Sloane Crosley’s credentials are unapologetically Sex And The City: a young, pretty, witty, stylish Manhattanite. However, her two humorous, self-deprecating New York Times bestselling essay collections, I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number, reveal a non-Samantha Jones quality: Crosley is goofy and likeable. The characters of her debut novel, The Clasp, exhibit a similar mix of envy-inducing stamps and relatable late twenties cluelessness.
Reunited at a flashy Miami wedding, the stories of ungrounded college friends Victor, Kezia and Nathaniel become intertwined with the tale of a mythical necklace lost in Nazi-occupied France. Their somewhat anticlimactic French treasure hunt provides a wobbly plot at best, but the palpable chemistry of the trio and their sharp, comical exchanges save the day. Crosley knows her audience is young and she successfully caters to it.
