When a Stranger Comes...

SUSPENSE/THRILLER/MAGICAL REALISM:  Reclusive author Alexa Wainright is desperately attempting to recapture the success she found with her first novel. Unfortunately, her current work in progress feels a bit lackluster, until her editor comes over accompanied by a handsome stranger who pitches a movie deal to Alexa.  But it’s not just the pitch that disturbs Alexa, the stranger’s name is Alex Wainright, and he is the physical embodiment of her novel’s hero.  Things go from strange to downright spooky when Alexa goes to Trinity of Sixes Publishing and comes face to face with another one of her characters.  As they say, the devil is in the details and Alexa realizes she’s trapped when the details of the contract keep changing.  Does Alexa have the will to save her soul, and the world, or will she be seduced by promises that may be too good to be true?

The reader is immediately drawn into Alexa’s vividly described Manhattan loft and the mind of the eccentric author. Unfortunately, due to the first-person narrative, the reader never escapes Alexa’s mind which can, at times, feel bipolar as she swings back and forth from anger and frustration to elation and acceptance. The first-person narrative doesn’t allow the supporting characters to take on a life of their own.  Overly long descriptions and dialogue that resembles monologue cause the pace of the story to drag.   While the plot is intriguing, the characters can’t live up to their meticulously drawn world.

Elissa Blabac