Customer Reviews

The Narcissist's Daughter: A Novel

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None other than Michael Ondaatji once heaped huge and unsolicited praise on a Craig Holden thriller (The River Sorrow), and one can see why. Holden's latest novel, The Narcissist's Daughter, could be the best example of a literary thriller that since Holden's last book, The Jazz Bird, or Graham Green's The Human Factor. The plot is as tight as it gets. Twenty-three year old Syd Redding is from the wrong side of the tracks, but he's trying to improve his lot. He's an intelligent guy and wants to become a doctor. While taking his pre-med courses he gets a job in a hospital run by Dr. Ted Kessler, a respected war veteran and an influential physician who could help Syd not only get into medical school, but excel in his field thereafter. At Dr. Kessler's suggestion, Syd signs on for the nightshift where he meets and soon beds the beautiful and seductive Joyce Kessler, the doctor's wife. This affair goes horribly sour and, when it does, Syd finds himself humiliated and ravaged with a desire for revenge. Jessi Kessler, Ted and Joyce's seventeen-year-old daughter, becomes the means to his enraged and obsessed end. He begins a torrid affair with young Jessi and through this affair Holden introduces the reader, at first subtly, and then with ever increasing intensity, into a world of perversity that rivals anything DeSade or Poe could conjure. Much like Chuck Palahniuk eased us into the ever-increasing psychosis of Tyler Hayden in Fight Club, Holden's skillfully honed discipline and restraint brings the perverse into sharper and sharper focus as we travel through the twists and turns of Syd Redding's appetite for revenge. Holden's rendering of Syd Redding's perversities gives credence to Freud's dictum that wherever one finds sadism; masochism isn't far behind (and vice versa).

With his readers, however, Holden is neither sadistic nor masochistic-only gratifying. The Narcissist's Daughter contains some stunning prose; prose that puts Holden in the company of Ondaatji, John Fowles, and Jeffery Lent. Syd Redding's description of waking, as an adult, in his childhood house before taking a run serves as an example.

"The workday sunlight and empty house I woke into later on the weekdays I didn't have early classes felt like a place I'd only come to visit yet I found some peace there. I began to walk through the tight neighborhoods in the afternoons, then to run-I'd once been a halfback and a sprinter; now I came to crave what opened in me only after a couple of miles. When you start, the legs ache and the chest burns from the cigarettes and the chilled air, but soon the muscles relax into that state of spring-like tension and the chest opens and deepens and finally the mind stops registering pain and begins to take in the world in a way that you otherwise feel only when you are stoned or in a city you've never seen before, when the sky is clear and hard and every detail, the faces of women and the shapes of buildings and the sounds of language and traffic, is exotic and beautiful and unspeakably fresh" (p. 36).

Combine Holden's skill for writing elegant, flowing, and poetic prose with plot twists that keep you up at night and an ending that surprises, shocks, and yet seems inevitable, and you have the quintessential literary thriller. The Narcissist's Daughter is, by far, Holden's best effort to date.

I used to wonder when I would finally find a writer who did crime and suspense fiction with the story-telling ability of Michael Connelly and the fluid, skilled prose of McGuane or Banks. And then I happened across Four Corners of Night by Craig Holden, an absolute masterpiece of a book; a police procedural, family saga and meditation on grief and loyalty all

rolled into one. Holden's latest novel, The Narcissist's Daughter proves beyond a doubt that this guy can flat-out write, entertain and never tell the same story twice. Holden's fifth novel is an intelligent book that moves at a break-neck pace, which is a shame in some respects because Holden's prose is strong and as clear as morning air, and worth lingering on. The

tale is narrated by Syd Redding, an intelligent, working class pre-med student with a chip on his shoulder. Syd juggles a full time job in a blood lab at night to fund his schooling during the day. Doctor Ted Kessler is Syd's supervisor and would-be mentor, a decorated Korean War vet and quietly intimidating man. Syd's family is dysfunctional and still hurting over the untimely death of Syd's mother. Holden drags the reader into the interiors of both the Reddings and the Kesslers domestic situations, weaving his tale with great balance and intrigue. As Syd gets to know the Kesslers, he becomes infatuated with Dr.Kessler's wife Joyce, and becomes involved with her. In the hands of a lesser writer, this could be the recipe for a

paint-by-numbers thriller. But in The Narcissist's Daughter it's the trumpet call for a suspenseful and intricate tale of deceit and revenge. In 228 pages Holden delivers an acute character study and gripping tale that ought to find its way onto the big screen in short order. His previous

novel, The Jazz Bird, based on actual events surrounding infamous bootlegger George Remus, is also a gem.

Holden's strength has always been his prose, and the Fitzgeraldian lyricism of his words pull the reader effortlessly through this book. There's A LOT of sex in "The Narcissist's Daughter," however, and although at first it seems appropriate for the "Graduate" meets James M. Cain plot, eventually a few too many fetishistic variations make the novel read more like "The Kinsey Report" than "The Postman Always Rings Twice." It's that overdose of perversity coupled with a less than sympathetic protagonist that may leave a bad taste in the reader's mouth even as the convoluted plot races to it's appropriately shocking ending.

When I first started reading this book, I wasn't sure I would like it. It has long run on sentences in the first person, which could initially seemed rambling. But, just a few pages in I could see that his style really worked well. I was very quickly engrossed in the story, the characters and enjoyed how beautifully it was written. It held many surprises and plot twists that were unusual and entertaining. I look forward to reading Holden's other books.

This title begs the question, "Who is the narcissist?" There are 2 daughters, but one, Chloe, has only one parent, Brigman, an alcoholic car mechanic, and I think it's safe to say that he is not the narcissist. The other daughter is Jessi Kessler, whose father Ted is a physician and whose mother Joyce is a nurse. Either of these unsavory parents is a candidate. The main character and narrator is Syd, Chloe's half-brother, who in 1979 works in Ted's lab at the hospital as a phlebotomist. Ted encourages Syd to transfer to the night shift, where Syd meets Joyce and begins an affair, even though he realizes that Ted can sabotage his med school plans if he finds out. Then Syd discovers that he has been victimized by the Kessler family and seeks revenge by wooing Jessi, a teenager. This scheme backfires in more ways than one. There are several plot twists, the last of which I found not particularly surprising, and the storyline is a little bit kinky (no complaints here). I actually love plot-driven novels, but still I would have liked to have known what makes Syd tick. He's obviously intelligent and attractive, but his moral compass seems to be a little off course. He might be more ethically inclined if he weren't kept in the dark about most everything that happens around him, but I doubt it. Is he the narcissist? Perhaps, but that would require a daughter....

If James M. Cain had been allowed to show the sex in Double Indemnity, it might have looked something like The Narcissist's Daughter. Syd, a pre-med student from the wrong side of the tracks finds himself entranced by his boss's wife. He then learns that the game he is playing is not his game and determines that he will take his revenge. Flowing prose, tight plotting, realistic character development and a breakneck pace combine to turn this into a noir novel that reads like one of the pulp fiction greats.

Craig Holden deserves to be more popular and I don't understand why he isn't. He writes good books; he has a good publisher; he has been consistently well reviewed by the major outlets, but still he sits in the mid-list.

I read The River Sorrow when it was first released and it was one of those books I fell into and read in a sitting. Some years later, I sought out other books by Craig Holden, including The Narcissist's Daughter. Craig Holden writes gripping, realistic thrillers that are compulsively readable and that could be secret tragedy of your life or your neighbor's. As another reviewer put it; this is the story you are told by a drunken stranger. The suspense is gripping without ever stretching credulity and human nature is on display with all of its strengths and flaws. The books have a bit of the dark fatalism of the Greek tragedies or Cornell Woolrich's work. Things will turn out badly, even when the characters try to ameliorate the situation. And the situations are driven by their flaws and obsessions. Seek out the work of Craig Holden; you won't be sorry.

The Narcissist's Daughter is a quick, stunning read that is a lot like a blow to the solar plexus. It will leave you both sad and breathless. Recommended as is his other work.

Reading this book is like settling down at your neighborhood bar next to a stranger who maybe past his limit and needs to tell you a story. At first you don't want to listen, and then his insistence, and the fact that he will buy if you will only bear witness, holds you until closing time. Its 4AM, you smell like smoke, and you know a little bit more about the consequences of the choices we can make and the choices that get made for us.

The plot details of this book are amply displayed elsewhere. What keeps you listening are its characters and the language in which Holden tells their story. Whether it is the wine stained face of Chloe and her young Lochinvar Donny, the primal love of Motorhead stepfather Brigman, the Doctor and his wife, yound Syd and Jessi, these people, and their story, become as real as if they are sitting next to you and staring back out the mirror setting over the backbar. You want to buy them a drink if only they tell their story to its terrible and human end.

This book is about love and the things we do, don't do, and get done to us for its sake.

I bought this book used when it was out of print. I see it is now out as a paperback. I urge you to buy it at full value. Feeding Holden is important.

In 1970s in Cleveland, pre-medical student Daniel "Syd" Redding hates his narcissistic boss, Dr. Ted Kessler. He dreams of killing the egomaniac, who makes his life at the hospital miserable. Working the grave yard shift, Syd meets Kessler's sexy wife, Joyce. She outrageously flirts with the young student and soon has him controlled under her siren's S&M spell.

However, their affair falls apart leaving Syd angrier than his heroes the Ramones and bitter. His need to obtain revenge against these affluent snobs is stratospheric eating at his gut. He knows he cannot attack directly as he would lose. He chooses their seventeen years old daughter, Jessi. He planned to make her the avenue of his vengeance starting with dating her, but falls in love.

Two decades later, happily married Syd and Jessi raise a family together. All is well until a construction crew digs up human remains.

This reprint of an engaging family drama is fun to read as Jessi changes Syd's attitude from hate to love, but twists it into a suspense thriller as that fateful year 1978 comes back to haunt them decades later. The story line is fast-paced once the players are introduced especially after Syd meets THE NARCISSIST'S DAUGHTER as he fears his relationship with her mom will surface like a Mrs. Robinson and destroy his happiness; instead a corpse threatens it. Although the homicide suspense comes across somewhat secondary in a supportive role, fans of character driven tales will appreciate Craig Holden's fine look at family relations.

Harriet Klausner

This is one of those novels that sounds intriguing. When you begin the story you really are not sure where the story is headed. It becomes a voyeuristic look at the life of a young man who will stop at nothing in order to get revenge on a doctor, who begin as somewhat of a mentor. The young man, Syd Redding, goes from respect to plotting revenge after Dr. Kessler humiliates him. The idolized doctor goes from a well respected man who in the eyes of Syd, deteriorates into a controlling dispassionate individual with no regard for the feelings or lives of those that get in his way. Syd's plan for revenge teeters on the brink of failure unless he is willing to trade away some of the good things in life for the ultimate revenge. This novel at times becomes so intense that it is actually uncomfortable in parts and the need to put the book down is almost overwhelming!! Craig Holden puts a new twist on a classic revenge story!!