Fin Dolan is a cliche. He's coming up on 40, writes copy for an a Manhattan ad agency in Manhattan, is close to a year after bailing on his fiance. He tolerates his job, most of his boring co-workers (except the younger Phoebe who is his lifeline to sanity), hasn't spoken to his 2 brothers and his sister in nigh on 20 years - family issues that make Ordinary People seem like a sitcom.
Obviously, this isn't typical MRB fare. This isn't about an alpha-male dripping with testosterone. This is about impending middle aged angst.
Did I spell that right?
Fin's main account is a company that makes diapers. When the story is about the ad biz, Kenney's biting satire oozes of the page (or the screen for the Kindle-inclined). And that I liked. When the story drifts to Fin's childhood, siblings, mom and dad, it seemed to me to be a tedious Lifetime movie. In fact, most of Fin's rambling thoughts on what he is experiencing get translated into how he'd tell this snippet of his story in a commercial or a movie. Or making wise cracks like, "God must've been bored with his humans. That's why he made alcohol."
I get it that books have a target audience, which I am definitely not. Had I not been waiting for the new Pelecanos or Bruen to hit the library, I doubt I'd have given this a 2nd thought. It filled the down time, just not with a lot of substance.
East Coast Don
