The Privileges by Jonathan Dee

This is totally my version of trash – well-written, interesting characters, snappy dialogue, wealthy New York backdrop that you chow through in a few days without any sense of mental indigestion after snapping it shut and promptly forgetting about it. (In fact, the ending of this book made no sense at all, and was quite disappointing. But I will forgive Dee as the beginning and middle were more than satisfactory).

Centred around an annoyingly self-assured and charmed couple, Adam and Cynthia, The Privileges follows them as they rise through the elite ranks of New York society. Adam is a hedge fund manager turned criminal inside trader; Cynthia seems happy to just bathe in the light seemingly shining out of her husband’s arse. She also seems mildly insane; functioning but likely to snap at any time.

Two diametrically opposite kids (one a spoilt drug-taking princess with zero direction and the other an art school attendee trying to hide his family’s immense wealth) round out this insular quartet. Adam and Cynthia apparently run off their limitless love for each other – her reaction when he tells her that he has been scamming money for the better part of the decade is met with adoration (“you did this all for us!”) rather than anger or fear. They just believe in the power of each other, to the point of freezing out all others. It’s like they're The Untouchables.

That’s what I found kind of charming about this book – that the actions of many characters were unexpected, and almost the opposite of a normal reaction. No-one is caught, no-one is redeemed, wealth, ego and self-fullfillment are applauded. A nice change from the uber earnest Eat Pray Love set.