I received this book as an ARC and read
it in a day, more because I was curious about how it would end than
because I actually liked the story. It seemed to be a series of
explicit and increasingly sadistic sex scenes, loosely tied together
by a story of a woman with a difficult childhood who was out to get
revenge on someone who had wronged her in the past.
It was difficult to feel sympathy for the main characters, Alice and Jack. Since the story was told from Alice's point of view, there was some writing of her thought processes, but there was none for Jack's. I really had no idea where he was coming from or why he acted as he did.
I might have liked this book if it were more a straight forward mystery/psychological thriller, and less a reason to explore the deviant sex practices of the main characters. I think the author probably felt these scenes helped underscore Alice's need for pain, but I got the idea better from the other things Alice did.
