Deadly Affections

by Billie Sue Mosiman

From Edgar and Bram Stoker nominated Billie Sue Mosiman, author of more than 50 books, comes a dark realistic tale from the deep south.

SOUTHERN GORGEOUS SOUTHERN CHARISMA
SOUTHERN PSYCHO
Tye Dompier was the man that every girl from the white columns of his family's mansion to his handsome face, he had it all, money, charm, a wild light in his ice-blue eyes. He charmed pretty Angie Thornton the day she moved to Moon Lake, Mississippi, and set eyes on him.
But Angie was young and innocent -- too young to get involved with a man as serious as Tye.
So she refused his advances -- and learned the hard way that refusing Tye Dompier was a dangerous mistake.
On the shores of the languid, fog﷓shrouded lake, Tye came to stalk Angie -- and when he trapped her, there was no one to hear her cries.
And no hope of Justice in a county his family had run for generations.

Genres: Horror, Crime

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1990

About the author

Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel
Stoker Award Nominee for Superior Novel

Novelist, short story writer, columnist, writing instructor, editor.
My published novels are now available at Kindle.com, along with new short story anthologies and novellas.

Reviews

[Dan]

This book improves the further along in it one reads. I'd give the first half slightly above two stars, the second half almost four stars, making it natural to assign an overall three rating. I liked the novel overall.

First, I have to correct the marketers' classification of this novel as horror. It's not in any way, shape, or form horror. There's not a supernatural element, or potential one, to it at all. The novel is a suspense thriller, nothing more.

As with most suspense thrillers, the plot and its surprises form an important part of the enjoyment of reading it. I therefore won't give away more of the plot than was already provided by the publisher to interest a potential reader to buy the book in the first place. I will just say that the reason the book starts out at two stars is because of its plot predictability and obviousness. But then Mosiman makes some surprising decisions with her starting basis and incident that takes matters in new and interesting directions making this a suspense thriller worth reading. Mosiman's portrayal of a psychopath and his family situation in particular end up making this novel more memorable than it at first promised to be.

I like the fact that the author uses real places for her setting and that they're in the South. Strange things can happen around here. Mosiman taps into the strangeness underlying the unassuming surface with perception and conviction, yet doesn't give it all away either. I'm curious to read more by this author.