The Cloisters: A Novel

My favorite part of this novel is the setting. You can tell the author researched The Cloisters and the city very well. The Cloisters are by far my favorite museum in NYC so that is what originally caught my attention about this book. I love that the author did it justice, we got robust descriptions of The Cloisters themselves along with getting a really good feel of the atmosphere. Since I was a child I was also really interested in tarot and the occult, so this book is literally two of my favorite things put together. I really loved how the mystery that we thought we were solving didn't end up being the giant twist at the end, there is a giant twist at the end but it is not at all what you are expecting. I look forward to reading more by this author, she will be for sure added to my favorites list.

I was disappointed that this book turned out to be more typical domestic thriller than the mystical dark academia it was marketed as.

3.5 Stars...maaaaaybe bump to 4? Great writing. Great storyline, but just wasn't nearly as captivated as I thought I would be.

Content warning for violence, death, abuse, theft, manipulation, murder, and related topics. This book dragged for me. I thought the characters could have been interesting, but I wanted so much more from them. The academia monologues got to be repetitive. I felt like the twist came out of left field and wasn't explored enough for me. Also none of the dialogue felt like something a real person would say, even in academia.

Gothic tone.