Confessions of a Contractor

As readers of this blog may have noticed, I don't do male authors. I make a point of not choosing books written by men. Why? Because generally I don't care for the male perspective in escapist fiction (I mean, I'm trying to escape, I don't care what the other side thinks!), and usually male writers get women completely wrong. The few times I have reneged on my no man rule, I have been very sorry (My Legendary Girlfriend by Mike Gayle is one example).

So I don't know why I picked up Confessions of a Contractor by Richard Murphy--maybe it was the salacious cover, maybe it was the similarity of the story to an old Jane Green novel (I think it was Swapping Lives where one of the women thinks about starting something with their carpenter). I don't know why I gave this book a chance, but it was well worth the risk.

Henry Sullivan is a down-to-earth contractor who renovates the homes of the rich and semi-famous in LA (which he refers to as, not City of Angels, but City of Houses). After the completion of a particularly large job, he vows to takes some time off, but instead ends up agreeing to start two new projects at the same time in the homes of two women who used to be best friends. During the course of working in the two homes, he starts a relationship with Sally, while also falling for married Rebecca, all the while trying to uncover what ended the friendship between the two. Interspersed among the relationship stories is notes on how to determine if your marriage is strong enough to withstand the stress of a remodel and information on contractors and construction in general.

Everyone knows that the first rule in home improvement is to never sleep with your contractor, but this novel explores what happens when you break it through insightful observation and subtle humor. Discovering what ruined various relationships is the driving force behind the story, and I enjoyed seeing how all the pieces fell together in the end. This was an amazingly terrific read, and I eagerly await Murphy's next book.

K