KIRKUS REVIEW
Proud in his Princess motor car with a Rolls engine, Alan Emerson, successful proprietor of a chain of London book stores, spots Brenda, an old flame who, many years ago, chose Cliff Penney instead of him. Alan claims to love his wife, his kids, and his shops but he is very interested nonetheless. The power he has, he contrives to use. He finds out that Cliff, a talented journalist, has drunk himself out of Fleet Street too many times and is temporarily delivering for a vegetable vendor; Brenda is without all the modern conveniences. Alan sets Cliff up in a writing job which he intends at some appropriate moment to take away from him in order to get to Brenda. He explains to a friend: ""We're all a bit kinky, Jacko. We get our kicks in divers ways. Maybe I just want to see in her eyes, the knowledge that she has crawled."" Brenda never quite crawls, but Emerson demonstrates that he is more than a bit kinky. Eugene George intended to tell us something about the nature of power, obsession, and voyeurism. We get instead only the maladroit master plan of a clumsy little man with hang-ups.