{"id":5286,"date":"2025-01-08T21:51:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T21:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/belabour\/"},"modified":"2025-01-08T21:51:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T21:51:57","slug":"belabour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=5286","title":{"rendered":"Belabour"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Twenty-eight-year-old Amelia Paxton is trapped in an abusive marriage, used as a physical and psychological punchbag by her husband, Detective Sergeant Drake \u201cPax\u201d Paxton, one of the most corrupt, degenerate coppers in Chester Police Force, and there are a few to choose from.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Pax has ensured that Amelia has become completely isolated, literally and figuratively, a forsaken state compounded by her crippling valium dependency for which Pax is the willing, controlling supplier\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Belabour<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is another tough, unfiltered story from Veck that plumbs the depth of human depravity, abuse, and addiction. If \u201crock bottom\u201d had a basement, it would be where Veck\u2019s characters dwell.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Like his previous novels<\/span>*<\/span><\/span>, <\/span>Belabour<\/span><\/em>\u00a0requires an open mind, and its content is not for the faint-hearted. Personally, it\u2019s a horribly compelling, darkly humorous, and thought-provoking read that I found difficult to put down. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Pax\u2019s relentless abuse, which Amelia has been subjected to for nearly a decade, and her subsequent reliance on valium have rendered her a pitiful husk of a woman. Consequently, she could appear one-dimensional, and Veck could have written her into a stereotype.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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However, he avoids this. Although the reader meets her in a miserable condition with little hope of salvation, tiny fragments of her undimmed personality flicker through. But Pax\u2019s ten-year brutal, ironclad grip on every aspect of her life has destroyed any spirit.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She\u2019s not without a touch of cunning, mainly deployed when obtaining and maintaining her supply of pills, and occasionally, her decision-making echoes with hints of a more forceful, emotionally intelligent woman than the addicted, beaten shell she has become.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Amelia\u2019s feral younger brother, Anton, also under Pax\u2019s coercion, is relatively useless due to his rampant drug problem, although odd moments of regret and guilt bubble up.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But it\u2019s Pax who controls the narrative, or thinks he does, for at least three-quarters of the novel. Vicious, amoral, and psychopathic, he possesses no redeeming features yet is a pathetic figure in several respects. His barbaric behaviour stems from a severe inferiority complex, which is highlighted early on with an excruciating scene in a Chinese restaurant.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Notwithstanding, he elicits no sympathy, and neither do his self-serving acolytes, such as Fletcher, Konrad, and Steph.\u00a0 All turn a blind eye to Pax\u2019s actions as they feed their own grubby habits and hustles. Amelia and Anton\u2019s mum, Dianne, is a particularly loathsome example of derelict motherhood.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Veck\u2019s pace is blistering and his writing crawls with visceral, skin-itching realism. Characters lurch from one wretched drink-fuelled, drug-addled grift to another, sinking lower into the morass as they do. Words spew onto the page. Occasionally, they trip over themselves and get a little scrappy, but their raw, authentic quality, riddled with jargon and scored with grim humour, is exactly what this story needs.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There is no main, propulsive plot but the scattered, trembling threads of various intentions and tangents that have consequences, some connected, some not, for the bulk of the cast. Given that the majority are unable of coherent thought, this sketchy narrative structure is both credible and complementary, and its unpredictability keeps the pages turning.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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An amusing but poignant side-angle involving Larry and Solly residing in HMP Horn Cross is worthy of its own book. Larry is the only personality with a minuscule shred of drive and decency, but it\u2019s a low bar, and his ending, well-intentioned though it is, puts pay to his ambitions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Realistic, disturbing, and addictive, <\/span>Belabour<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is another work of gritty genius from Veck. Highly recommended.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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*<\/span><\/span>Click <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for my review of <\/span>One Visit<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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*<\/span><\/span>Click <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for my review of <\/span>Monotone Masquerade<\/span><\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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*<\/span><\/span>Click <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for my review of <\/span>Spurious Scrapper<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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*<\/span><\/span>Click <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for my review of <\/span>Ogwen Blues<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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*<\/span><\/span>Click <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for my review of <\/span>Rough Visit<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twenty-eight-year-old Amelia Paxton is trapped in an abusive marriage, used as a physical and psychological punchbag by her husband, Detective Sergeant Drake \u201cPax\u201d Paxton, one of the most corrupt, degenerate coppers in Chester Police Force, and there are a few to choose from. Pax has ensured that Amelia has become completely isolated, literally and figuratively, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[5165],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-5286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-belabour"],"yoast_head":"\nBelabour - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=5286\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belabour - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Twenty-eight-year-old Amelia Paxton is trapped in an abusive marriage, used as a physical and psychological punchbag by her husband, Detective Sergeant Drake \u201cPax\u201d Paxton, one of the most corrupt, degenerate coppers in Chester Police Force, and there are a few to choose from. 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