NAKED HEARTS

by Jack Flynn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 23, 1987

A diverting comic novel about a folie à deux that turns into a mÉnage à trois, with near-fatal consequences. Shawn Carey is a fairly normal, somewhat spoiled rich kid growing up in Rhode island--that is, until the summer day he meets his lovely young cousin Colleen, fresh, sexy, and sophisticated from a life abroad: ""We. . .created an intractable attraction and repulsion whose ecstasy was barbed to create pain."" They graduate from mild spanking scenes to passionate, unquenchable grown-up sex (rendered with full and rather tiresome attention to detail); Colleen even turns out (Shawn thinks) not to be related to him, which allays his fears of deformed babies. The adventurous duo becomes a threesome when Shawn and Colleen meet beautiful Priscilla Gray, daughter of the fabulously wealthy and powerful Edna Gray; but Shawn soon tires of sybaritic pleasures and opts for a ""normal"" life by marrying Priscilla. Fat chance: a crushed Colleen attempts suicide, miscarries twins, and falls into a coma. Word gets out, and mother Edna Gray is so scandalized she kidnaps daughter Priscilla. A hilarious paramilitary action by Shawn secures her release. While Colleen slumbers on, Shawn also learns a horrible troth: Colleen is his half-sister, their common father a mad satyr of an artist. But Shawn and Priscilla are ready to forgive all when Colleen at last awakens from her coma; the trio will almost certainly set up housekeeping together. Flynn's frequent and lengthy sex scenes are literal-minded and stagy; but he's a promising comic talent, with a deft, ironic touch.

Pub Date: Nov. 23, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION