TOO EASY

A fast-paced erotic thriller, by the author of American Dreams (not reviewed), about a woman who pursues the man of her dreams and schemes with him to kill his wife. Robert Saunders, associate managing editor of the New York News, has an interesting job, a house in the suburbs, and a nice but boring tax attorney for a wife. Kathy Becker is looking to leave her Jersey-girl origins behind and live the good life with a good man. The fact that her target is married is of scant concern. Robert is surprised and delighted by the attentions of this sexy young woman from the newspaper's marketing department and soon can think of little else but their heated affair. Kathy becomes Robert's ultimate fantasy and uses sex—in secluded corners of their office building, in taxicabs, and even on the Brooklyn Bridge—to convince him that his real life is with her. It's only a few more steps to get him to propose marriage and convince him that his wife will turn ugly in a divorce. After all, there's all that insurance money to be had. When a dangerous ex-husband threatens to get in her way, Kathy simply bats him aside with a frying pan. Anne Saunders becomes suspicious when her husband's normally tentative lovemaking becomes both passionate and forceful. There are other clues too, and as her husband and his mistress plot her murder, Anne plots her own revenge. An overheard conversation about victims' rights between the criminal lawyers in her firm provides the backdrop for her plan, and Anne becomes anything but the placid, dull prey her killers expect. Will she betray her husband as he has betrayed her? Too Easy is a little too obvious to provide any real suspense, but it is a witty and entertaining look at our dark sides nonetheless.