Perfect for those who like a soupçon of Wittgenstein and a dollop of Meister Eckhart with their sadomasochism.
A young American woman spends 15 years in the obsessive, erotic thrall of an Italian nobleman who lives by the rigid “principles” described by the title of Dektar’s second novel.
Nora first meets the handsome, mysteriously charismatic Nicola in a ski gondola while she’s staying with relatives in Turin. She’s a troubled 15-year-old who self-cuts and obsesses about “different kinds of power,” and he’s slightly older. Nora’s cousin Federica, with whom Nora shares an erotically charged connection, describes Nicola vaguely as “evil,” but when he touches Nora’s shoulder to calm her fear of heights, she experiences a thrilling shock. Five years later, she runs into Nicola at a party at her American college. After they speak briefly, she becomes convinced that, for her, Nicola will always be “the pinnacle of something.” Just what that “something” is becomes the novel’s central unanswered question. Years pass. At 28, Nora believes she’s content living with a “good” man in Brooklyn and working as a researcher for a financial intelligence company. Nora claims she no longer “dwell[s] on control and power.” Wrong! Nicola shows up yet again, and the rest of the novel charts Nora’s slide into their long, increasingly sadomasochistic affair. Recently married and working for his extremely rich, corrupt, perhaps even murderous father, Nicola initially stokes Nora’s desire through talk without touch. His religious mysticism, philosophic pronouncements concerning good and bad, and brutal views on (his own) superiority strike Nora as “romantic,” full of “grand passion, honor, irrational, primitive devotion.” Soon the two are sharing not only interminable conversations, but graphic sex, by turns violent and demeaning as Nicola’s demands intensify. His willing partner, Nora craves his control. She wants to be hit and strangled even while recognizing “something wrong” with Nicola’s entwining of vengeance and intimacy. The book lives inside Nora’s perceptions, which after a while become as redundant as the sex itself.
Perfect for those who like a soupçon of Wittgenstein and a dollop of Meister Eckhart with their sadomasochism.Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9780063282704
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Mariner Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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