Too much discussion of cryptocurrency that went over my head and ruined the story line. Chris Bohjalian dwells on painting corruption in every corner of life, and sometimes the depressing episodes reek havoc with my dreams. In this story, we journey into the dark sewer of Las Vegas, and discover the crime, murder, and corruption that simmering within this glossy city. This book and the CNN series on Las Vegas expose not a glorious showcase, but a current Sodom and Gomorrah. Will Las Vegas fall into ruin? The story centers on Crissy Dowling and her Vegas show as Princess Dianna. Crissy’s sister, Betsy, and niece, Marisa, enter the picture and complicate issues. Dead men pile up. What is happening? Will Crissy, Betsy, and Marisa become the next victims? Bohjalian loves to involve death, murder, and corruption into his stories, and sometimes this is too much. The novel did not end soon enough for me. ( )

The Princess of Las Vegas, Chris Bohjalian, author; Sadkia Maarleveld, Grace Experience, narrators
Crissy Dowling is a star in Las Vegas, the gambling mecca of Nevada. It is the end of the summer of 2022, the pandemic is over, life is returning to normal. Early in the novel, the plot is hinted at when the reader is informed that “someone has been taken”, but that is pretty much all the foreshadowing they get. The reader learns that Crissy impersonates Diana Spencer, once the wife of Prince Charles, who is now King Charles. His infidelity with Camilla Parker Bowles brought heartache and tragedy to the royal family almost three decades ago. Princess Di suffered from bulimia and Crissy identifies with her because she does, as well.
Crissy is a permanent performer at the Buckingham Palace Casino where she literally becomes the Princess of Wales for her audience, an audience that is always sold out. Although it is not a first-rate hotel like the Bellagio or the Venetian, and it is not on the main strip, it holds its own; she is a major draw, portraying the princess with such perfection that people believe, temporarily, that she really is Princess Di. She has been doing it for so long, that she almost believes that is who she is, and she cannot even lose the British accent or princess persona when she is offstage.
Partially estranged from her sister Betsy, whom she believes murdered her mother, she is nonplussed when she learns that Betsy is moving to Las Vegas with her boyfriend Frankie and her adopted daughter Marisa. Which sister is at fault for their faulty relationship? Are both misinterpreting each other’s behavior? Is one more malicious? Is one more unhinged? Their childhood was competitive.
Formerly a social worker, Betsy now has a job with a company involved with crypto currency, called Futurium. It seems that it is possibly a front for laundering money since that seems to be an obvious reason to have a digital wallet in Las Vegas. In addition, there are fingerprints of the Mastaba, a crime syndicate, all over the company. It is owned by Tony Lombardo. His grandfather started the crime syndicate Mastaba, and he is now the custodian of that mob. They seem to have infiltrated many areas of business, the government and law enforcement. There are suspicions that they use strong arm methods to achieve their goals but have been unable to prove anything.
Wound tightly, Crissy gets through most of her days with a cocktail of various tranquilizers and alcohol. When the owner of Futurium, Tony Lombardo, asks Crissy to perform on his private island, assuming the arrogance of a princess, she puts him off. Tony has the reputation of a man who does not like getting rebuffed or being refused anything that he wants. Has Crissy crossed a line that will jeopardize her show or worse?
All of a sudden, a rash of supposed suicides occur in Las Vegas. The first suicide is Richie Morley one of the owners of the Casino. Then his brother Artie hangs himself. What will now happen to the Buckingham Palace? When her current heartthrob the Russian Yevgeny Orlov falls off a cliff while visiting her there, she becomes very suspicious and discovers they are all connected in some way to Futurium, the company employing her sister. She finds out that Futurium is interested in purchasing the Buckingham Palace Casino and remaking it into a more world class venue. Could the Mastaba be behind these “suicides”? She wonders if Betsy is in danger. Crissy and her sister, not even two years apart, look so much alike that they are often mistaken for twins. When her sister begins to show up in places in her stead, but without admitting she is Betsy, she wonders if Betsy is in danger? Is she being framed? Has Betsy unwittingly involved Crissy in a murder that might have mob written all over it? Is Crissy the one being framed?
The story plays out in the alternate voices of Crissy, Betsy and Marissa. There are a lot of characters, but my favorite character is the precocious Marisa, Crissy’s tech genius niece. A teenager, she is sometimes naïve, but more often, she is far more aware and mature than many of the adults. There are times when it is impossible not to suspend disbelief, because the naïveté of the sisters seems more appropriate for the previous century than this one. Although the women were raised in a rural area, they were literally not born yesterday. Both are in their thirties.
This is not Bohjalian’s finest hour, but the narrative does keep the reader engaged enough to keep on reading in order to find out how it will end. It is a bit too long, a bit too contrived and a bit too like a fairy tale, but perhaps that was the intent of the author. Princess Di had the epitome of the fairy tale life. She married her prince. Unfortunately, did not truly want to marry her, and he dishonored her. ( )

Started out pretty good and then just sort of went over the top. Sisters, who dislike and distrust each other; mobsters (new Mafia), cryptocurrency, Princess Diana impersonator, etc. Crissy is a dead ringer for Diana and makes her living as an impersonator in a second rate hotel in Vegas. Betsy, her sister comes from Vermont with a newly adopted 13-year old foster daughter who is a math whizz. Betsy comes with some ex-banker who is deeply involved with cryptocurrency.

There are mysterious deaths, and Betsy who also looks like Diana is forced to portray her in such a way to lay blame on Crissy. it's just a bit over the top. Too much back story with the sisters and the 13 year old foster girl is no where near a regular 13 year old foster child. So so ( )

Tension aand darkness certainly in this Vegas, crypto, mob scenenovel. Didn't finish as quickly as usual so it had a couple of nights for the dark underside to haunt me. It had lots of twists, pretty well developed characters and just enough light to keep me going. Glad to have it done in a way, I'm not a fan of the Vegas scene anyway. ( )

Chris Bohjalian has been a must read author for me. He's written 23 books and most of them were five star reviews from me. Unfortunately, his new book isn't as good as some of his previous books. It's still a great read but unlikable characters make the book difficult to read in parts.

Chrissy and Becky are sisters and had been very close when they were young. Years later family secrets cooled their relationship. They still talked on the phone but not very often plus they were on different paths in their lives.

Chrissy lives in Las Vegas and performs in her own show at one of the lesser casinos playing Princess Diana.
She loved her life in Las Vegas. She spent most of her day in her private cabana at the pool and she uses pills and alcohol to help her get through her days. When one of the owners of the casino is killed, she begins to worry about what will happen to her show if someone buys the casino. That ended up being the least of her worries.

Betsy is a social worker in Vermont. She is serious about life and a total opposite to carefree Chrissy. She has recently adopted a 13 year old girl and they are working at getting to know each other. When her boyfriend asks her to move to Las Vegas with him to work in the crypto currency business she decides that she's burnt out from social work and it's time to try a different path. Chrissy was very unhappy with her sister's decision and really didn't want her living so close.

Both women are trying to live their lives as best they can. Chrissy loves her Diana tribute and Betsy is excited to move to Vegas and start over. They both end up in a lot of trouble surrounded by gangsters and con men and in extreme danger. ( )