Double Delight [Hardcover]

Rosamond Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1997

A cultured, upper-class man finds himself drawn to the beautiful, helpless plaintiff in an assault case for which he is juror, only to be lured into a world in which nothing is what it seems. 25,000 first printing."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For the first time in her career, Oates is identified on the cover of this seventh novel of psychological suspense as the name behind the nom de plume. Her dark protagonist also has a double life. The exotic beauty Starr Bright seduces hooligans and gamblers, only to murder them brutally when they succumb. Starr, a.k.a. Rose of Sharon Donner, is the daughter of a fundamentalist preacher and fraternal twin to Lily of the Valley, whom she hasn't seen for 15 years. The two are opposites; while siren Starr prowls the Vegas strip and carves up men for kicks, genteel Lily Merrick teaches pottery classes and tends her family in Western New York. When Sharon wheedles her way back into Lily's storybook life, "Starr" is making tabloid headlines as a serial killer on the lam. Lily, ignorant of her sister's double identity, is alarmed by how sick and vulnerable her long-lost twin appears and so agrees to take her in. Sharon's real reason for returning to her hometown soon reveals itself: she's out to avenge the now-grown high school boys who gang-raped her when she was 15. Nobody walks on the dark side with a more menacing gait than Oates/Smith (Lives of the Twins), but the stock theme of good twin/bad twin has perhaps been taken for one too many strolls. Creepy biblical cant and schizophrenic episodes run like shivers through her prose, but somehow do not save the plot from being just a bit ho-hum. Agent, John Hawkins Literary Agency.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Terence C. Greene is envied and admired as the husband of the wealthy, attractive Phyllis and as the executive director of an arts-supporting foundation. Competent at work, Greene never quite overcomes his feelings of inadequacy elsewhere. A jury duty summons and subsequent selection as foreman allow him to guide the decision in an assault case against a man accused of beating Ava-Rose Renfrew. From his first view of colorful, free-spirited Ava-Rose, Greene is lost. His obsession compels him to embezzle funds, steal vehicles and other items, and murder for Ava-Rose and her "family" of unclear relationships and even murkier livelihoods. Although Greene tries to return to his former way of life, he is incapable of staying away from Ava-Rose's milieu?where at novel's end he believes he is happy and in control. The extended sentences, half-stated thoughts, and omniscient yet focused narration underscores Greene's dislocation. For most fiction collections, especially where Smith's (a.k.a. Joyce Carol Oates) psychological suspense titles are in demand.?V. Louise Saylor, Eastern Washington Univ. Lib., Cheney
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; 1ST edition (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525942998
• ISBN-13: 978-0525942993
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,756,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent psychological thriller, May 2, 2000

By 

R. Witte (Croton-on-Hudson, New York) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Double Delight (Mass Market Paperback)

I have just recently discovered the extremely talented and prolific writer Joyce Carol Oates. Currently, I have read three of her novels,MAN CRAZY, BROKE HEART BLUES and DOUBLE DELIGHT. Her writing style is always interesting, but at times, unpredictable, and while some of her novels are conventional, others are more free-style and sometimes difficult to get through. DOUBLE DELIGHT, written under the pseudonym of Rosamond Smith, is one of her more conventional novels, an intricately plotted, psychological thriller that keeps you always guessing. A story of seduction, sexual obsession and deception, that drives an ordinary, upstanding man, Terrence Greene to commit extraordinary crimes in the name of passion. DOUBLE DELIGHT is an excellent book for the JCO novice to begin with. She is a wonderful writer, one of the masters of the psychological suspense genre.