Unlike it’s hay-day when Atlantic City rivaled Las Vegas, it has
come down in the world. Buildings are closed, drug dealers abound and
anonymous women struggle to survive. Some of them weren’t so lucky.
A serial killer is preying on these unfortunates and leaving their
bodies in the salt marsh behind a hotel outside the city.
The story focuses on
two young women. Lily has returned home from what she thought would
be a glittering career in the New York art world. She was making a
name as a critic with the possibility of one day becoming a gallery
owner. Betrayed by her artist boyfriend, she now works as a
receptionist in one of the struggling spas. The other woman, Clara,
is little more than a girl. She dropped out of high school to help
make money. She has some psychic abilities and offers readings in a
rundown shop. She lives with her aunt who is more exploiting than
helpful and is leading her into a life she doesn’t want, selling
herself to men for entertainment.
Other characters in
the novel are a deaf-mute janitor who works at the spa and knows
things about the area other people don’t. The serial killer also
appears. Told from different points of view and different voices,
these characters give the novel a rich texture.
This is a mystery
novel, but it is also a novel with a message about the exploitation
of women and some who have the grit to survive and prosper. It’s
not an easy book to read. It starts slowly and the pace gradually
increases as Clara and Lily try to make sense of Clara’s visions
that appear to be of women in dangerous situations.
It you enjoy a
sophisticated mystery novel that presents a realistic picture of
women struggling to survive in an exploitative atmosphere, I highly recommend this novel.
I received this book
from Simon & Schuster for this review.
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