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Devil's Cut by J R Ward (view source)
Revision as of 14:01, 28 September 2017
, 14:01, 28 September 2017no edit summary
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I feel as though I came to this book under false pretencespretenses. I requested the book thinking I was getting a murder mystery and instead I was thrown head first into a roaring family saga. Indeed, said murder mystery though pivotal in the history of the family, is more of a quiet subplot and catalyst from where to begin the storytelling for the book. And so it was I was met with the Baldwine family and the Bradford Bourbon Company. The initial meeting is a romantic one as the family are presented high up in their castle on the hill - or in this case from their beautiful Kentuckian Bradford Family Estate replete with tea roses, fruit trees and hazy Southern sunshine. It isn't long however before Ward transports the reader from such rolling splendour to the darkest corners of human psychology wherein fathers and sons may share the same lover, brothers are divided by suspicion and jealousy and women are used as trophies and commodities.
While the book may not quite reach the dizzying heights of ''The Forsyte Saga'', it is a more than apt addition to the tradition of the family saga. What Ward presents is a story packed full of familial disharmony and disloyalty, requited and unrequited loves and secrets upon deep dark secrets - as rich and fulsome in plot as the bourbon itself. ''Devil's Cut'' is actually the third offering in Ward's Bourbon King series. As a newcomer to the series I did feel like I was having to piece together quite the dysfunctional family tree for the first few chapters, but it didn't take long before I was completely immersed in the privileged and fragile world of the Baldwines. Whilst I didn't feel at all at a disadvantage for having not read the first two instalments, I do think had I done so my anticipation of the third book and subsequent enjoyment of it would have been greater. As a stand alone however, it is a fine example of the guilty pleasure a book can sometimes offer.