

Jakub Zulczyk's new book, "Blinded By The Light", is the story of Warsaw Drug Dealer Kuba. Kuba prides himself on the quality of his "product" and sells to the movers and shakers in the media world, politicians and well-known celebrities. Not the typical thuggish gangster he's an Art student drop-out who avoids flaunting his vast wealth and deliberately tries to ensure that he's largely un-noticed in the circles he moves in to ply his trade. In Kuba's mind he's a respected and admired member of the Warsaw crime gang he works with, not least by way of his different approach and attitude..As the story progresses Kuba gets drawn increasingly into the violence that goes with his choice of career and his life spirals rapidly out of control.

Zulczyk casts a a cynical eye over night time Warsaw,like any big city full of people desperately convincing themselves that they're having a great time while needing to be off their faces on drugs. There's a lot of social commentary and the book is a great insight into Poland and some of the attitudes and societal issues prevalent there.

The book is very well-written, the reader gets inside Kuba's head and a very complex character emerges, from someone who thinks he's totally in control of his life to coming close to imploding.

While I loved the book there are parts where Kuba's has ongoing nightmares that are related in great detail that I didn't really get the point of ,some of the dialogue tends to turn into speeches as well. Overall though I really enjoyed it,not least the sheer quality of the writing and it's no surprise to learn that the author is massively successful in Poland and the book has already inspired a TV series.
Overall an excellent read, I could have done without the "nightmare" scenes but Jacub Zulczyk is a class act and a superb write. Credit too to Marek Kazmierski for an excellent translation .

Thanks to Jacub Zulczyk , Legend Press and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.