Eye Contact [Hardcover]

Stephen Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1994

A chance encounter with a mysterious stranger leads to more than a quick sexual fling for actress Nicolette Stallings when he flaunts her rules of anonymity, confronts her on the street, breaks into her apartment, and turns up dead there.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sex over substance seems to be the modus operandi in this racy debut about a New York actress and her non-stop series of high-risk flings. Stage and screen actor Collins frequently aims to include some humor between the steamy boudoir episodes; while some scenes prove amusing, others border on self-parody. The novel's opening chapters are almost offensive, as heroine Nicolette "Nick" Stallings ("with a body that might bring a swimsuit issue to mind") seduces three men, all in a night's work, and then brags about scoring "a triple." One of her conquests, a sadomasochistic lawyer, commits suicide in Nick's apartment under circumstances that make the death look like murder. Ensuing events deal with Nick's attempts to clear herself and come to grips with her addictive tendencies toward exhibitionism and seduction. Unfortunately, Nick is a cliched, thinly drawn character who comes off as an empty, pathetic sexual predator and willing victim. Moreover, the story line lacks the kind of tension and drama that Collins will presumably bring to his role as Ashley Wilkes in the upcoming TV miniseries Scarlett .
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Actress Nicolette Stallings is a compulsive exhibitionist who in the throes of self-loathing manipulates men by leading them into sexual acts that feed her masochism. When she provides a night of uninhibited sexual fantasy for a man she picks up in a restaurant, he turns out to have more problems than she can handle, which plunges her into a frenzy of self-preservation. Teaming with memorable characters (first-time novelist Collins makes New York cabbies and doormen come alive in a few short sentences), the book is full of people who help Nick see herself for who she really is. Surviving visits to her analyst, an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, her mother's compulsive soup making, the desire to self-destruct, her need to expose herself, and her disastrous approach to her career, Nick learns to meet life one day at a time and could well become the Holden Caulfield of the 1990s. This novel of one individual coming to self-awareness is a modern morality play and a rite of passage into adulthood. Actor Collins, a gifted writer, has created a perfect first novel.
--Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; First Edition edition (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553095854
• ISBN-13: 978-0553095852
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,281,819 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stands the test of time, October 30, 2001

By 

"pmhaydn" (Stow, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eye Contact (Bookcassette(r) Edition) (Audio Cassette)

This novel really does stand the test of time. I read this book many years ago and it still sets well in my memory to this day. It has just about everything in it that one can imagine. Reading this novel is quick and doesn't drag on and on like some novels that I've completed. The long of the short of it, "If this book stands out in my mind today, even though it has been many years since I've read it, then it has to be good reading."

If you don't believe me - buy it and read it yourself.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put down, October 27, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Eye Contact (Paperback)

I never put Eye Contact down from page 1 to the end. Thought at first it was a male fantasy put on paper but the way it was written intrigued me to keep reading. Stephen Collins knows how to show all aspects of his characters. Nicolette was not the most likable person at first then later I wanted to go into the book and help her along. Would recommend this title to almost everyone.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye Contact, October 22, 2002

By 

DevJohn01 (Somerset, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eye Contact (Paperback)

I actually read `Eye Contact' a few years ago. It was the first erotic thriller that I'd ever read and it still stands out in my mind as on of the best.

This is the story of actress Nicolette Stallings who only feels powerful when seducing someone of the opposite sex. However, her sexual game of cat and mouse soon turns deadly when she propositions a man she meets in a restaurant who she playfully dubs as "Wally Wall Street". After their one night encounter at a high class hotel Nick finds it hard to get rid of "Wally" who now blames her for the break up of his marriage. After an unsuccessful attempt on his own life "Wally" otherwise known as Jeffery White, finally does succeed in killing himself but not before he manages to frame Nick for his murder! As Nick becomes the center of the medias attention and hunted by the police she tries to find a way to prove her innocence not without having a few sexual encounters along the way.

`Eye Contact" is an excellent erotic thriller not for the timid and will keep you at the edge of your seat trying to figure out how everything will play out in the end. Who would have though that the minister for 7th Heaven could write like this?