PARADISE 69

A group of young women push their sexual boundaries into dangerous territory in Silva’s debut novel.

Scarlett de Santis and her friends Vittoria, Adrianna, and Giuliana are 18 and seeking wild escape from their long days at school. They search for it during a parent-financed vacation in the tropical paradise of Tahiti, where, at first, their hopes for sexual adventure seem to come true. They’ve arrived at a suburban commune in French Polynesia looking for such excitement, and although Scarlett is considered the most responsible and staid member of the quartet, she’s enthusiastic about the trip’s possibilities—especially when she meets a powerful, charismatic man named Sam Mijan, who seems to have stepped straight out of her fantasies. He encourages this illusion when he invites her to join a sex ring called “the Collective.” He’s very frank with her, and she’s initially intrigued, but, as the story goes on, she gradually becomes unsure if she’s in an entirely safe situation. This apprehension becomes increasingly warranted as her exposure to the Collective deepens, until both she and the reader start to wonder if she will make it out of the vacation alive. Over the course of this novel, Silva makes the wise narrative decision to propel the story forward through dialogue, which gives the novel a brisk readability that will keep readers turning pages between highly graphic sex scenes. However, they may become frustrated with the author’s portrayal of Scarlett’s naïveté, which doesn’t fade even after Mijan starts referring to her as his property. By the time she finally asks herself “What have I gotten myself into?” more than halfway through the novel, many readers will have lost patience with the story.

A fast-paced erotic thriller that strains believability.