⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Thank you to @tlcbooktours and @leematthewgoldberg for the gifted copy of this book! I had no idea what to expect going in to this book but was immediately hooked by the first person POV and the atmosphere/setting of the book. I felt like I had been dropped into the set of a Batman movie (minus Batman) complete with masked crime bosses and a grungy big city!
The pace of this book is fast and it’s relatively short (less than 300 pages) so you will likely fly through this one if you enjoy thrillers/novels about organized crime. This is the first book in a series of stand-alone novels set in this world (that I definitely plan to continue) and I’m really hoping that some of these characters pop up in later novels. There are quite a few potential triggers in this book (DM for details) as it is pretty dark/violent but there are moments of levity that keep it from being overly heavy. I definitely recommend this book and think it will appeal to female and male audiences alike!
Content Rating: R (graphic violence and language mainly)
Synopsis:
It’s 1978 in New York City, and disco is prominent. As are mobsters, gritty streets, needle parks and graffiti-stained subways.
Jake Barnum lives in Hell’s Kitchen. He’s a petty thief selling hot coats with his buddy Maggs to make ends meet and help his sick kid brother. At a Halloween party downtown, he meets a woman with a Marilyn Monroe mask who works for an organization called The Desire Card—an underground operation promising its exclusive clients “Any Wish Fulfilled for the Right Price.”
As Jake becomes taken with its leader, a pseudo father and sociopath at heart, he starts stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. In other words…himself. But as he dives deeper in with the Card, begins falling love with Marilyn, and sees the money rolling in, clients’ wishes start becoming more and more suspect—some leading to murder.
The first book in the Desire Card series, Immoral Origins follows those indebted to this sinister organization—where the ultimate price is the cost of one’s soul.
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