My First Book Review!!! =) Fashion Kills - Jordan Di Vito

        Hey guys, this my review of the book Fashion Kills by Jordan Di Vito, it’s an adult fiction drama read. I initially started reading this book in the latter parts of last year (2012) but the New Year caught me reading this one (in part because of my snail’s pace reading habits), and then I reread my favourite parts at sporadic periods leading up to March of this year. This is also the first full novel I read on my Kindle Fire that I got from my birthday a couple months earlier. (It was a free book!) =)

As you may have guessed, this book has something to do with the fashion world/industry (as the name suggests) The book’s setting is in Milan, which, as most would know, is the fashion capital of the world, so already you should have guessed that the book is heavily supported by Fashion and modelling and all the dubious events that surrounds them. The book actually begins by introducing the reader to one of the nefarious occurrences that surround the fashion world. Where a model was raped as she was performing her ‘double duty’ as a call girl, her role in the book is, however, really minor, and she has little effect on the book, her presence is felt for her tone setting purposes.

The book introduces the main character Jonathan Delfino and how the people, who surround him in some way, shape or form affects his life.

      Delfino is the owner/operator of this massive (according to the book) model booking agency, (and as we know) agencies like this employs models and books them into photo shoots for magazines and other model/fashion related things. Jonathan is portrayed in the book as a cocky, arrogant; work-a-holic who cheats on his wife and uses drugs. For me he takes the role of chief antagonist, but during the progression of the book this character seem to mellow, humbled by the events of his life, and towards the end of the book he makes a transition from antagonist to protagonist (yes, I know how weird this sounds)   Another character of the book Marina Rocobaldi, who works with Delfino, as the companies booking agent in the female’s division, uses her connections in the industry to run a call girl ring for the elite members of society, eventually the setup throws her into some unforeseen difficulties and as the book progresses, she falls into more problems surrounding this call-ring. Jonathan’s wife Pamela is a supreme socialite who is described in the book as a beautiful and vivacious woman. Her past however, is one of particular interest and for me this happens to be one of the biggest surprises within the book, how this woman happens to be connected intricately with other characters in the story.  Between her and her husband, Jonathan, their interesting pasts and these occurrences are really what tie the entire story together. Other characters include: Eric Silver (A noted fashion photographer) Massimiliano Solari (Rich, film mogul) Sydney Adams (Rape victim-turn-model-turn-movie star) among a few others (not note worthy in my estimation)

      The character I happened to like the best was Eric Silver, to me he was the most misunderstood character of the whole book, he is connected with both Pamela, Jonathan’s wife, and Sydney Adams in a most interesting way. He has a troubled history with women what with his schizophrenia and all. He stands to be, for me, one of the more interesting characters of the book, and for those of you who intend on reading this book, you’ll see why! =) The most unlikable character for me was Massimiliano Solari. In the interest of not adding any more spoilers to this review I’ll refrain from saying much more about this character! =) (Again you’ll see why if you read the book)

What I supremely enjoyed about this book was that the surprises kept coming and coming, from one unravelling moment to the next. Needless to say it was a page turner! The book had a way of making me LOL a lot (but then again I do that for most books I like). It was funny, witty, and all those other adjectives. Another point of interest for me about this book is that it steered clear of literary clichés…you know...when only good things happened to good people and vice-versa. The story relies heavily on the reader’s imagination as the scenes, though all set in Milan, changes quickly, between character episodes. Interestingly enough, this book did not move into a slump or a slow period…it coasted right on, from start to finish!

The only problem I had with this read, was that the cover was BORING! It held no appeal! And let’s face it, even though we’re taught to not judge books by covers (proverbial and otherwise) we do it anyways! Other than that, it was great!

For me, if there was suppose to be an underlying reason for writing the book, it would definitely be to inform or give the reader some insight or a glance at the nefarious goings on surrounding the fashion world, because this is exactly what the book does (for me at least)

Taking all this literary fabulousness into consideration I would give Fashion Kills 4 stars out of 5 for its writing style, general funniness, and extremely exquisite entertainment value. Of course, I implore all readers to go ahead and read this one it’s a definite recommend, one for the best reads shelf.