Publication Date: March 17th, 2026
Paperback. 320 pages.
The son of working-class Czech immigrants, Christopher “Atlas” Novotny is a talented painter who arrives at Harvard on a full scholarship. Raised amid hardship, he is unprepared for the privileged world introduced to him by his freshman roommate, Lucien Orsini-Conti.
Born to wealthy European diplomats, Lucien plays the part of the confident, sophisticated bon vivant. Where Lucien is bold and brash, Atlas is timid and introverted. Growing up a lonely outsider, Atlas is insecure, impressionable, and in awe of his brilliant roommate. But is Lucien all that he seems?
Sensing a willing disciple, Lucien introduces Atlas to a glittering new world of lavish parties and elite social clubs. When Atlas struggles to afford his new lifestyle, Lucien offers a solution, convincing the naïve artist to become a forger, passing off fakes to galleries and dealers.
But Lucien’s charismatic facade conceals something darker and more sinister. As Lucien’s behavior grows increasingly unstable, Atlas is forced into escalating risks with devastating consequences.
Drawing inspiration from the true crime stories of Christian Gerhartsreiter (a.k.a. “Clark Rockefeller”) and Adam Wheeler, Lucien is as darkly seductive and addictively readable as The Secret History, The Incendiaries, Creation Lake, and The Talented Mr. Ripley."
Lucien is a solid, captivating "dark academia" type of book, although it isn't doing anything particularly new--and that's okay. I'm not someone who believes every books needs to be some new groundbreaking work that reimagines an entire genre. Sometimes you know what you want and you want a book that does it well, and I think that is Lucien. I think if you like academia focused books that vibes of The Secret History/etc., then you'll enjoy this. Or if you've never read dark academia or books like this, I think it's a great introduction to the idea. There are a lot of dark academia books out there and many are not very good at all. Lucien is actually one that I would consider one of the better ones.
This story develops our protagonist well and gives him an interesting story and background, making him both complex and easily relatable. He's a bit of a basic "good" guy, but his new surroundings introduce him to some new ideas and such that cause him some new moral dilemmas and an introduction to a world that's new to him. In general, it was enjoyable to follow a protagonist who is such a talented painter, and I almost wish we had somehow spent even more time on that. I loved that Christopher/Atlas was a bit of an idiot and made some horrible choices, as it made it feel realistic for a young kid freshly off to a hot-shot school like Harvard to do just that. But I also loved that there were many instances where he really did stick true to himself and his values, even if Lucien occasionally tried to bend them (and continue trying to bend them more and more until they would just about break). His journey is one that feels relatable in the way that I think many of us have gone through periods of time where we felt lost or alone and really just wanted to feel like we belong somewhere (or maybe we still do!). And we sometimes forget just a little bit of who we are in that process until there's often a bit of a jolt at some point to knock us back into reality. Who hasn't been a young, insecure kid in a new environment looking to feel confident and a part of something?
Lucien was actually much less interesting to me than Atlas. He felt fairly predictable and I found his antics not that exciting or shocking, but they worked well for the story and for Atlas who was much more sheltered and unused to the ways Lucien was. Lucien was actually a fantastic foil for Atlas' naiveté. What Lucien does perfectly is play his defined role. Lucien is meant to be a certain type of character and he does it excellently for the purposes and plot of this book. He's a bit mysterious and enigmatic, fairly chaotic and seems to have the world at his fingertips. This is exactly the type of character you need to draw someone like Atlas to them and wrap them up in a world that feels new, glittery, and irresistible.
This book is also frustrating because I felt like I could see through Lucien at every point and I just wanted to yell at Atlas to ditch him and do better, and I can only assume this was what the author wanted. If the author intended for readers to also be taken in by Lucien, then it didn't quite work for me, but if he was wanting us to watch this gradual development of a relationship between the two and to see how things played out, then he did it wonderfully. I think he captured Atlas' enamored state really well, and as frustrating as it was to watch, I felt like everything seemed generally realistic and done in a way that tells a bit of a tragic story. All I wanted was for Atlas to be happy with the woman he liked and be an amazing, successful painter with all his talent, but instead we get something that is much messier and more like the way life sometimes goes for us. It's always a bit of a surprise, and there are plenty of secrets that turn up in this book as well to keep us readers on our toes.
The pacing of Lucien is on the slower side, but in a way that fits the story and gives us time to settle in with our characters, and it speeds up as necessary at different points along the way. I also found Thornton's writing to be very thoughtful and carefully executed, and I found it easy to lose myself in the pages of this book.
The art and painting forgery was some of the most interesting parts of this one. I was interested to learn about the history of forgeries and the artists mentioned (and I may or may not have further looked up some stuff that was mentioned to find out how true it was, as I do know that there is a huge world of fakes and all that out there). And assuming some/most of the techniques and whatnot that Thornton describes Atlas replicating are true, it was so interesting to follow along with Atlas and his paintings and see how he does it.
Overall, I think Lucien is a captivating story that explores a variety of themes that we can all relate to, as well delves deep into the reality of how easy it is to get caught up in things that we never really expect. I'd absolutely recommend this one to any fans of dark academia or simply fascinating character studies, as Lucien will check many of those boxes.
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