- It’s 1996. The wealthy Gulch family live in a mansion in the very up-market enclave of Belle Haven in Connecticut.
- The successful corporation the family owns has secrets that are about to be exposed by the authorities and the media. For years they've been running a enterprise riddled with fraud and criminality. The real brains behind it all is Honey, the wife of Fax, the actual inheritor. She's the ultimate schemer, whereas Fax is barely cognisant of it, living in his own world of art, literature and music. He's a dedicated student of the cultures of the world…yet in reality an old, sick dunce in the eyes of many. Fax and his books. He never gets to the burdensome task of actually reading them.
- Kick is their daughter and Lincoln their son. Lincoln has corporate ambitions of his own.
- Lukins certainly has a talent for rich, whimsical prose. Honey has just convinced her bowels into motion as Sam answers her call. He's constructed a story of secrets. The characters are wealthy but weak. They are entitled and arrogant but quintessentially boring. They're constantly drinking and drug taking, and basically loathe one another. And they have silly names. It seems wealth doesn't redeem, it condemns.
- When Kick was in her final year of high school she had two good friends Presley and Mouse. But Mouse went missing on the day of graduation and has never been seen since, ten years later. Lincoln thinks his father was fucking her.
- Unfortunately the major storyline never resolves in the end. Who ends up a winning or losing business-wise. What the corporate crimes really were. If this were a TV show, viewers would be screaming for a second series.
- So in a substantial way this novel fails to satisfy. It's an enjoyable read but also frustrating. It's missing real depth.
No comments:
Post a Comment