Vantage Point
A Novel
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Jan 14, 2025
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Succession meets Megan Abbott in this seductive, technological suspense about the dramatic downfall of one of America’s most affluent families.
"Terrifying and uncanny.” —Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters
The old-money Wieland family has it all—wealth, status, power. They’re also famously cursed.
Clara and her brother, Teddy, grew up on a small island in Maine in the shadow of their parents’ tragic deaths, haunted by rumors and paparazzi. Fourteen years later, they’ve mostly put their turbulent past to rest. Teddy has married Clara’s best friend, Jess, and the three of them have moved back home to take over the sprawling, remote family mansion known as Vantage Point.
Then Teddy decides to run for the Senate—an unnerving prospect made much worse when intimate videos of Clara are leaked online. The most frightening part is that she doesn't remember filming any of them. Are the videos real? Or are they deepfakes? Is someone trying to take down the Wielands once and for all?
Everyone thinks Clara is losing her grasp on reality. But she knows the truth: the videos are only the beginning. Years ago, the curse destroyed her parents. Now, it’s coming for her.
Sara Sligar, the critically acclaimed author of Take Me Apart, returns with a shocking family drama full of suspense. Brimming with palpable tension, Vantage Point carefully unravels a twisted web of family secrets and political ambition that raises questions about the nature of “truth” in our digital age.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Viral videos send an influential Maine family reeling in this tempestuous domestic thriller from Sligar (Take Me Apart). So many descendants of steel tycoon Thomas Wieland have met with calamity that most believe the clan is cursed. Clara Wieland first bought into the theory at 16, when she saw her parents die. Sixteen years later, the curse comes for Clara when a degrading sex tape hits the internet. Clara's brother, senatorial candidate Teddy, wants to involve the police, but Clara refuses, too humiliated to admit she doesn't recognize her partner or recall participating in the recording. Then another devastating video drops, this one featuring Clara and her best friend, Jess—Teddy's wife—disparaging Teddy in an exchange neither woman remembers. Suspecting high-tech sabotage, Clara vows to uncover the truth, but in an era of bots, trolls, and deepfakes, that's easier said than done. Doubt and paranoia color Clara and Jess's alternating narration, keeping the tension high throughout. A few preposterous twists tilt the plot toward soap opera territory, but Sligar's nuanced, psychologically complex characters provide sufficient counterweight. Sarah Pinborough fans should take note.
