Benzadmiral
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Just finished a neat little psychological mystery/thriller, The Hand that Feeds You, by two authors writing as "A.J. Rich." The lead character is writing her thesis on victimology, and then is victimized herself by a mysterious lover who, it turns out after he is killed (apparently by her dogs, in her apartment), had several fiancees, had been married before, and was dating her under an assumed name. This sounds like stuff we've seen plenty of times on TV and read often enough in novels. But Rich has some neat tricks up her/their double sleeve, including a villain whom we actually like before the final revelation, and a climactic scene that is actually very tense and suspenseful.
It's even more surprising in that the capsule info about the authors indicates that they were primarily "literary" authors before -- no links to the crime/suspense field. Yet Hand is never slow, never self-consciously literary, and the psychological elements serve both to illuminate character and to move the story forward.
It's even more surprising in that the capsule info about the authors indicates that they were primarily "literary" authors before -- no links to the crime/suspense field. Yet Hand is never slow, never self-consciously literary, and the psychological elements serve both to illuminate character and to move the story forward.
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