Good Girl Wants It Bad: A Novel [Paperback]

Scott Bradfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2004

Over the years, Scott Bradfield has been recognized by his peers in the literary world as a star. Now, with Good Girl Wants It Bad, the best-kept secret in contemporary fiction is poised to reach his widest audience yet. Weirdly endearing Delilah Riordan (known to those who love and loathe her simply as Lah) has been charged with numerous counts of murder and torture by the states of Connecticut, California, New York, Idaho, and Texas, not to mention several European countries she'd rather not go into right now. Currently residing at the West Texas Women's Penitentiary, Lah is doing everything she can to prove herself the innocent and good woman she knows herself to be. She dutifully attends Rehab Chat with Dr. Reginald and Confrontational Analysis with Dr. Alexander. In her spare time she keeps a diary and replies to correspondence from her expanding legion of admirers while pining for her long-lost daughter and awaiting salvation—however bloody—at the hands of her beautiful (and perhaps imaginary) boyfriend, Manuel. With scathing wit and mordant humor, this wickedly funny novel is a fast-paced tale of how far self-help can take you on Death Row. Good Girl Wants It Bad is good disturbing fun.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

An ardent social critic, Bradfield, whose works include Greetings from Earth (1996), turns his discerning eye on the American justice system, a quagmire of quack psychologists, crooked jurists, and celebrity criminals, to paint a mocking portrait of a provocative serial killer. Delilah "Lah" Riordan is a teenage murderer with the guileless soul of a child and the voluptuous body of a Victoria's Secret model. Accused of luring countless men in numerous states to their gruesome deaths, the accomplished femme fatale is currently housed on death row in the corrupt and slipshod West Texas Woman's Penitentiary, where she endures ersatz confrontational therapy and rehabilitation counseling from two smarmy psychologists as amoral and degenerate as she is. To hear her tell it, Lah is just a good ol' gal gone wrong, the by-product of a dysfunctional family and a Svengali-like lover who, she intimates in her best O.J. fashion, is the "real killer." Who knows? She may be right. Bradfield's sardonic satire fairly glimmers with his trademark brand of irascibility and mordant humor. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"An amanuensis of alternative lives ... the best of his stories haunt with intimations of otherness."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (July 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786713380
• ISBN-13: 978-0786713387
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,275,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Darkly funny, disturbing novel!, August 8, 2004

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This review is from: Good Girl Wants It Bad: A Novel (Paperback)

I saw Good Girl Wants It Bad on the bookstore shelf and picked it up on a whim and was immediately enthralled by the dark language and unsettling humor. I couldn't put the memoirs of a nineteen-year-old nymphomaniac serial killer on death row down. With dark humor, beautiful prose and disturbing descriptions, Delilah "Lah" Riordan regales the reader with her life story and countdown to her demise. She also tells us about her affairs with her prison psychologists and research analysts. The secrets surrounding the murders she had been convicted for are discovered throughout her entries, legal files, interviews and letters.

Good Girl Wants It Bad is one of the darkest, most disturbing novels I've recently read. Scott Bradfield delves into the psyche of a deluded young woman and her sad childhood and dependency toward men and sex with excellent insight and prose. The book may come across as confusing at times. Lah has a rather disarming way of convincing herself and the reader that she is the proverbial "good girl," just someone who has been deeply misunderstood. And she does come across as endearing and even innocent in some very darkly funny scenes. Are you in the bargain for something dark, literary and different? I strongly suggest you give this novel a whirl. I am so glad I stumbled upon this book. For it is one of my best reading investments of the year!