Update 3/10/12 I've been reading about Fifty Shades of Grey and while I have yet to read that book - probably won't -- it would seem to be very similar to this one. I'm wondering if perhaps James is a pseudonym for Reese.I stumbled across Reese truly by accident. Amazon.com has some very nice features, and one of them is links to books that their computer program calculates you might be interested in based on previous purchases and queries. Reese's name popped up under mysteries, so I poked around in the readers' comments and reviews and was intrigued enough to purchase a copy for myself. One writer even suggested Reese might be a pseudonym for Anne Tyler. (I don't think so.)
It's a riveting book, and I have donated it to the library. But, beware. This is not a book for the fainthearted, nor for those whose libidinous impulses scare them into suppression of the distasteful, nor those who are uncomfortable with erotic and graphic sex. Now that I've created a stampede on the circulation desk, a few words about the plot.
This is a book about power and love and the depths to which we will go to achieve them. Nora is convinced that her sister Franny has been killed by M. (rarely is he referred to by his full name, Michael). Franny's body was discovered bound and marked with cuts, and Nora and the police discover that Franny's diary reveals her obsession with M., who wields a sadomasochistic domination over Franny.
The police, while suspicious, are unable to find evidence linking him to Franny's murder, so Nora decides to ingratiate herself with M. in order to collect evidence that will convict him. She begins to discover, however, that she likes M.'s weird sexual practices. M., who Nora quickly realizes knew more about Franny than she herself had, teases her with pieces of information about Franny and the accidental death of their brother Billy, which haunted the sisters.
Franny, unbeknownst to anyone, would hitch rides to the ocean, and then step out into the cold water seeking ever larger waves. "This is a game she started playing several months ago: to see how far she'll push herself; to see if the ocean can scare everything out of her, every memory, good and bad. She wants a wave so big and scary that she'll be sucked into a black hole of fear, remembering nothing. But each time she comes out here it seems harder and harder to reach that black hole, each time she has to push herself further."
Nora becomes more entwined with M., much to the consternation of Ian, her boyfriend, and Joe Harris, a police detective she has befriended. To her horror, she learns that M. has befriended Ian and that Ian has revealed to M. that he had had a brief liaison with Franny. Nora's suspicions begin to focus on Ian as the killer, and after she finds a roll of duct tape and some pornographic pictures of Franny and Ian hidden in Ian's closet, she turns him into the police and considers moving in with M. Her perception of reality unravels after M. gives her a video of Franny that reveals a detail Nora had missed and that turns everything upside down once again.
Note that if erotica or explicitness scares you, don't read this book.
