Book Review: ‘Icarus’ by K. Ancrum

Icarus is a stand-alone novel that follows American teenager Icarus Gallagher. Despite his young age, Icarus is a master thief. He steals priceless works of art and replaces them with his father’s forgeries. Icarus’ father has a vendetta against the wealthy Mr Black – a vendetta that Icarus has been raised into. When stealing yet another one of Mr Black’s paintings Icarus is unexpectantly interrupted by Mr Black’s son Helios. With both sons determined to escape the lives their fathers have set out for them, a deep and forbidden relationship grows between them.

After reading the blurb, the draw of this novel for me was Icarus’ life as an art thief and the promise of daring and elaborate heists with plenty of dramatic near misses. Unfortunately, the few heists depicted in the novel were described in relatively straightforward detail. Rather than being the story’s main focus as I’d expected, the art thief elements are instead more of a plot device to get characters in a position where they are forced to interact with each other.

Icarus’ life of crime is a thread that links the novel together as a whole but ultimately this is not a story about an art thief – this is a story about the relationships and friendships formed by a teenage boy.

A lot of this contemporary novel is set at school. Neither popular nor a loner, Icarus prefers the company of only one friend per class. When I began reading I would have said that the school chapters were not my favourite as they distracted from the main plot however, as we see Icarus’ relationships with his friends develop, I grew to love the school-based chapters as these featured some of the most heartwarming scenes. As his complicated life mentally takes its toll, Icarus’ friends realise something is wrong and stage an intervention of sorts. They offer no judgement and no pressure but instead let Icarus know they are there should he ever need help – no matter what form that help might take. The maturity of these interactions caught me by surprise but the inclusion of this positive support network brought a lot of humanity to the story.

Of course the main relationship in the book is the teen romance between Icarus and Helios which explores both sexuality and intersex. Both boys are curious about each and, despite an initial wariness when they first meet, the pair feel at their safest and most comfortable when they are with each other. When together the characters are completely honest and open about their thoughts and feelings – both about each other and their own lives. There is an intensity about their relationship. My only wish is that the novel had spent more time gradually building up their romance rather than quickly jumping into the deep, unwavering connection part of their relationship.

One of the things I found most interesting about the novel was how Ancrum had chosen to construct it. All of the chapters are incredibly short – typically between one to three pages in length. The effect is a snapshot of moments of Icarus’ life that never linger too long but together showcase his fragmented and compartmentalised life.

A contemporary coming of age story is not my typical genre but I’m nevertheless pleased I gave Icarus a try. While there were aspects of the story I wish had been explored further I still had a good time reading the novel. The ending was a bit rushed from my taste but the book still achieves a lot of positive moments in the build-up.

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