Okay, I need to start off by admitting something: I love a good antihero. The person we shouldn't root for but secretly do? That’s my book jam. And *Samuel Brohl and Company* by Victor Cherbuliez delivers that in spades. This isn’t some dusty old novel—it’s a sly, twisty ride told from inside the head of a man who lies for a living.

The Story

The whole thing kicks off when Samuel Brohl, a young Jewish man with big street smarts and bigger debts, leaves his life as a con artist in Russia behind. His plan? Take down a wealthy retired winemaker he meets by accident. Samuel charms his way into this man’s world, pretending to be a well-off merchant. His mission: trick the widower into a dodgy wine business deal that will drain his cash. Even better? He’ll pocket the guy’s aging servant as an ally (he doesn’t, she has her own plans) and land the rosy, sheltered daughter so she not find out till it’s too late. But living all these different stories makes him start forgetting he himself is lying. The local townspeople, a lady gang of mentors, and most of all his own unknown conscience keep mixing up his perfect game. The heart of the story is whether Samuel can keep his lies stacked high enough to cash out before reality smashes them down.

Why You Should Read It

If you’re expecting a boring old book where the bad guy twirls his mustache, think again. Cherbuliez writes from inside Samuel’s head and basically makes you his ally. We see his sweaty-palmed panic, his jokes for his own failures, and the dumb warmth he starts having for the family. And then he can be ice cold for business—you end up half-sad half-impressed. What I felt deep down is the question nobody asks: What makes someone become their lies slowly? There's also this special, dark feel of a little community wary of outsiders but naive enough to trust him totally by real food and nice wine. It reads like someone gossip-whispering a breathtaking town secret. Plus, the women in this book sneak up on you. The girl's mean buddy knows exactly what Samuel is, but she has a moral plan you don’t see coming until the very last second. It freshens up the classic ‘strange seducer’ story.

Final Verdict

Who this is for: Fans of crime nobody yet notices—like watching someone sail a boat that getting water and waiting for it to go down. So it’s delicious precisely because it’s fast, lean, yet feels old and calm. You enjoy liar spirals with dramatic quiet language in great scenery: *Samuel Brohl* will spend long corners in your mind. Read that alone with red wine. Ignore the gloomy start—push to middle. Perfect should stretch, expecting ‘comforting novels to get consumed by, alongside some dust and cold threat magic.” Then closes strong, nicely, sour-sweet.”
Probably skip if: You want action or main big plots of sweep.