Scan barcode
A review by bldownunder
Maestra by L.S. Hilton
2.0
Disclaimer: I was provided a pre-release copy as part of a competition with Dymocks Australia. This has in no way influenced my response to the novel.
The premise is thus: Judith works a boring job at an Art House, and happens upon a 'friend' from her school days while waiting for the tube one evening after a particularly unsatisfying day at work. For some reason, she goes for an overpriced cocktail and is taken to the gentlemen's club that her friend works at. She then balances her every day life with her club life, which rapidly spirals out of control with the death of a client on a trip to France.
Let me be clear: DNF. I'm so disappointed. The premise led me to believe we were going to get a character involved in some shady business, working hard to uncover the truth beneath. Instead, we get extremely erratic character development - one minute, she's a bland art historian-esque figure struggling against mid-level management, the next she's performing visceral sex acts in the house of a former acquaintance that happens to be a casual heroin user, and it only continues to get more difficult to follow. Bizarre is not necessarily bad; in fact, I highly enjoy bizarre, and I enjoy erotica when it's good. If the 'facts' in Judith's history had not just been launched on the reader without any sort of build up, pre-warning or context behind them, it would have flowed well with the story. I'm not sure what happened here.
The plot itself moved along at a manageable pace, but I'm honestly so thrown by Judith's development and found myself actually saying, "What the hell is going on?" at the book so much, my partner asked me if I was alright. I got about two-thirds of the way through and had to stop.
Positives I found within were definitely the presence of a strong female lead (no matter how sporadic her character development), acknowledgement of key issues like alcoholism, consumerism and sexual assault, and a decently plotted overall story arc. Her editor did well with the small things - in that the English was grammatically correct, the sentences didn't feel rushed, and were properly structured.
All in all, I'm sure there will be a lot of readers who enjoy L.S. Hilton's work, unfortunately I am not one of them.
The premise is thus: Judith works a boring job at an Art House, and happens upon a 'friend' from her school days while waiting for the tube one evening after a particularly unsatisfying day at work. For some reason, she goes for an overpriced cocktail and is taken to the gentlemen's club that her friend works at. She then balances her every day life with her club life, which rapidly spirals out of control with the death of a client on a trip to France.
Let me be clear: DNF. I'm so disappointed. The premise led me to believe we were going to get a character involved in some shady business, working hard to uncover the truth beneath. Instead, we get extremely erratic character development - one minute, she's a bland art historian-esque figure struggling against mid-level management, the next she's performing visceral sex acts in the house of a former acquaintance that happens to be a casual heroin user, and it only continues to get more difficult to follow. Bizarre is not necessarily bad; in fact, I highly enjoy bizarre, and I enjoy erotica when it's good. If the 'facts' in Judith's history had not just been launched on the reader without any sort of build up, pre-warning or context behind them, it would have flowed well with the story. I'm not sure what happened here.
The plot itself moved along at a manageable pace, but I'm honestly so thrown by Judith's development and found myself actually saying, "What the hell is going on?" at the book so much, my partner asked me if I was alright. I got about two-thirds of the way through and had to stop.
Positives I found within were definitely the presence of a strong female lead (no matter how sporadic her character development), acknowledgement of key issues like alcoholism, consumerism and sexual assault, and a decently plotted overall story arc. Her editor did well with the small things - in that the English was grammatically correct, the sentences didn't feel rushed, and were properly structured.
All in all, I'm sure there will be a lot of readers who enjoy L.S. Hilton's work, unfortunately I am not one of them.