Country: U.K
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Police Procedural
Pages: 382
Her Cartier sunglasses did little to hide her discomfort, She wanted to wear cheap clothes, like the mothers at the supermarkets, and hide behind brands that had no cachet. The enjoyment of being watched was gone from her, and she wondered if there were places she could go anonymously and blend into a crowd, lost among the little people she never know.
There are various ways to stand out in the overcrowded literary landscape, if you're not the second coming of Francis Scott Fitzgerald. Richard Godwin is a writer that found his method to success but mixing up skills, originality and absolute fearlessness in order to push the boundaries of certain genres. APOSTLE RISING, published last year, was one of the first psychological thrillers I've read that went beyond the ghost of Thomas Harris. MR. GLAMOUR explores the same format, but goes in another direction. I'd like to tell you it goes in the opposite direction of APOSTLE RISING, but the reality is far more abstract. Not only it's a novel that makes its own path, but it's taking more inspiration outside literature. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you MR. GLAMOUR a fine-and-dandy, over-the-top, GIALLO extravaganza of a novel. Yep, you heard me.
The form of MR. GLAMOUR might be confusing at first, but you have to bear with it as it gets better and better. There's a maniac amongst the rich and the glamorous. He is killing women and branding their flesh. DCI Jackson Flare and Inspector Mandy Steele are on the case. But as if the murders weren't befuddling enough, men are starting to die too. The murders are as brutal, but don't seem to have been committed by the same person. The privileged community is falling prey to a spiral of fear and paranoia which consist in about the first hundred pages of the novel. There are multiple characters and the violent events they've been put through is letting their dark side float back up to the surface. What's so unsettling about the way MR. GLAMOUR is built is that there's no clear protagonist. Flare and Steele receive some attention, but the story really follows the hand of the killer. Yeah, like in...wait for it....wait for it...
A FREAKIN' GIALLO MOVIE! For the first hundred pages of Mr. GLAMOUR, I was really confused and didn't know what to make of it. Then I put it down for a few hours to mull things over and realize all the elements of Giallo were there. Horrible murders (that keep happening), a zoom on female intimacy (that goes too far for good taste) and sex. Lots of sex and desire. I don't know about you, but to enjoy Giallo films, I always had to take a step back. It's not something you can get too involved with, emotionally. It's the kind of story where you can root for the killer. In this regard, MR. GLAMOUR is about the next best thing to Dario Argento movies. In fact, if the master director would adapt this book, it might be the best thing ever. And I'm not saying it's frivolous or humorous in any way. It's that it's not a good Vs evil typical story structure. MR. GLAMOUR goes so far in "evil" territory, you don't know what's good and who to root for anymore. So you root for who's more awesome, instead of who's the better person. I can totally get behind that.
The form of MR. GLAMOUR might be confusing at first, but you have to bear with it as it gets better and better. There's a maniac amongst the rich and the glamorous. He is killing women and branding their flesh. DCI Jackson Flare and Inspector Mandy Steele are on the case. But as if the murders weren't befuddling enough, men are starting to die too. The murders are as brutal, but don't seem to have been committed by the same person. The privileged community is falling prey to a spiral of fear and paranoia which consist in about the first hundred pages of the novel. There are multiple characters and the violent events they've been put through is letting their dark side float back up to the surface. What's so unsettling about the way MR. GLAMOUR is built is that there's no clear protagonist. Flare and Steele receive some attention, but the story really follows the hand of the killer. Yeah, like in...wait for it....wait for it...
A FREAKIN' GIALLO MOVIE! For the first hundred pages of Mr. GLAMOUR, I was really confused and didn't know what to make of it. Then I put it down for a few hours to mull things over and realize all the elements of Giallo were there. Horrible murders (that keep happening), a zoom on female intimacy (that goes too far for good taste) and sex. Lots of sex and desire. I don't know about you, but to enjoy Giallo films, I always had to take a step back. It's not something you can get too involved with, emotionally. It's the kind of story where you can root for the killer. In this regard, MR. GLAMOUR is about the next best thing to Dario Argento movies. In fact, if the master director would adapt this book, it might be the best thing ever. And I'm not saying it's frivolous or humorous in any way. It's that it's not a good Vs evil typical story structure. MR. GLAMOUR goes so far in "evil" territory, you don't know what's good and who to root for anymore. So you root for who's more awesome, instead of who's the better person. I can totally get behind that.
Looking at Mark and knowing what appealed to her she thought of how she had allayed Allen's violation of her belief. For it was as much this as her body she sought to gain control of.
At first it was pleasure she sought, the moment's negation of her isolation, her exile from herself. The years of nameless men. A parade of bodies with no intimacy. She was losing herself further during that time. Until one night she discovered what she wanted.
My appreciation of MR. GLAMOUR kept growing as I turned the pages. This is not all that common when I read a novel. Most books start strong and have an ending that doesn't keep up with the pace they set for the story. The ending of MR. GLAMOUR is a thing of beauty. I'm not going to spoil anything for you, but it's a work of art, an exclamation point, a cherry on the Sundae. It shines a new light on the whole story you've just read and makes it even better. I was debating with myself how many stars I should allow to Godwin's latest because it kept growing on me. I have a soft spot for books that keep building on its layers. It makes for such a dynamic experience. MR. GLAMOUR requires more patience than APOSTLE RISING, but it's another kind thrill. It's true you need your adventurer hat on whenever you read Richard Godwin, but this is a proud addition in the legacy he's building. He's the boldest, most interesting police procedural writer working right now.
FOUR STARS