THE GIRL WITH THE GREEN LIPSTICK

A debut autobiographical novel focuses on a man’s disastrous relationship with a self-absorbed woman who has a long criminal history.

Keri Davidson begins having intercourse at a young age and eventually trades sex for money. But after she marries for the first time, she gets hooked on prescription drugs. To feed her habit, she steals from her boss at a boutique, landing her in jail. Hoping for a “fresh start,” she and her husband move to Los Gatos, New Mexico, where they have two children. Unfortunately, Keri’s drug use persists, and while increasing debt ends her marriage, her periodic thievery leads to more time behind bars. She’s in her 50s by the time she meets 60-something Bill on an online dating site. It’s been more than a year since Bill lost his beloved wife to cancer, and he’s ready for a relationship. But his troubles begin when he gives Keri a manager job at one of the four retail stores he owns. Despite Keri’s swindling tens of thousands of dollars from his store, Bill is determined to stick with the woman and even marries her. She responds with psychological abuse, which entails berating him, disregarding him, or threatening him with a sexual harassment charge. Bill, who at the time is unaware of much of her past, suspects Keri of having an affair. But when he takes others’ advice and considers severing his ties with Keri, he learns some frightening things about this enigmatic woman.

Saubert, who partially based his engrossing story on real-life experiences, begins his book by focusing on Keri’s background. Readers may feel a modicum of sympathy for her: Keri’s parents, who adopted her as an infant months before a surprise pregnancy, were apparently more affectionate with their birth son. But her predominantly dark backstory establishes her as an unstable individual, so her inevitable encounter with Bill is ominous. The author, utilizing plain prose, unflinchingly details difficult discussions and somber events, including a fair amount of violence, both physical and verbal. While he’s primarily dedicated to presenting everything simply, Saubert provides some intriguing insights into the mind of an abused person. For example, he equates Bill’s refusal to end the relationship with Stockholm syndrome but more tellingly calls it the “Keri Effect”—a mix of positive and negative emotions that the character can’t otherwise explain. Most chapters end with a short section titled “What I found out later,” in which the author updates readers on Keri’s misdeeds that Bill hasn’t yet discovered. It’s a useful reminder of Bill’s dreadful predicament even when he still has hope. Some people surrounding Bill and Keri remain frustrating mysteries. There’s very little in the narrative about Keri’s brother, Robert, for one, while Saubert, after introducing Bill’s prospective girlfriend Maria, teases that there’s “quite a bit more” to her story, which readers sadly don’t learn. But there is another victim of Keri’s who ultimately connects with Bill, clearly revealing the lasting damage that an individual can inflict on others.

An absorbing but underdeveloped tale of a doleful, destructive romance.