Reviews

"What starts out as a humdrum tale of a smug, worldly college professor and an off-the-wall student takes a sudden twist into murder and mental torture in this fine novel from the author of "The Night Bus" (2000)....Law sucker-punches her readers with this superbly written thriller. The initially quiet narrative inexorably picks up speed and steamrolls into a riveting conclusion that will have hungry fans in line for her next serving of murdr magnificent." Publisher's Weekly, Dec 10, 2001

"A fascinating look at the inner workings of academia, an intense character study, and a tension-filled plot: Law's best so far." Kirkus Reviews

Although she can be unforgivingly funny about the loose morals and smug attitudes of academe, Law draws a sympathetic, even tender studye of a self-centered but essentially decent soul in the kind of torment that isn't the least poetic." NYTimes, Feb 2, 2002.

"Author Janice Law manages to offer a sympathetic yet painfully frank look at a man who can't quite grow up. As a writer, the Connecticut university teachers who leives part-time in Pompano Beach provides an insider's portrait of academia. Her plot has a quiet beginning, but it grows to a tension-filled crescendo." Sun-Sentinel. Mar 10, 2002.

I've always loved unsolved _ and perhaps unsolvable _ mysteries. A case from a few years ago at a college in Connecticut was the germ for this book, although the characters in the finished novel turned out to have very different fates and personalities.

Jason Larson is a popular and charismatic professor, who, despite his unprepossessing appearance, is wildly successful with women. He loves his wife, Emma, and especially Cookie, their daughter and only child, but his great gift is charm, and charm brings temptations which "Lars" sees no reason to resist.

His happy and satisfactory life is complicated by one of his literature students, Iris Weed, slovenly, eager, ambitious and elusive, who lives in her truck and keeps voluminous diaries. Iris appreciates charm, but she really wants other things entirely.