Book Review: Under the Paint – When Perfect Starts to Rot

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On paper, Under the Paint should have wrecked me—addiction, secrets, a marriage on the verge. But instead of devastation, I got disconnection. And yet…I couldn’t look away. Lingering somewhere in the ether between emotional restraint and suburban chaos. There’s something quietly unsettling about this story that deserves unpacking. Keep reading if you’re here for buried tension and characters clinging to a curated life . I’ve got thoughts!

Title: Under the Paint

Author: James Michels

Publisher: Independently Published

Genre: Dark Romance, Suspense

Release Date: June 30, 2025

Pages: 299

Star Rating: 2.5 stars

Spice Rating: 1 chili pepper (closed door)

The Disconnect Beneath the Drama

I was genuinely excited when the author requested a review of Under the Paint. Dark romance? Emotional entanglements wrapped in danger? That’s practically a siren call for me. But somewhere between the promise of a twisted love story and the mechanics of plot execution, something got lost.

Let’s start here: this book is billed as a dark romance with thriller elements—but the darkness barely shadows the page, and the thrill never truly lands. I kept waiting for tension to bloom, for the stakes to sharpen, but the story felt oddly muted. Moments that should’ve had me breathless barely left a scratch. I wasn’t looking for gore or shock—I wanted atmosphere, emotion, consequence. Instead, I found repetition, disjointed pacing, and characters whose interactions didn’t quite make sense.

Take the dialogue. Names are used with such frequency that it feels like the characters are trying to remind each other who they are. “Henry Henderson,” for example, is introduced by his full name and then referred to that way so often it borders on performative. Conversations fall into that same rhythm: “[Name], you don’t have to do that.” “[Name], oh, it’s no problem.” It breaks immersion. It distances the reader. And it left me more aware of the structure than the story.

“God, how much I miss your ingenuity, Hank.”

Then there’s the issue of character connection—specifically, Margot and her Uber driver. We meet him briefly when he picks her up from the airport, and their encounter is laced with tension. No number exchanges. No budding friendship. Just an awkward drop-off and then radio silence… until 80 pages later, when she’s asking him to hang out and he’s lying in her lap like they’re lifelong confidants. No transition. No build-up. Just emotional whiplash.

It all reads like a debut—and that’s not inherently a bad thing. Everyone starts somewhere. But this one needed more time in the revision stage. There’s a story buried here, one about facades and isolation and the lies we tell ourselves to survive. But it never quite claws its way to the surface.

A Storyline Lost in the Paint

Here’s the thing: I don’t think Under the Paint is a bad book. But it is a confusing one.

The story meanders, unsure of its own identity. Is it a dark romance? A psychological thriller? A suburban drama masked as a chase narrative? It wants to be everything, and in that pursuit, becomes a muddle of scattered threads that never quite weave into a tapestry. Tonally, it’s disjointed. Emotionally, it’s chaotic. One moment, you’re knee-deep in an attempted romantic tension, the next, it’s a thriller—but only on paper. There’s no edge, no adrenaline spike, no sense of real threat. Just the lingering feeling that something should be happening… but somehow isn’t.

By page 209—just 90 pages from the end—we’ve barely begun to graze the surface of the promised plot. It’s only 299 pages long. While a lot can be done in 90 pages, the pacing doesn’t inspire confidence. Plot points vanish mid-thread, only to reappear hastily when it’s convenient. The effect? Rushed resolutions and gaping narrative holes that leave you wondering if you missed a page or five.

“If he finds me, I’ll kill him. I promise that I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him dead. Shoot him. Stab him, beat him with my bare fucking hands.”

Character development doesn’t fare much better. There’s no arc, no change, no evolution. Henry, Gwen, Margot—none of them feel like they are growing. They don’t shift, they don’t learn, and more critically, they don’t make me feel. Their flatness makes it hard to care. And while we’re at it, the most compelling character in this entire book might just be the serial killer—and he doesn’t even get that much page time. That’s saying something.

Oh—and the drama? There is a jaw-dropping twist buried in here. Henry and Gwen are both sleeping with Margot. Neither knows about the other. Is that a spoiler? Probably. But honestly, it’s the one plotline that made me sit up. If anything, that should’ve been the core. Instead, it’s brushed over—underdeveloped, like so much of the story.

Something haunting is buried beneath the surface here—a concept about identity, destruction, and desire—but it never fully materializes. For a book called Under the Paint, I wish it had stripped off more than it covered up.

Who is This Story For?

If you’re a reader who’s drawn to the idea of a tangled love triangle set against a backdrop of suburban perfection, Under the Paint may be worth a glance. If you enjoy stories that flirt with danger, where tension lurks just beneath the surface but never fully unfurls, this might scratch that itch. While not as dark as I’d hoped, the dark romance element still offers the glimmer of something provocative if you’re looking for something steamy (the spice is closed door) and a bit unconventional.

Fans of slow-building thrillers may appreciate the quiet suspense that simmers under the story, though you’ll need a lot of patience for it to boil over. And if you enjoy complex characters with murky motivations—who aren’t all quite what they seem—there’s enough here to entertain without feeling too predictable.

But if you crave a deep emotional connection, heart-pounding tension, or fully realized characters with true growth, you may find yourself as disconnected as I did. For those who want a story with sharp edges, this one might feel more like a gentle blur.

Pick up Under the Paint on June 30th on Kindle Unlimited!

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