Bath Haus - The Library of the Uncommons

Paperback

Published June 29, 2021 by Doubleday & Co Inc..

ISBN:: 978-0-385-54801-4

(1 review)

Oliver Park, a young recovering addict from Indiana, finally has everything he ever wanted: sobriety and a loving, wealthy partner in Nathan, a prominent DC trauma surgeon. Despite their difference in age and disparate backgrounds, they've made a perfect life together. With everything to lose, Oliver shouldn't be visiting Haus, a gay bathhouse. But through the entrance he goes, and it's a line crossed. Inside, he follows a man into a private room, and it's the final line. Whatever happens next, Nathan can never know. But then, everything goes wrong, terribly wrong, and Oliver barely escapes with his life.

He races home in full-blown terror as the hand-shaped bruise grows dark on his neck. The truth will destroy Nathan and everything they have together, so Oliver does the thing he used to do so well: he lies.

What follows is a classic runaway-train narrative, full of the exquisite escalations, edge-of-your-seat …

Oliver Park, a young recovering addict from Indiana, finally has everything he ever wanted: sobriety and a loving, wealthy partner in Nathan, a prominent DC trauma surgeon. Despite their difference in age and disparate backgrounds, they've made a perfect life together. With everything to lose, Oliver shouldn't be visiting Haus, a gay bathhouse. But through the entrance he goes, and it's a line crossed. Inside, he follows a man into a private room, and it's the final line. Whatever happens next, Nathan can never know. But then, everything goes wrong, terribly wrong, and Oliver barely escapes with his life.

He races home in full-blown terror as the hand-shaped bruise grows dark on his neck. The truth will destroy Nathan and everything they have together, so Oliver does the thing he used to do so well: he lies.

What follows is a classic runaway-train narrative, full of the exquisite escalations, edge-of-your-seat thrills, and oh-my-god twists. P. J. Vernon's Bath Haus is a scintillating thriller with an emotional punch, perfect for readers curious for their next must-read novel.

1 edition

Alex Cabe reviewed Bath Haus by P.J Vernon

Wow, Oliver has Terrible Luck with Men.

3 stars

This was definitely a page turner, and the author knew how to keep me interested and coming back to the book whenever I had free time.

Oliver was sympathetic and I enjoyed his growth throughout the book, particularly his thoughts on learning to free himself from a trap.

It will take some thought, but it was very interesting who Oliver chose to trust and who to conceal from. Especially from the perspective of how that intersects with the history of queerphobia and Oliver's personal history.

Weaknesses here were that it relied a bit too much on coincidence and I thought Nathan's character development was somewhat unearned.