Tess' Revenge

About the book

About Tess' Revenge

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 dusty brick and dark wood replete with a steeply pitched black slate roof, small dollhouse-like dormers, dark leaded glass, and a tall and narrow brick-chequerboard chimney topped with an ornate chimney pot. As if pulled from a storybook. A dark fairy tale, perhaps. This grand old Tudor in this quiet and elegant neighborhood where nothing bad is ever supposed to happen. Halloween jack-o'-lanterns glimmer from the porch shadows. Haughty glares and ghastly screams frozen as if by enchantment, offering silent testament to what lurks behind this quiet and elegant façade. Barbara Whitfield feels as hollow as one of those pumpkins on her 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 preeminent psychologist, is sleeping with a client and dreams of climbing inside his precious Jaguar XJ X351 SuperSport and vanishing down a dark endless road. Their only daughter is increasingly surly and secretive. Unable to sleep at night, her mind slipping toward a black abyss, Barbara takes classes at the university to fill her otherwise dreary days only to find macabre inspiration in the pages of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. The dark curtain of night seems to plunge 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 as the days grow darker and darker, and the grand old Tudor of dusty brick and dark wood shivers in the rising tempest. From the author of Shady Creek comes Gilwee's much-anticipated follow-up, Tess' Revenge, a diabolically gripping novel of dark domestic suspense. A tasty trick of a treat served cold.

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