Assessment:

Plot/Idea: Recent graduate Nick Evers has a short time left before his expected entry into his father's business. He's spending it casually hooking up with eager women. That is, until he meets an older woman and his father's associate, Elizabeth. What might have been a daring and transgressive tale of sexual coming of age dissolves into a chain of repetitive, emotionally scant sex scenes that fail to convince the reader to cheer for Elizabeth and Nick.

Prose: Kilometro Cero achieves titillating, salacious, and stylized sex scenes but fails to craft detailed interior lives for its cast of characters.

Originality: The novel’s most daring element–Nick and his father pursuing the same love interest– is scarcely explored. Otherwise, Nick’s story shares similar beats as other sexy dramas featuring an entitled, yet listless protagonist.

Character/Execution: The characters of Kilometro Cero are deliciously sexy and flawed, but the numerous love interests are only shallowly distinguished from one to the other.

Date Submitted: April 17, 2024