Published by Hampton Creek Press, Simon & Schuster Genres: Fiction, Horror
Format: ARC, eBook
Welp! It pains me to write this review. I am a HUGE fan of J.D. Barker and have now read 10 of his books. Many of which were five star reads for me, but The Finer Things was not fine at all. I had to check a few times to see if he did in fact write this book because this was not on par to his usually wonderfully written and executed books. I’m still scratching my head and wondering how much he wrote as opposed to how much the person he co-authored the book with wrote. I am always instantly gripped and instantly addicted to his books and writings. This one did not work for me at all.
1950s New York
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Edgar Maguire seems to have the skills that delight the eyes of many. He is a sculptor, and his art is to die for. When Fiona, re-enters his life, his passion is ignited, and his creations are well – unique!
Sigh We can’t love every book a writer writes, and we certainly can’t love every book that we pick up. This book blurs the line between madness, genius, skill, obsession, and art. Normally, I would find this to be intriguing, but I found the dialogue to be off, the scenes were odd and clunky. I don’t know how else to describe them. The characters of Fiona and Edgar have a connection, but I never felt it. They were supposed to have a deep connection, but it felt very surface and dull.
UGH! I am at a loss. Again, I love J.D. Barker’s writing but, in this book, it did not feel as if he wrote it at all. He is such a beautiful writer and writes intriguing, interesting and unique characters but all of that was lacking in this book. If you have not read J.D. Baker’s work before, I strongly suggest you read Dracul,She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be, or any book in his 4MK thriller series starting with The Fourth Monkey. They are amazing, addictive, thrilling and hard to put down books.
What did work for me in this book was the atmosphere and the setting. This book did play out like an old black and white movie in my mind.
There are reviewers who enjoyed this book more than I did, so please read their reviews as well. As I mentioned, I love J.D. Barkers other books and will happily read what he writes next.
Thank you to Hampton Creek Press / Simon & Schuster and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
