4 out of 4 stars
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Hiram McDowell is a renowned surgeon who treats everyone as a means to an end. He somehow finds himself involved in multiple scandals and has to decide how to proceed from there after his world of wealth and prestige collapses.
Written by William H. Coles, McDowell is a slow-paced novel about McDowell’s fall from grace and struggle to regain power. Its 472 pages outline the story of a man utterly consumed by his need for power and lack of a moral compass.
This book is very well written. The writing flows naturally and I was able to fly through the novel without getting stopped on any grammatical errors. The author does a wonderful job of developing the characters. For example, the main character, Hiram feels very much like a real person. His thoughts are well articulated and his character interacts with the world in a way that doesn’t feel forced. Most of the characters are also very smart, but are written in such a way that the average reader is able to relate to them. These relations that can be made between the characters and the reader make the book an interesting read.
There are a few aspects of this book that would make it unappealing to some readers. McDowell’s views are very harsh, and some readers might not appreciate reading about them. McDowell is very crass towards women. His thoughts towards women are almost always appearance based and very negative. He has negative views towards the LGBTQ+ community as well. Anyone who has the opposite views on these topics might find the read objectionable.
Some sensitive topics are also addressed in the novel, like animal abuse, school shootings, murder, and infidelity. These topics, especially murder and school shootings, are described in great detail and in great length. For more sensitive readers, this could make the book an uncomfortable read.
I give this book a 4 out of 4 stars. The subject matter of this book is very polarizing and everything that I didn’t like about this book can be attributed to it. However, this shouldn’t be true for everyone. Because I personally hold views that oppose that of the main character’s, I was not comfortable reading the book. However, the book was so masterfully crafted that I can’t deduct a star. This book is a wonderful page turner and I recommend to everyone who isn’t bothered by the subjects I mentioned.
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McDowell
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