What readers are saying

• “Ithica manages to be ridiculous and serious at the same time.” — Manuela Ester Molteni ★★★★☆

• “The most imaginative book that I’ve read in a long time.” — Melanie Benita Schwartz

• “The AI aspect of the book was absolutely mind blowing.” — Donna

Complete Reviews

★★★★ 4 out of 5 stars
Manuela Ester Molteni — NetGalley Reviewer

I genuinely do not know how to review Ithica without sounding like I have just returned from a particularly feverish dream and am still trying to establish what year it is.

Is it dystopian erotica? A gleefully obscene political satire? A commentary on the current state of society delivered by someone who may have temporarily misplaced the last remaining shred of sanity? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine.

There were moments when I was staring at the page thinking, I have absolutely no idea what is happening here. Naturally, my response was to keep reading. Because apparently confusion is now one of my recreational activities.

And yet, beneath all the glorious absurdity, there is something surprisingly sharp going on. Ithica manages to be ridiculous and serious at the same time, often within the same breath. It pokes at politics, power, society, and human behaviour with enough sarcasm and smut to make the whole experience feel slightly illegal.

Was I always sure I understood what I was reading? Absolutely not.

Did I occasionally wonder whether the author and I were inhabiting entirely different dimensions? Quite possibly.

Did I enjoy it anyway? Weirdly, emphatically, yes.

This is not a book I would describe as conventional, straightforward, or remotely predictable. In fact, calling it “unusual” feels almost offensively inadequate. It is bizarre, provocative, irreverent, occasionally baffling, and somehow manages to hold all those qualities together without collapsing under their collective weight.

Ithica is less a reading experience and more an encounter with literary chaos. And while I am still recovering from whatever the hell just happened, I have to admit that I had a damn good time.

4 stars for originality, audacity, and possibly the strangest reading experience I've had in a while.

Melanie Benita Schwartz — Goodreads
“This is the most imaginative book that I’ve read in a long time. It went in unexpected directions and I was there for it! A great read. Recommend.”

John Goldbaum — Goodreads, 5 stars
“A raunchy, fast-paced, anti-establishment farce which I couldn’t put down. The whole system is corrupt, but you can laugh at their stupidity.” Goodreads is also surfacing his review on your author activity.

Donna — Goodreads, 5 stars
“I honestly couldn’t put it down… The AI aspect of the book is absolutely mind-blowing. Highly recommend!” This is also one of the reviews currently featured as Advance Praise on NetGalley.

Rory Hicks — ★★☆☆☆

NetGalley Reviewer

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, Ithica wasn't for me.

I'm still not entirely sure what I just read. I couldn't put it down, but not because I was enjoying it. I kept waiting for that "moment" where everything would click into place and the confusion would suddenly make sense. Instead, I reached the final page and was somehow even more confused than when I started.

The plot felt unclear, there were several spelling errors, and I cannot believe this is a sentence I'm writing, but even the random gay sex scenes felt overdone & disconnected from what was going on. By the end, I wasn't looking for answers anymore. I was just wanting to finish.

Rohit — ★★★★★

May 9, 2026

Really intense and different kind of read!!

ITHICA fully commits to its style and pulls you into the story pretty quickly. Hard to put down because you keep wanting to know where things are going next.

Jeremiah O. — ★★★★★

August 11, 2026

Ithica is a bold, unsettling, and surprisingly funny dive into institutional power, corruption, and survival. Paul Sharpless creates a world where truth is flexible, justice feels performative, and the people inside the system are often more dangerous than the threats outside it.

Anthea Tonelli is a particularly compelling center for the story, navigating disappearing colleagues, political manipulation, and an intelligence agency that seems determined to consume itself. The dark humor and psychological tension give the book a distinctive edge, while its exploration of sexuality, leverage, and power adds another layer to the characters' struggle for control.

What makes Ithica stand out is its willingness to be both absurd and serious at the same time. It doesn't simply tell a story about conspiracy, it questions how much of what we call "conspiracy" is simply the reality of systems operating behind closed doors.

Liv — ★★★☆☆

May 19, 2026

A bit of book in my anti-establishment plot and Ithica will keep you guessing and wondering if there's any time of societal structure you can actually trust out there.

I devoured the book and obviously enjoyed it but I think it was too fast-paced at time, and I not only was left confused by the ending but also felt like the choice made the high stakes amount to barely anything.

It does still keeps you in your toes until you get to that last 20% and that deserves to be praised and still worth the read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Tina Jones — ★★★☆☆

NetGalley Reviewer

Thank you to NetGallery for the advanced copy.

I’ve no idea where to start or how to review this book. It was easy to read and I finished it very quickly which one could say is a positive, but I simply did not enjoy reading it .

From the first page you’re thrown in to a world of secret Intelligence, not really knowing who or what anyone is - perhaps that is the point, being that Ithica is a secret intelligence agency.

While I have no doubt that all of the things mentioned in this book; murder, rigged legal cases, torture, media manipulation etc, are a part of our reality, the author chose to depict all of those things in the most ludicrous way possible and then throw in a lot of random sex and descriptions of nudity that had no place being there, it was jarring, interrupted the story and, I felt, wholly unnecessary.

While some of the themes and ideas that the author talks about absolutely deserve a lot more attention and thought; especially the use, or rather the misuse of AI, this book was simply not for me.