Russell Gilwee

Tess' Revenge Russell Gilwee

A darkly original domestic thriller from the author of Sorcerie and Shady Creek.

Welcome to a quiet and elegant neighborhood where nothing bad is ever supposed to happen. High-crowned trees arch over sleepy sidewalks, neatly trimmed lawns, lush flower gardens, and large turn-of-the-century homes, including a grand old Tudor of dark wood and dusty brick. Halloween jack-o'-lanterns glimmer from its porch shadows. Haughty glares and ghastly screams frozen as if by enchantment.

Barbara Whitfield feels as hollow as one of those pumpkins on her front porch. Knifed open. Carved out. Gutted really. Leaving only a hard outer-shell and a lurid expression for the world to see, assuming it sees her at all anymore.

Her husband, a clinical psychologist, is sleeping with a client and dreams of climbing into his precious Jaguar SuperSport and disappearing down a dark endless road forever. Their only daughter is increasingly surly and secretive.

Unable to sleep at night, her mind slowly slipping into a black abyss, Barbara takes classes at the university to fill her dreary days only to find macabre inspiration in the pages of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

The dark curtain of night falls abruptly this time of year without the lazy wink and nod of dusk. And it has begun to rain, too. And with it, a cruel wind. A gathering storm which promises to never end in this quiet and elegant neighborhood where nothing bad is ever supposed to happen.

Hypnotic, creepy, and wonderfully perverse, Tess' Revenge is addictive to the very last page. A scathing portrait of American suburbia.