There is some interesting discussion of Jeff’s internal response to his altruistic act and whether he needs or deserves reward or recognition, plus a well-drawn picture of the art world and its wealthy and often amoral milieu, including some neatly-turned descriptions.

But when Arsenault continues to cheat on his wife and treat others with disrespect, Cook asks himself: Was saving him worth it?

Anyone who has struggled to understand contemporary art will find it impossible to suppress a chuckle when Cook looks at a collection of paintings and thinks “a child could have made these. Cook meets a woman at an art reception and she becomes his lover before she reveals that she is the boss’s daughter. Cook stalks Arsenault, discovering he is a wealthy art dealer, and has a clandestine meetings with a mistress. Some philosophical questions are raised and I can see how this could be quite thought provoking if you’d like it to be. I’d said it before and meant it every time, but people always took it as an expression of false modesty.

I confess to being a little disappointed by the ending; I think I was expecting something much more startling. Inspired by Somerset Maugham, the author tells his story as a told-to-me in an airport lounge during a flight delay. Jeff was a heavy weed user, and the narrator was surprised to see how successful Jeff ended up being, 20 years after graduation.It is one of those novels where one person shares their story in great detail, and it does a better job at providing the setup for that situation. When he sees there’s a vacancy for an assistant at the man’s art gallery, he applies and gets the job. This is one of those books that starts off with an intriguing premise that draws you in right away, after which the whole thing becomes a trudge.

A successful art dealer confesses the story of his meteoric rise in this “powerful, intoxicating, and shocking” ( The New York Times) novel that’s a “slow burn à la Patricia Highsmith” ( Oprah Daily). The cool nervous clarity of the prose enmeshes the reader in a trap of complicity, one snapping shut on narrator and reader at the same instant. Upon discovering that the man, Francis, is a renowned art dealer, Jeff finds a job at his gallery in hopes of connecting with Francis and processing the event. I sat at the gate at JFK, having red-eyed my way from Los Angeles, exhausted, minding my own business, reflecting on what I’d seen the night before, shortly after takeoff, shortly before sleep, something I’d never seen before from an airplane. As Jeff's tale progressed I really started to wonder where it was going and why he chose our narrator to relate the story to.For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin.

akin to the talky, but fascinating, movie My Dinner With Andre — if that conversation took place in an airport lounge instead of a fancy restaurant. One would have never considered them friends back in the day but Jeff seems to think otherwise and delivers a wicked tale to his unassuming former classmate. Perhaps if I’d been paying closer attention, or if I’d known what was to come, I’d have detected a glimmer of desperation in his eyes.But Jeff can’t let go of the events of that traumatic day and he begins to feel compelled to learn more about the man whose life he has saved. A] taut, compulsive chamber piece of a novel, which you’ll struggle not to rip through in one sitting… Mouth to Mouth is an elegantly told and supremely gripping tale of serendipity and deception—and delivers a brilliant ending that will leave you guessing about everything that came before. I listened to the 5 hour audiobook narrated by Edoardo Ballerini who does a fabulous job leading the listener through this edgy story. However his companion, and the reader, may rather consider that Jeff took advantage of and abused the goodwill of others to his own benefit.