Book Review: The Fixer: The Naked Man by Jill Amy Rosenblatt

This is a fun concept – I’m a long-time fan of regular-person-finds-themselves-in-a-mess stories, particularly when they force people to decide how far they’re willing to go to save themselves/their families. I loved the way this one opened – Katerina was sassy and stepped up and did what she had to do and her snarky take-charge attitude made me think I was really going to love this series.

Unfortunately, things fell apart a bit for me after that…

I think it’s a great concept, and the Kat of the opening pages would be a great character. Ditto several of the others – especially the anxiety-riddled Winter and enigmatic Angel – but I noticed quite quickly that the characters all started out with great promise but then either devolved into trope (Angel) or went so far against character so quickly and with so little warning (Winter) that they felt slap-dash in their presentation. It ruffled the pacing and flow (and believability factor) and made things feel thrown together in a way that pulled me out of the story, even if only momentarily – and in a novella, that’s dangerous ground… Even Katerina herself becomes wishy-washy in the middle – it is a perfectly believable and acceptable thing, to have her get queasy at what is happening, but she goes from zero to sixty, anxiety- and self doubt-wise, and it is a bit jarring (this was my Winter complaint too, by the way).

All in all this is a fun idea that feels a bit rough around the edges, but the writing was otherwise quite engaging and I am cautiously optimistic about future installments. I am curious enough to see where Katerina and her supporting cast go next to try another book, but will be looking for things to tighten up a bit before I can commit to any more than that…

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.