This is such a killer cover. The colors are striking, and the homage to Warhol is well-done, with Warhol acting as a main inspiration for the novel's pop-obsessed Hailey. Great work all around!

Calla Henkel's debut novel, Other People's Clothes, is a mystery-thriller dressed in layers of black leather and thumping with the drive of European techno. Built on patchworked identities and coarse relationships, it's a slow build that roars to life as its characters fight their insecurities with flames of killer drama.

Zoe and Hailey are a pair of American study abroad students in Berlin, escaping the suffocating, sculpture-ruled hierarchy of their art school. Thrilled to get out of their hostel, Zoe and Hailey happen upon a sublet being leased out by a famous thriller author. They sign the lease and move in. But even between their drug-hazed nights in Berlin clubs and Law and Order binges, it doesn't take long for things to feel ... off. Realizing that they're being watched and that the landlady's newest novel bears a spine-chilling resemblance to their own situation, Zoe and Hailey attempt to take control of their own narrative before someone else writes their ending.

Our main character, Zoe, feels out of touch with those around her. She lacks a confident sense of self and latches onto the interests and personality traits of everyone she meets. Following the unsolved murder of her best friend, Zoe's dependency only deepens. She feels just as alone at her New York City art school, surrounded by pretentious art snobs and "sculpture bros," as she does while studying abroad in Berlin. At least in Berlin, she's stuck with her roommate, Hailey. Hailey is a bubbly, insensitive ex-model obsessed with the power of pop culture and widespread fame. In the industrial clubs of Berlin, she expects to party her way into the all-so-inclusive art scene, but rejection after rejection only sharpens her pointed, selfish resolve to a dangerous degree.

Hailey is hard to like. Most of the cast, in fact, is hard to like: self-absorbed, pretentious, or blindingly out of touch. They illustrate the hostile inclusivity of high-profile art scenes in cities like New York and Berlin, where the difference between wash-out and fame can be tied to who shares their ecstasy with you. Even Zoe isn't the easiest character to like. Her severe insecurities made me want to shake her by the shoulders a few times. Even still, her directionlessness and search for identity made her relatable, two things my younger self would connect with achingly.

A slow and lurching opening leaves the first act of Other People's Clothes feeling unfocused. That feeling doesn't quite go away until about halfway through the novel, when its mystery-thriller side begins to show. Before then, it's angst-filled-- fueled by cynical takes on obnoxious art kids, an empty romance built on grief, and the cold chaos of Berlin clubbing. But once the plot finds its rhythm, it grooves with dancing threads and off-beat reveals that jives perfectly with its leather black, post-war style.

While I found the characters fairly grating, there's still enough to enjoy about their vivid personalities and whacked-out antics to carry the novel as its plot develops with a level of dramatic flare to match its cast of art students. The prose is full of personality, and the random dives into 2008 pop culture tether the novel to its time, full of hope for Obama's presidency, love for Britney Spears, and an obsession for Amanda Knox's upcoming trial. Much like the coal furnaces that warm Zoe and Hailey's sublet, Other People's Clothes takes a while to heat up, but once it does, it burns fast and bright-- all the way to the end.

A night you miss in Berlin ...

Final thoughts:

Other People's Clothes is a lot of fun, once it starts to catch fire.

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