For me, this was a little strained. The opening story is a strong one, but after that in my opinion McInerney loses his way in a tangle of characters that are too much the same, unlikable and fleeting. Only the 'last bachelor' of the title really captured me as a character. It is certainly not in the same class as earlier works like 'Last of the Savages' or 'Bright Lights'. ( )

Chronicling the material excesses, queer vernacular and sybaritic pursuits of the very wealthy can make for a fascinating reading experience - and for most of us the thrill is vicarious. It is used to beautiful effect by Henry James and Edith Wharton amongst others (both New Yorkers like McInerney) who employ it like golden thread to embellish their narrative. In 'The Last Bachelor' McInerney doesn't so much embellish his prose as bedazzle it with the sparkly yet pointless details of life amidst New York's super rich. Some of these stories read like a catalogue at Sothebys and the narrative is poorer for it. Of course, writing about the upper-middles and upper-uppers of this world is what McInerney does but it's a fine line between description and digression. In more than one of these stories, glamourous details of houses in Southampton and old money families are supplied in want of characterisation. The idea seems to be that these people are interesting precisely because they are rich - the same concept that underpins magazines like Hello and Tatler if I'm not mistaken. Nevertheless, McInerney's prose is still seamless and lovely.. Moreover his observations of hyopcrisy and greed are acute and hillarious.There are three excellent short stories in this collection: I Love You Honey, Putting Daisy Down and The Madonna of Turkey Season. The first two are macabre tales of infidelity and retribution reminiscent of Roald Dahl and the last is a beautiful evocation of a family of brothers imploding following the death of their mother. ( )