Fade to Blank

2.5 Rounding up to 3 because it seems GR users equate 2 stars with a horror show and, though I had lots of complaints, that's not the case with this book. Actually 2 stands for Okay on GR but it doesn't translate to that. So 3 it is and as always YMMV

There's a story here, not the one I thought I'd be reading, but I'll never dock a story because of what I wanted or expected it to be as opposed to what the author wrote. My problem with tis is that the story is buried in way too much padding. Wading through it became exhausting.

For reasons that are still unclear to me the story opens in 1999. Fletcher Doherty, a Donegal farm boy, came to London for university and has stayed trying to climb the ladder of serious journalism. At 24, barely on the gossip beat for an on-line magazine and fleeing an ill-advised uni crush, Fletcher is living with his boyfriend, Heston Monaghan, an actor 23 years his senior, a bit of a diva, with a wandering eye, and a known preference for sharing & sleeping around. Fletcher is not down or, if you prefer, up for that, and truth be told he more wants to be in love with Heston than he actually is. Fletcher is the proverbial fish out of water in London life and in Heston's circle.

Jackson “Jax” Young was trotted into public life by his parents almost since he was in nappies. Of late he was one half of Jax & Kris, tv presenters and all around celebrities adored by the British public. That all ended six months ago when Jax was arrested and incarcerated for the brutal murder of his live in girlfriend, fellow celebrity Tallulah Payne. Jax has maintained his innocence or more accurately that he doesn't remember what happened. That he merely woke up from a drunken stupor and found her dead in their home. When the book opens Jax is being released from prison due to lack of evidence for the prosecution to present an indictment. And my problems began.

Jax is sure he didn't murder Tallulah and decides that the way to prove that to the world is hiring a journalist who wrote a scathing review of his performance in a musical. You guessed it, Fletcher. Fine. Sure. Why not? What made me crazy was that the author is clearly going for a deeper conspiracy of who and why the murder was committed, but to tease this story into a series Jax and Fletcher NEVER have an actual conversation. Jax tells Fletcher that he's going to have Fletcher write his biography and thereby prove his innocence. Of course. He'll let Fletcher keep all the profits, which will apparently be astronomical and it will also cement Fletcher as bona fide investigative journalist. I'm not sure these celebrity biographies or any kind of book work that way, to my mind you might need a contract with a publisher, perhaps an agent etc. but the real kicker would be having someone who can actually ask questions and do investigative work. So far that hasn't been Fletcher.

While it's true that the time covered in the book is just a couple of days, Fletcher seems incredibly naive, going on whim & gut instinct rather than any kind of research. Next up is the fact that EVERY TIME Jax and Fletcher get together to talk about their bombshell book Jax just whines about Fletcher not needing to ask anyone else about anything and just believe him and then proceeds to say NOTHING. Whenever they might be getting close to any kind of Q & A the phone rings and Fletch must leave. It happens a number of times. Towards the end he alludes to some nebulous, all powerful, all knowing THEY/THEM, who manipulate everyone who graces the celebrity carpet, and I guess we'll get a clearer picture in the next books. I'm pretty sure I, and anyone who reads this knows the who, if not yet the why.

My other problem is how we have paragraphs just being in the characters heads, rehashing what just happened, what does it mean, what they wish for ad nauseam. I was bored and my mind wondered about other stuff like can a person be legally held for six months without an indictment? A celebrity? I don't think so. Would a management company whose made millions off of a client utterly wash their hands of them before anything has been resolved one way or another? Unlikely. Can Jax really have had zero people stand by him in his time of need, friends? parents? If our collective experience with proven killers like O.J. Simpson are anything to go by I find this hard to believe. Someone will hang on for any number of reasons. How is it possible that in 6 short months Jax is destitute, been declared bankrupt when he hasn't even been formally charged, much less tried and found guilty, and who did the declaring? How quickly does Jax expect this exonerating biography to be published? It's 1999 and publishing is slow even now in 2020. If his enemies are as omniscient and powerful as Jax believes, and the author intimates at, what makes him think he can even get it published?

Many, many, many questions and a dearth of veracity only highlighted that I didn't really feel any romantic connection between the MC. I know it's a slow burn. I love those. There's barely a couple of kisses here and quite frankly I could've done with none given what the characters were going through. I just don't see them as anything other than two people who can help each other out in their different objectives. Maybe that will change. I'm going on to BK.2 not so much because I care about this story but because I committed to it. I hope to be pleasantly surprised. That the characters morph into people I might like, might root for, might believe in. I'm accepting all hopes & prayers.

ps.
A) This is marketed as an enemy to lovers but the enmity just comes from Jax being a celebrity, Fletcher writing a gossip column, and Fletcher once having written a bad review of Jax's theatrical performance.

B) This ends in a major cliff hanger which doesn't bother me. Just stating the facts.