Look, since I’m the author of the recently published literary thriller, The Obsession, you can already guess how I feel about it: A terrific, unusual read, a vibrant novel of suspense and murder, by turns intriguing and surprising, as three smart, driven people match wits with their lives at stake. Yes, if a writer doesn’t think his book is great, he has no business publishing it. So I’m just going to do a couple of things here: offer a quick summary of the book and then describe what two other people have said about the experience of reading it.
Here’s the story:
At a conference in Italy’s lake district, American grad student Stanford Lyle is enchanted with Lina Lentini, a lovely Italian professor of comparative lit. And when she lectures for a term at his mid-Michigan university, she considers a fling with Stan—until she meets John Martens, a professor, author and Stan’s mentor.
In her passionate affair with John, Lina becomes Stan’s obsession, a hated nemesis for John’s troubled wife, and the object of a vicious series of attacks aimed at destroying her reputation. Lina loves the line from Keats, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” even as her life fills with duplicity. John is pledged to do the right thing with his wife but often does not. And Stan surprises himself with the depth of his own perversity.
Forced back to her home in Bologna, Lina begins to reset her life. Then Stan appears on her doorstep. When John joins them, Stan schemes, threatens and stalks the lovers, first under the city’s ancient porticoes and finally to the legendary Sicilian mountain town of Taormina with a shocking confrontation on the slopes of volcanic Mt. Etna.
Now the reactions. First, Charlene Mabie-Gamble at Literary R&R found it “deeply disturbing,” with its violence, “slanted” religion and politics and “nearly pornographic scenes.” She also wrote this: “The Obsession is not for the literary faint of heart…this is a powerful engaging story, one that followers of this particular genre would most likely enjoy.”
And here are a few lines from another reviewer, highly respected and very popular, who will soon have her public say:
About the book’s narrative voice: “…lovely strong and supple prose, direct and lucid, economical and vivid. No posturing or straining for effect…with that artful simplicity which is actually a function of pure talent.” About the plot: “…continually inventive yet never rushed or improbable.” About the main characters: Lina “is a tour de force…a genuine woman who is clearly intelligent and able but also plausibly good.” “Stan, by contrast is a great psycho…gradually becoming more desperate, more determined and also more despairing of himself.” And “John is another tough character to pull off, but he felt very real to me. In many ways, perhaps he is the real measure of your talent…”
Okay, just two opinions, and certainly each reader’s response will be unique. But I hope you’ll give The Obsession a try. Also, check out my unusual publishing history at www.tvlocicero.com.
THE OBSESSION
by T.V. LoCicero
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: TLC Media (August 13, 2012)
Amazon Link
Kindle Edition
File Size: 591 KB
Print Length: 354 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0615681352
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: TLC Media; 1 edition (July 2, 2012)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Link
About the author:
T.V. LoCicero has been writing both fiction and non-fiction across five decades. He’s the author of the true crime books Murder in the Synagogue (Prentice-Hall), on the assassination of Rabbi Morris Adler, and Squelched: The Suppression of Murder in the Synagogue. In addition to The Obsession, his novels include The Disappearance, the second book in The Truth Beauty Trilogy, and the soon-to-appear Sicilian Quilt. Seven of his shorter works are now available as ebooks. These are among the stories and essays he has published in various periodicals, including Commentary, Ms. and The University Review, and in the hard-cover collections Best Magazine Articles, The Norton Reader and The Third Coast.
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