Review: Flare Up by Gary Beck

Published: 22 March 2019

Stars /5: 4

Review:

Flare Up follows Terry and Ange (mainly Terry who is an art appraiser caught up in the hedonistic money and status lifestyle). I was initially confused as the first pages stated that Terry and Ange met in the mid 40s, but he was an appraiser of 60s art. The writing didn't have a 1940s feel, so either the author was confused by their own writing, I was interpreting this completely incorrectly, or Terry was an appraiser of 1860s art; which doesn't spring to mind as being as of note as 1960s art (art deco). After their first date in the apparent 1940s, they went on to exchange email addresses and cell phone numbers; another point which didn't help the timeline continuity. After only 9 pages, my back was up and I was frustrated by the lack of continuity.

There was little to no distinction between the sections written from Terry's point of view and those from Ange's point of view. Not even a page break, just a new line, which at times made the book difficult to follow.

Despite these points above, the writing style was good with thought put into the characters and the plot flowed well for the main part incorporating other snippets from Terry and Ange's lives. Unfortunately, the plot wasn't for me and I can only describe it as the Wolf of Wall Street with art. I would however, read other books by Gary Beck set in different environments.