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This is an odd one...no really, it's weird! Ok, so I guess that's not a total shock judging by the back of the book, but if nothing else it's original. My only complaint so far would be the occasional bout of short, staccato sentences the author seems to feel an affinity to. When you hit a patch it does feel a little like reading a Janet and John book (wow, I think I just really showed my age!). That aside it's fast paced and entertaining, with a motley crew of eccentric characters and set in a colourful world, to say the least. It does try a little too hard at times to be trendy, but I can live with that if it's a good story. So, the story... Alice is in the fashion business...for all of the first page of the book. When her slimy boss does the dirty on her she tells him where to go and consequently finds herself unemployable, the bossman not too keen on her rough treatment and desperate to let any would-be employer know just how much trouble she is. She is consoled by her best friend Conor, who after she is kicked out of her flat and becomes destitute, persuades his new lover Hector to employ her as his new waitress. And then things get funky. When Hector receives a letter from the immigration department Conor comes up with the cunning plan for Alice and Hector to marry, thereby keeping his lover from being deported back to the Ukraine. Alice accepts, in exchange for a half share in the Samovar, the restaurant he owns. It seems like a really good deal to Alice, until she begins to realize Hectors total lack of responsibility for money, and his allergy to paying tax. Her plans for expansion seem hopeless, coupled with her visit with Conor to see his parents, he finally decided to come out to them, which turns into a disaster when they assume that the two are married. Now having to play the role of Hector's wife to the immigration service and Conor's wife to his parents Alice tries to pull together the tatters of the situation enough to make a go of things. Maybe Madam Max has the answer, but will it be in time to avert the interest of the rather violent Joxer bloke? It's a cool
book, every now and again it tries to get deep, these parts to me don't
really work. Max's abusive childhood, Conor's relationship with his
father and Alice's ruinous life, loomed over by her father's suicide and
he evil step-monster's rejection are interludes, but whether we need
background on these larger than life characters is something I'm not
sure of. These passages seem forced, whereas the rest seems to flow in a
carefree manner that I like. Maybe the past and present will be tied
together making them necessary. We shall see as the story continues, so
far though I'm enjoying it. |
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I admit when I got a delivery of new books from Amazon today I rushed to get this finished. The book was soap opera-like, in the extreme, with the main characters lurching from one disaster to the next at break neck speed. The restaurant did well, so well that the local protection racket (led by the hulking Joxer Boxer, who answers to the psychotic Jesse James) get really interested. For a while they pay, but with their expansion plans Alice and Conor decide to do something to end the arrangement. At which point the story gets a little crazy. I kinda get the impression that the author started with one idea, the bogus marriage, and got caught up with the gangster idea and went with that too. So Alice and Conor go to Jesse James (sheesh, what a name!) to 'reason' with him. He puts the 'insurance' payments up in response, and so they embark on a plan to bug his home and get enough dirt on him to get him off their backs. So when Alice tunes in to find her step-monster carrying on a torrid affair with the thug they start to figure out a way to use it. There's a whole big background thing with the step-monster's new husband, being a gangster (big boss type, very scary and unlikely to appreciate one of his lieutenants shagging his wife) not to mention abusing Alice's stepsister Melanie (who showed up on Conor's brother Declan's arm). Blackmailing Jesse works...for a while, until the boss guy's murdered. Which puts them in a heap of trouble. So again they look for dirt on Jesse. In an ending that sums up far too fast considering the rest of the book they find evidence to have Jesse put away for a long time and then all live happily ever after. I enjoyed reading this, though there were a fair few irritations along the way. The desperate desire of the writer to flesh out the characters was a real pain, it could have been a really funny book had she not felt the need to add so many deep, dark backgrounds. I didn't need to know why Jesse flew off the handle when Alice called him a bastard, it's what psychos do, that's enough. Often it felt there were too many characters to keep track of, and the Hector storyline ended as soon as he left, the only reason it seems to include that whole thing was so Alice could end up with the immigration officer. All in all though a good read, though lacking in a few areas. definitely not to be taken seriously, but for a little light reading I'd recommend it. So now I get to go and start my new books, wheeeeeeeeeee!
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