Finishing Touches

by Thomas Tessier, Will Errickson (Introduction)

BENEATH THE STREETS OF LONDON, DESIRE AND TERROR CARESS...

On a quiet holiday in London, Dr. Tom Sutherland befriends the genial but mysterious Dr. Nordhagen and falls into a wild love affair with his assistant, the exotic Lina Ravachol. Bewitched by her sexual sorcery, Tom follows her into every fantasy and forbidden pleasure, deeper and deeper into a swirling vortex of erotic cruelty... into the cellar-crypt of Nordhagen's laboratory, a secret chamber of living human horrors.

This new edition of Thomas Tessier's acclaimed Finishing Touches (1986) features a new introduction by Will Errickson and the original cover painting by Chris Moor.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Vampires, Erotic Horror, Novels, Erotica, Adult

210 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Thomas Tessier grew up in Connecticut and attended University College, Dublin. He is the author of several acclaimed novels of terror and suspense, plays, poems, and short stories. His novel Fog Heart received the International Horror Guild's Award for Best Novel, was a Bram Stoker Award finalist, and was cited by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of the Year. He lives in Connecticut.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very brutal and unusual book. Based around a heavily deranged doctor we see many scenes of violence and sex with a mysterious assistant of the doctor. How will the story end and what about his plans? The novel is very well written, like with a scalpel blade the tone is very cold and precise. The woman is very seductive and wicked. Politically correct? No. Blast from the past. Oh yes. Recommended for all fans of well written and very frightening horror!

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Posted at Shelf Inflicted

I first came across Thomas Tessier's writing in the Hot Blood series, edited by Jeff Gelb and Michael Garrett. Eager for more of his creepy and erotic stories, I was thrilled to find a cheap used copy of Finishing Touches. This story is about a young American doctor, Tom Sutherland, who takes a few months off from his practice to travel, and meets up with an unusual cosmetic surgeon while drinking at a local pub. As Tom slowly gets drawn into the surgeon's dark and mysterious world, and becomes enchanted with the doctor's lovely assistant, he discovers a whole new world of dark, sensual, and sadistic pleasures that at first repels then fascinates him.

The story is competently written, suspenseful and disturbing. It started off slowly and built up tension, but I couldn't help but be let down by the "ultimate evil" Tom was supposed to confront towards the end.

Father Panic's Opera Macabre is a strange and unsettling little story about a historic novelist who becomes stranded in rural Italy after his car breaks down. Neil comes across an old mansion that is inhabited by a beautiful and lonely woman and her eccentric family.

This is a very atmospheric, erotic and disturbing story that builds to a horrific ending in which Neil is confronted with atrocities committed by Croatians during World War II. While I enjoyed the setting, the creepy house and its strange inhabitants, and the slow build up, the story's gaping plot holes left me vaguely unsatisfied.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this immaculate first edition hardcover at a thriftstore for 50 cents a while back, but finally got around to reading it-- what a 'lovely' little gem! Told in first person by our protagonist Tom, Finishing Touches takes place largely in London. After years of study, Tom is finally a medical doctor working in New Haven, but after a 'nice' inheritance from a late aunt, he decides to take some time off and enjoy life a bit; after some happenstance occurrences, he ends up in London for a six month stay. Shortly after his arrival there, he runs into the 'mysterious' Dr. Roger Nordhagen at a pub and they become drinking buddies. Nordhagen has his own cosmetic surgery practice in a toney part of London and seems to know all the drinking holes in London, public and private, including some very exclusive clubs to say the least.

Tessier takes us down a rabbit hole here pretty quickly, however. While Tom is a bit indifferent to Nordhagen-- he is about 40 years his senior--he falls head over heels for his receptionist/personal assistant, one beautiful Lina. Tom never realized, or even imagined, the sexual and other pleasures of someone like Lina-- her awesome flat, exotic drugs, wild sex and more. One day she surprises him with a young Asian woman chained up in her attic and things happen that will tie the two of them together. What started off as a story about Tom trying to 'find himself' rapidly devolves into an exquisite horror romp that just keeps going and going. The denouement just about floored me. We pretty much knew Nordhagen had some secrets, but after Tom accepted his offer to help him with is special 'projects' and stay in London (primarily it must be said because of Lina), what lurks in the basement of his house will take your breath away. I have read a lot of horror and this is one of the better reads from the 80s, or indeed, any decade. 4.5 sexy stars!!

[Will Errickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great grown-up and original horror novel, filled out with sophisticated touches of London life, an exploration of men and women, the madnesses and fantasies they can succumb to and embrace, and even, perhaps facing extinction, use to forge meaning in the teeth of raw dumb nature. Tessier has written a book both disturbingly grotesque and powerfully erotic. It is told in first person in a clear strong voice by a man who slowly comes to face the fact that he can plumb depths of moral insanity and remain psychologically intact and even thrive. A personal favorite, my highest recommendations!

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one disturbingly creepy book! It's about Tom, a young-ish American guy, fresh out of medical school and somewhat unsatisfied with the "general practice" position he fell into by default when nothing else grabbed him. He decides to drop everything and take a trip to London. There he meets an older guy, a plastic surgeon, who begins to show him the seedier, hidden side of London nightlife.

One night Tom is supposed to meet the old doc for a night out on the town. When Tom shows up at the old doc's office he's told by Lina, a gorgeous woman with flowing black locks, that the doc can't make it and she will entertain him instead. Tom can't believe his good fortune. It gets better. Lina is apparently attracted to Tom and they have wild erotic sex (but that isn't detailed all that much, darn). Tom is in love immediately and Lina, though a little aloof and a tad secretive, seems to feel the same. When Tom is completely under Lina's spell he'll soon do anything (and I do mean anything) to keep her in his life. After a completely disturbing episode involving Tom, Lina and an Asian woman whose name we never know Tom fears Lina may be a tad, ah, off her nut. But shoot, he's in Love, and can't seem to stay away from her for any length of time. . .

The book tells the story from Tom's point of view and really gets into his head. We watch a normal, boring, self-centered guy play out his deepest, darkest fantasies and see how these episodes change him.

This book really got under my skin in a "Last House on the left" nightmarish-slash-realism sort of way. You know, when you don't want to watch (read) but you almost can't help yourself? This is stuff that could possibly happen to any weak willed guy with murderous tendencies swayed by lust which makes it all the more creepier. The ending escalates into madness and is thoroughly horrible.

There is actually an additional 100 or so page novella inside this book as well as Finishing Touches. I don't have the book handy but it had the word "Opera" "Panic" and possibly "Maniac" in the title. Whatever it was called I really didn't like it. The whole thing seemed like a poor excuse to throw in a whole bunch extremely hideous torture and rape scenes and it didn't make any sense at all. A dopey man stumbles into a modern day concentration camp where thousands of people are killed daily. He's led into it by a gorgeous (but of course) silky haired woman who gives him a lot of sex before subjecting him to the horrors of her life. It was disturbing and very odd and I could have done without reading it. I'd give it a 3 but won't mark down the entire book because of it.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tom Sutherland graduated med school in America, yet decided to take a break from the academic part of life to enjoy a long-term vacation while he still had the chance. In London he pairs up with a rounded, prosperous doctor who soon becomes his drinking buddy. Bemused by the strange man at first, he of course tires of the company, instead turning his infatuation toward the doctors' lovely assistant, Lina. The two begins a hot, morbid love affair, testing the limits of sanity when she asks him to prove his love to her - and his loyalty the doctor - by participating in a condeming act based on survival. When the ultimate secret he's been waiting for is revealed by Dr. Nordhagen, the cellar of horrors is almost too much to bear, until he feels a piece of him dying and sacrifices it all for the alluring Lina.

To tell more of the plot would damper things too much for potential readers. Finishing touches is a disturbing book which holds a sociopathic tone, written in a dark and serious manner that makes it even worse. The pacing is slow and atmosphere is drenched with disturbing imagery. Not much is predictable here, and while it does keep you reading, it doesn't deliver all the goods in the end. Instead I was left with a bewildering tangle that didn't make me feel too good. Usually horror isn't supposed to dress one with hearts and purple bubbles, but the utter depression delivered here wasn't something I'd recommend to many.

Characterization was the largest killer for me here. I found it impossible to emphasize with anyone in the book, least of all the major characters. The only people who aroused even the slightest inkling of sympathy from me were victims. Tom's obsession with his lady love, Lina, went way above the normal heights and I didn't dismiss his actions with her at all. If anything, his bizarre weakness annoyed me. Lina came across only as cruel and perverse, not even sharing the bizarre love Tom showed her. Their actions were purely selfish, and belong in other novels to the enemies, not the central characters. I had more empathy for Hannibal Lecter than these people, and that's pretty bad. They simply didn't make sense, weren't as interesting, and were psychologically shallow.

The only compliment I can lend Tessier with this piece is that he was awfully daring in his voyage. Even Ramsey Campbell himself said he wouldn't have dared written it in such a taboo manner. In the end though, the book is slower than it should be, with a mountitude of build-up and promise, but it never picks up and it never fully satisfies. Primarily it stands as a sex-filled, violent - and, sadly - pointless novel that doesn't create many more emotions than that.

[Randy Money · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most chilling novels I've read, tracing a man's decent into depravity. Some of the writing reminds me of Ramsey Campbell in its restraint and Tessier's ability to imply rather than describe makes many passages all the more effective.

[Ethan’s Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finishing Touches by Thomas Tessier

This was a solid 3.5 star read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The beginning was filled with dread and grey London streets. A man moves to London to find himself and completely isolate from his family, friends, and everything he knows in America. I loved this aspect. The mystery was subtle, and the horror was present. The part that started to drag was the 3rd act. It wasn’t bad, I just wanted more of a bigger finale. Definitely worth a read IMO.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a big fan of Thomas Tessier's superior werewolf novel, THE NIGHTWALKER, I was excited to find FINISHING TOUCHES available on Kindle. The premise--a young American doctor (Tom) vacationing in London finds himself enraptured by a mysterious woman (Lina) and her eccentric employer and drawn into a life he could have never anticipated--is simple but intriguing, and the story is essentially a study in temptation and moral decay. Tessier is an accomplished prose stylist, and he brings not only his characters but the city of London to an enchanted life. The seedy nightlife of the city is rendered convincingly but without too much sensationalism, and while Tom's seduction at the hands of Lina necessarily involves a lot of sex it's presented with a mature and measured craft. Tom's gradual descent into the darkness of not only London but his own soul is all too believable, such that neither he--nor the reader--really even grasps what's happened until it's too late to turn back. For two thirds of the novel, FINISHING TOUCHES is an expertly realized tale of a young man slowly being remade into something altogether different than he would have thought possible. Unfortunately, the author's dexterity fumbles a bit in the final third of the book. There is a gruesome and rather unbelievable reveal at this point that simply jumps the shark, as it were. The realistic, psychologically insightful story we've been reading up to that point suddenly becomes a poor man's Frankenstein, and the plot never recovers its course. The relationship between Tom and Lina careens into the absurd, and the story's resolution--if you can call it a resolution--is far less satisfying than it should have been. Even so, there's no denying that FINISHING TOUCHES is a good book. Even if the final act is ill-conceived, it's still well-written and quite compelling. Sometimes as disturbing as it is entertaining, FINISHING TOUCHES illuminates the dark side each of us carries within himself and how easy it is to fall down into those beckoning shadows. Compared to THE NIGHTWALKER, FINISHING TOUCHES comes in second best...but it's still an unusually fine horror novel.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Tessier has been called a master of "quiet" horror. Maybe so. He certainly is a smooth writer, good with pacing, dialogue and description. But when it comes to horror, he certainly yields no ground to any other writer. Actually his brand of horror is far worse. It gets into the mind, because there is a philosophy behind it. No better example of this is his short novel "Finishing Touches."

"Finishing Touches" tells the story of doctor to be Tom Sutherland. Sutherland has inherited a bit of money, and feeling he's lived in an educational "cocoon" for so many years, he's anxious to experience life before settling down to the suburban existence of a general practitioner. Events unfold in such a way however as to have him residing in London for a 6 month stay. It is there he soon meets Dr. Roger Nordhagen, who is of course insane. But the good (evil) doctor recognizes a like soul when he sees one, perhaps even one who can take his vision of "Now" to the next post modern level. Before long Tom and Dr. Nordhagen are crawling through the more exotic English clubs, and Tom soon meets Nordhagen's assistant, Lina. There is sex, which is the initial bait for Tom. And there is lots of it, but it's the kind of sex you might find in a Kubrick film. Detached, part of a larger Power game, that Tom senses the outlines of. And the game is one that is removed from any morality. Indeed, Nordhagen's whole philosophy is based upon immediate experience. And in a world where you have your Jeffrey Dahmers and Bin Ladens, who, he would say, can fault him? He just wants his piece of the Terror pie.

This is grim, unrelenting and poison filled stuff, wrapped in well-written prose. On a technical level Tessier succeeds brilliantly, which is why I'm giving this 4 stars. But if you allow for a human factor, you might want to give this a zero. Tessier is a superb connoisseur of atrocity, but for any serious follower of current events - isn't that more of the same? At some time Dr. Sutherland and Lina will encounter that question when the kicks of killing become endless reruns. And at that point, hopefully, they too will "return their tickets" to God.

[Jack Tripper · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as pure, stomach-churning horror goes, not much has affected me quite like Tessier's 1986 classic. Not that it’s particularly gruesome, but the terrors detailed seemed so real, which made it more disturbing.

Told in the first person by Tom Sutherland, a young American doctor taking an extended vacation in London, Finishing Touches tells the story of his life there, and his newfound acquaintance with a London surgeon, an eccentric older gentlemen, whom I pictured as an old Malcolm McDowell. There's something "off" about the surgeon, Dr. Nordhagen, but that doesn't stop Tom from pulling all-night drinking binges with him in various London clubs, or from falling for his young assistant Lina. The horror begins when Tom discovers and is slowly pulled further and further into their secret, twisted, hellish world, a world where nightmares are made real.

Finishing Touches was an engrossing read, slowly pulling me in, just as Tom was being pulled in, unable to put it down until I finished. Tessier's able to tell in 270 pages a story other writers would take 500, without losing any plot or character development. It takes it's time getting going, as the reader is introduced to Tom's new surroundings in London. But after that there's no letting up. I felt like I was reading an actual account of real happenings, that's how horrified I was. An absolutely essential read for fans of 80s horror.

[Μπάμπης M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

8.5/10. Εξαίσιο σκοτεινό ανάγνωσμα σαδιστικού τρόμου για τολμηρούς αναγνώστες. Είχα διαβάσει παλιότερα τον Νυχτοβάτη (The Nightwalker 1979) του ίδιου και μου φάνηκε αδύναμο και αδιάφορο. Οι εκκρεμείς υποθέσεις (finishing touches 1986) είναι βιβλίο που δικαιολογεί επάξια την θέση του στην θρυλική κολασμένη σειρά των εκδόσεων οξύ.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m just going to come right out and say it: this tale depends solely on the understanding that women, and their special “treasures”, are the root of all evil. That’s right, girls. Apparently, when a man has the most amazing sexual experience with a beautiful woman he is instantly at her mercy and no longer in control of his morality, emotions, or life. Oh believe me, if that were true, half the men in the country would be, at this very moment, watching where they aim, flushing, and putting the seat back down. As it stands, this book is not only darker than dark, but it’s crappier than crap. Harsh, I know, but let me explain.

After inheriting money from a dead Aunt, Tom decides to take some time for himself, you know, because being a doctor for all of a year or so is hard work. Plus, he might as well be frivolous before it’s too late. Too bad frivolous, in this case, seems to mean becoming a slothful drunk in the achievement of visiting every club and bar in the slums of London. From the start of the book, Tom is a melancholic, immature drunk who couldn’t stir up empathy if he had 2nd degree burns from saving orphaned children in a fire. Now you want to know the really sad part? This story relies upon grotesque constructions of depravity in order to win the reader's support for Tom who would otherwise be too repellant to win anyone’s sympathy. Hey, guess what? It didn’t work.

The other character, Lina, is just as repugnant, if not morally reprehensible. But, hey, don’t blame her, she was just written that way. Used for the sole purpose to lure Tom into his decent of bloody debauchery, Tessier contrives a female player that is sexualized precisely because of her perceived power over Tom. Now, while I understand the author wanted to show how Tom became tainted, I am sick to death of the portrayal of women as emasculating temptresses that entice men into doing evil things and, naturally, can only be controlled through a man’s sexual dominance. Call me crazy, but isn’t it possible the man had a little bit of crazy or homicidal tendencies before he met the woman? If a man has a fantasy about raping and killing a woman, and I lead him to a room with a woman, is it my fault if he fulfills his fantasy? Did I make him rape and kill? I didn’t think so.

Also, as much as I love adding to my ever-growing vocabulary of naughty words, after chapter 9 I had enough of the sex talk. Not because it made me uncomfortable or embarrassed, but because there are only so many ways you can describe sexual tension, aggression, and release. Also, after awhile, not only was I desensitized to the atmosphere Tessier was trying to create, but by chapter five I was downright bored. How sad is that? Not as sad as the narrative. Told from Tom’s perspective, you soon begin to realize that not only is Tom uninteresting, but he’s dismal and narrow-minded. Good times.

Now add to all of that the fact that the pace was slow, and by slow I mean motionless. Seriously, the action –aside from the sex- doesn’t really start until you’ve read two-thirds of the book, and believe me, only the strong-willed and job-appointed will be able to reach that point. In fact, in a matter of three weeks I put this book down at least four times every day. I absolutely did not want to read it, but, well, Wench is a tyrant, so I had to. But, since I was technically only supposed to read Finishing Touches, I did not have to read Tessier’s novella, Father Panic’s Opera Macabre, and no one’s going to make me.

-As posted on Horror-Web.com

[Mike (Hail Horror Hail) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a viscerally disturbing, draining, and oddly, intentionally dull book. More than anything else, this captures what I think it must be like to be Hannibal Lector, at least in his most baroque incarnation on the TV show: Finishing Touches gives you a cast drowning in decadence and cruelty and intense relationships and condescending disapproval and the boredom that naturally emerges when you have a basement full of imprisoned amputees and it seems like nothing good is on TV. You know the feeling.

"Young man travels overseas and falls into corrupting company" is a horror trope as old as time, but Tessier has maybe written the definitive version of it. He's frank about eroticism and depressingly knowing about the way people can get used to any amount of excess. He can't quite sell me on the transcendent appeal of the romance at the novel's core, but he's smart enough to make it as much about the pull of obsession as anything else. That works. If it's hard to convey that pull, it's at least possible to write in detail about the effects of it, and this works as well here as anywhere.

I read somewhere that most memoirs of addiction are unfortunately inherently boring, because there's a rhythm to addiction, to the constant seeking out of an insufficient high, that is really only interesting to the person going through it. Tessier captures that. Young doctor Tom Sutherland is seeking out highs--it's just that his highs are a little different and a little more dangerous. They start with clandestine clubs, including one where a girl intriguingly rubs herself with oil and sets herself temporarily on fire, and gradually escalate to sex games, torture, and murder. His descent into depravity is well-charted and psychologically astute--one of my favorite details is how Tom at first tries to show kindness to someone's victims before getting irritated by the fact that they just aren't grateful enough for how nice he's being--and the details of it are suitably horrifying.

It's just that the slide from apathy to evil is kind of intrinsically boring. There's no forward momentum, no attempt to rouse much empathy for Tom at any point, no tragedy. Just a disaffected dude descending into hell and making a home out of it. But it's a hard book to rate, because that descent is a constant theme of horror, and I do think Tessier handles it extremely well, and with a kind of sick allure even as it's sort of mind-numbing. And any boredom is part of the book's point, and thematically apt.

For me this is a solid "read once." And then try to scrub your brain clean.

[Fotis Ips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ενδιαφέρον βιβλίο, που πραγματεύεται τις άρρωστες φαντασιώσεις ενός γιατρού πάνω στο ανθρώπινο είδος.

Να είμαι ειλικρινής, δε θεωρώ ότι το μυθιστόρημα κερδίζει λόγω της φρίκης που αποπνέει, αλλά μέσα απο την ιστορία και την αναπάντεχα καλή διείσδυση στον ψυχισμό των πρωταγωνιστών, καταφέρνει να παρασείρει των αναγνώστη σε μία κλειστοφοβική ατμόσφαιρα, σχετικά με τους ανθρώπινους πειρασμούς, την λαγνεία, την δύναμη της εξουσίας.

Ωραία γραφή κι ύφος, ίσως λίγο κουραστική σε σημεία με επαναλήψεις, αλλά σίγουρα πρόκειται για μια διαφορετική προσέγγιση στη λογοτεχνία τρόμου.

[Alan Baxter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Without life there is no pain; without pain, no life. To be cruel- that is a state of clarity and control. As long as you choose life, you also choose someone else’s death."

[Timothy Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will Errikson at Too Much Horror Fiction turned me onto this book recently. I'd heard a lot about the writings of Thomas Tessier, just never had the opportunity to read anything by him. He seems to consistantly make everyone's "top ten" list.
Originally published in 1986, Finishing Touches was recently republished with another of Tessier's writings, Father Panic's Opera Macabre. Touches is the story of Tom Sutherland, a recent medical school graduate who's slumming in London from an inheritance. One night he runs into Roger Nordhagen, a successful cosmetic surgeon, at a pub. Roger takes a liking to the younger man and begins inviting him to carouse the seedy side of London. Soon, Tom meets Lena, Nordhagen's beautiful assistant and embarks on a wild affair of debauchery. It almost comes to a quick end when Lena arranges an escapade which nearly gets Tom killed. But Tom decides to stick it out and soon finds what Nordhagen's real life work is all about.
At times, Touches reminded me of a shudder pulp from the 1930's. Dr. Roger Nordhagen isn't too far removed from Dr. Rance Mandarin and his "maggots of madness". But Tessier is a very literate writer and can twist a paragraph into a deadly shape. Furthermore, Tessier didn't have any reservations about holding back on the descriptive sex and gore scenes.
Father Panic is a shorter work and seems to be a sketch for a longer novel. Traveling through Italy, a writer named Neil finds an isolated house in the mountains when his car brakes down. He approaches the house for assistance and meets Marisa Panic. She lives there with her extended family. They live in the house in the manner of medieval feudal lords, taking care of their tenant farmers. Although Marisa speaks eloquent English and Italian, she converses in another language with her family and field hands. Neil decides to stay on for a few days when Marisa makes a play for him, and this proves to be the beginning of his undoing. After an erotic opening, the novella suddenly shifts gears and Neil is thrown backwards in time to a genocidal massacre d in Croatia during WW2. The book ends all too quick, making me think it was intended to be a much longer piece.
Definitely a good a scary set of reads, but not for those with weak constitutions.

[Rajeev Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good premise but the book seems to be more of a lost opportunity. Several scenes could have dazzled if they had been in better hands: Tom Sutherland finding the chained Asian girl, killing her in a frenzy, then making love to Lina in a melange of freshly-shed blood and violent, perverted lust - it could have been the highlight of the book. Lina looking up to her lover with her face a mask of blood and semen - entirely devoid of feeling for me. It was as if the author was holding back while writing, sacrificing richness of detail in favor of bland narration that was perhaps dictated by vague notions of political correctness? Or was it the prudish editor at work?

Also, what happened at the end was somewhat rushed, doing grave injustice to the wonderful idea of the boredom of plenty. People lacking nothing, neither in depth of pocket nor in sharpness of brain, can turn to a life of crime too: crimes of a terrible beauty. And when that happens, even death could be as entertaining as the most colorful facets of a life of excesses.

[John Bruni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is kind of an interesting book. Tessier makes a lot of choices as an author that I would never have made, yet my interest never faded. A lot of things that shouldn't have worked did, and I had a good time watching the descent into sociopathy of the protagonist. I'm not sure why it's called FINISHING TOUCHES, though.

There's also a novella in the back called FATHER PANIC'S OPERA MACABRE. It's got a lot going for it. I particularly enjoyed the erotic scenes and how uncomfortable the mask made me. I also enjoyed the battle scene, which is full of the kind of thing the Crossed would do . . . except these guys are human beings, so they have no excuse for this sort of behavior. But ultimately the story means nothing. A lot of bad things happen for no reason at all. It lacks substance.

Aside from these quibbles, I'd recommend this one.

[Dalton Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quiet, slow-burn horror that unfortunately culminates into a whimper of an ending.

Well-written and fun for the first half, slow and tedious for the last.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is TERRIBLE. I’ve never read a more infuriating book! I give it NO STARS. First off its about NOTHING!!!! The main character is “not very good looking” and boring as all hell but oooohhhoo he somehow bags the most beautiful woman alive who turns out to be fucking evil but don’t worry guys HES INTO IT. I don’t know what the point is with the doctor and his captives?? They kill him because what hes doing is cruel but then they are just the same as he is and end up doing worse things??? Also the way women are portrayed in this is horrendous, with their only purpose being to tempt men. And sorry WHAT was the deal with them adopting and then doing things with an UNDERAGE GIRL. I’m pissed off. I only finished this book because I unfortunately bought it, otherwise I wouldn’t have. I am immediately chucking this book. I don’t even want to donate it to have some poor unsuspecting soul read it. Disgusting.

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was all sorts of messed up! A little bit Chuck Palahniuk and a little bit Bret Easton Ellis, this book acts a guided tour through the secret lives and societies of the rich and sadomasochistic. How come I'm not rich???

[Katrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Grant Palmquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This book comes so close to being an absolute masterpiece of horror that it hurts. It's only in the final act that Tessier loses the voice/tone that punctuates the rest of the work and throws the reader for a loop. The plot hinges on Tom going to London and meeting Dr. Nordhagen, a rich doctor who seems to be popular without having any friends. Nordhagen soon befriends Tom and introduces him to a subterranean world Tom never knew existed. Tom soon finds himself drawn to Nordhagen and, even more so, Nordhagen's beautiful assistant Lina. Lina and Nordhagen test Tom again and again, drawing him deeper and deeper into a world of pleasure, debauchery, and sadism that knows no bounds.

To go into too much detail would ruin the plot and spoil the book for the reader. However, suffice it to say, this is a great work of horror, with only minor missteps toward the end, as I alluded to earlier. I highly recommend it, along with Tessier's other near-masterpiece Rapture.

[Cassandra Glissadevil · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7 stars!
Morally unnerving, mid 1980's London West End, horror travelogue.

Rich tapestry of sociopath lust and death. Search for a top notch scotch to cool the relentless thirst for stimulation and entertainment.

Tessier's forces you to ask of yourself,
" Would I do anything for my fantasy soul mate?" Well, would you? If you're unsure and can't answer the question, then "Finishing Touches" will scare the quicklime out of you.

Thomas Tessier delivers outstanding prose, ethics, painful honesty and vivid descriptions galore. Highly recommended for Eyes Wide Shut elitists horror aficionado's. Nothing to see Supernatural here. Humans are the scariest monsters. The horror...the horror.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for the faint of heart!!!

A book about true sociopaths. Three of them. Maybe four. Extremely well written. But if you can't tolerate violence and sex, skip this book. I enjoyed it, the characters were well developed, and I actually cared about how things would turn out. Great book for those who can get through it. A real page turner.

[beach horrorreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg. I can’t give this five stars. It’s sick. Sick I tell you. Gosh. What kind of a person writes this? You think it’s depraved but there are more pages to go. It’s like climbing a hill, a mountain of depravity. I must have slipped and given it five stars. Whoops.
Seriously, Tessier is a fine writer who could do fine lit if he wanted. Thankfully he lets his freak flag fly.

[Thymios Iakovakis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Εξαιρετικό βιβλίο. Αν μπορούσα θα το βαθμολογούσα και με 6 αστέρια. Ήταν η πρώτη φορά που με τράβηξε τόσο ένα βιβλίο!!!