But one of them was in the coffin.
William, Brian and Luke: three boys, born a year apart, trained from birth by their wily mother to compete for her attention. They play games, as brothers do ... yet even after the Drumms escape into the world beyond their windows, those games - those little cruelties - grow more sinister, more merciless and more dangerous. And with their lives entwined like the strands of a noose, only two of the brothers will survive.
This is a story about three brothers, Will, Brian and Luke, born a year apart. They grow up in the same dysfunctional family in Dublin but end up destroying each other in different ways. Will is a successful but arrogant film producer, Brian is a bitter school teacher (and later Luke's agent) and Luke is a sensitive pop star struggling with fame, addiction and his mental health. Their childhood was filled with favoritism and emotional manipulation, especially from their self-absorbed mother who was a performer, which sets the stage for a lifetime of jealousy, betrayal and resentment.
Right away we know one of the brothers is dead but we don't know who and how it happened until the very end. The story is told from the points of view of the brothers ... Will first, then Brian and finally Luke. It jumps back and forth in timelines, slowly revealing just how toxic their relationships have become over the years. I usually don't mind when stories jump back and forth in time but I found this a tad annoying because the jumps were so extreme. For example, with Will, it started with 1994, then 1985, then 1992, then 1978 and so on. I found I had to keep going back to the previous chapter to see what year it had been. It was interesting to read the same experiences but from the different points of view.
None of the characters are likable. I didn't have any issue with the brother who had died but was a bit disappointed with how and why it happened and the ending in general. As a head's up, there is swearing.
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