Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Mistress's Revenge-Tamar Cohen

The Mistress's Revenge
Tamar Cohen
Free Press (Simon and Schuster), Jun 7 2011, $15.00
ISBN: 9781451632828

For five years Sally Islip and Clive Gooding had an affair until he broke it off. Upset, she begins to keep a journal addressed to Clive. To his chagrin she publishes her musings anonymously though all know who the overweight egomaniac male is.

As Clive is frustrated with his ex, he takes another blow to his portly gut when Sally becomes friends to his wife and adult children. Over the top Clive vows revenge. Meanwhile despondent Sally seems even gloomier each day while someone hacks into her email and sends ugly notes to her employers. Though it costs her a living, her dark depression keeps her fueled in her assault on Clive.

This is a very dark relationship drama that makes Fatal Attraction seem tame as obsessive compulsive disorder turns the loving obsession into the loathing obsession. Sally cannot stop herself while Clive has been hooked with a need to avenge what she has done to him. However, the cost to their respective extended families will soon come home to roost. Not for everyone, readers will wonder what the boundaries of revenge are.

Harriet Klausner

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