karlakolumna

There are some (very minor) spoilers in this review, but those are not really spoilery enough to spoil the reading experience, in my opinion. Just a FYI.

So. This one was a bit of a rollercoaster for me.

John is one cynic, mysogynistic, misanthropic, homophobic, conceited piece of shit--totally full of himself, hates everybody, thinks everybody is below him. And I hated him.
But, oddly enough, I grew to love to hate him. Figure. (Well, maybe not that odd considering that Filth--with James McAvoy's performance as Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson--is one of my favourite films ever, so there's that.)

So, there's me, starting to seriously love the book, intrigued beyond words about John and Goodrich strange dance around each other. John detesting him as the new member of his division, but being strangely drawn to him at the same time, not really knowing why. Him "bullying" (not quite) Goodrich in a way that practically amounts to them pulling pigtails. It was fun. It was well done. Really.

And then, at around 66% it all went to hell. It seemed like the author either wanted to A. come to an end with the story due to losing interest in their own novel or B. didn't know how to write his characters finally getting/being together. Because all of a sudden John makes a total 180° change and suddenly he's sweet and tame like a kitten. Flirtatious. Sugary, even. Talks about love. (When he, before, was more than contemptuous of both the idea/sentiment and people falling for it.) Having no problem that the object of his loving is, on top of that, a man. (A Man! It was made quite clear that men loving, even just fucking, other men was more than a weakness, was absurd, was despicable.) Now, though, it is not a problem at all. Riiiiiiiight.

Oh, and then, on the last couple of pages of the book, he does it again. Does something totally against his character (or that what the reader was made to believe was his character in the first 2/3 of the book). He suddenly recognises the error of his ways, grows a conscience, gains a moral compass and deems himself not worthy of Goodrich. Where the bloody hell did that come from? I certainly have no idea. (But don't despair, that is a very short development in the very end and resolved just as quickly. There's a HEA, don't fret.)

Well, this was a solid 4 (maybe even 4.5) star read for the first 2/3 of the book. It went downhill from there. Rapidly. I find myself incapable of rewarding more than 3 stars due to that reason.