Neos Helios by Robin Anderson

Title: Neos Helios

Author: Robin Anderson

Genre: Thriller, Contemporary

Length: Super Novel (277pgs)

Publisher: Silver Publishing (7th April 2012)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥♥4 ½ – 5Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”  So says a modern-day Caligula (Neos Helios).  An “inverted, perverted” underwater palace, murder by roses–and that’s only the beginning! Soon the sinister overtones of Elagabalus (Sun God) become a terrifying reality.

Murder, mystery and unbridled mayhem, unparalleled since the time of Ancient Rome, return to the 21st Century with the reincarnation of two evil Emperors: the self-proclaimed NEOS HELIOS (The New Sun) and ELAGABALUS (The Sun God).

What is the ruse behind wealthy TIMOTHY TREMBLE’S underwater fantasy and his grim fascination with the dark world of designer, ROBERT BARTON?

CLASH OF THE TITANS pales into insignificance when the two–aided and abetted by their willing cohorts–cross phalluses.

Purchase Link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/products_id/836?zenid=8112142f5310e044687938cb415746a9

Review: Robert is riding high, his interior design company is in demand and he can have any man he wants. Timothy is a multi-millionaire and what he wants, he gets and he wants Robert to design him an underwater palace and he’s not taking no for an answer.

If you read the blurb, then I hope you understood it better than me, because until I read the book half of it went over my head. This book is the long game of revenge, intricate plotting and planning for years, bloodthirsty vengeance and power plays that draw you in and won’t let you put this book down until the conclusion. The opening of this book was disturbing and set the scene for the dark undertone that ran throughout the book. I really wasn’t sure how to feel about the prologue, but it set the scene for events later in the book.

The characters are a hodgepodge of people and at first you can’t see how some of them are relevant to the story, but you begin to suspect that they might just be important to what is happening. The interaction between the characters is bizarre; as insults and quips are traded and you really do wonder if they truly like or hate each other. As the plot begins to unfold, very slowly, the players begin to show themselves, but that doesn’t mean you have a chance of fitting it all together until the author wants you to know.  You might suspect the players and their part but you cannot be sure.

Characters are about to pay for what they have done over the years and revenge is elaborate and expensive, but will the players pay for their revenge. The last time that I read a book this involved in plotting and revenge was Jeffery Archers Not A penny More, Not A Penny Less but this is darker, but no less brilliant. The sexual aspects of this book are… well… kinda gross, let me just say poop fingers and coprophila (scat) and no more. There is no romance so to speak of and there is no happy ever after and do not expect detailed sex scenes you get the beginning or the end but not the middle.

This book is a thriller, murder, mystery and the characters just happen to be gay men, I know I haven’t given any detail about any of the characters but I can’t because if I start with one character then I will go into depth and end up giving the book away. Now the only thing that I was left unsatisfied with was the ending, I would have been happier with a detailed explanation as to what happened and how as I have been racking my brains and can’t work out how it happened without all the players involved.

So with this book I have to recommend it to those who love dark thrillers, murder, mayhem, revenge, intrigue, elaborate plots and powerful players.