Shrouded [Paperback]

Carol Anne Davis (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bloodlines | Publication Date: October 1997

Douglas likes women - quiet women; the kind he deals with at the mortuary where he works. Douglas meets Marjorie, unemployed, gaining weight and losing confidence. She talks and laughs a lot to cover up her shyness, but what Douglas really needs is a lover who'll stay still - perfectly still. Perhaps he can put Marjorie into a state of limbo and use her to feed his growing sexual hunger. Douglas studies his textbooks to find a way ...

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Originally published in Great Britain, this first novel by a writer of horror and erotic fiction charts the doomed-from-the-start lives of two socially inept young people in Edinburgh: Douglas, a withdrawn undertaker abused as a child; and Marjorie, a naive, overweight asthmatic on disability. Both have controlling, small-minded mothers; both fantasize about sex; both have a problem with alcohol. Douglas slides inexorably over the edge into rape and murder, while Marjorie, still believing herself "courted" by Douglas, sinks further into illusion. A superior character study that is moody, hypnotic, and tinged with violence.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Twenty years after his goldfish dies and he stops loving his mother or anybody else, Douglas Tate is working as an Edinburgh undertaker. It's a good job for Douglas, because he's always been most comfortable with people--especially women--who don't cling to him or talk back or move very much at all. When his mother and his abusive stepfather leave for Australia and Douglas is left for the first time in his own bed-sit, it looks as if he'll finally be free to make his perfect match with Marjorie Milton, whose asthma and shyness conspire to make her as passive as Douglas might wish. But a chance encounter with a prostitute awakens desires that are hideously, comically at odds with Douglas's reserved comportment--and as he keeps meeting Marjorie at the Fish Are Fun evenings (where the abortive lovers talk earnestly of keeping aquariums stocked with companions even more quiet than they are), he privately agonizes whether there isn't some way he can keep Marjorie all to himself, as still and silent as one of his clients as Reevon's Funeral Parlor. . . . No real surprises in this pathological debut (a lot more ruminative and creepy than Do-Not's recent offerings). But Davis creates a marvelously mundane context for her frightened hero's murderous fantasies. Following the progress of his necrophiliac romance is like watching the Titanic and the iceberg glide inexorably toward each other. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Do-Not Press (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1899344179
• ISBN-13: 978-1899344178
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,118,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Corpses, Corpes Everywhere - a wild suspense novel ride, November 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Shrouded (Paperback)

Shrouded opens with a graphic scene of childhood abuse directed against young Douglas Tate. Douglas' step-father is a brutal man, and his mother is unwilling to advocate for her child's safety. Just as soon as we meet young Douglas, the novel jumps forward twenty years and we meet him again as an adult. To say that Douglas has grown up to become a disturbed and dangerous man would be an understatement.

Douglas has only recently moved away from his parents' home. We quickly ascertain that Douglas has no social skills, no friends, and far too much interest in the corpses he encounters in his job as an undertaker. Douglas remains tormented by his childhood abuse memories, and his new independent lifestyle has unleashed thoughts of sex and violence that quickly turn to obsession.

As we see Douglas' grip on reality loosen, we follow this character on what becomes a quest to find the perfect mate -- one forever silent, still, and sexually welcoming: one shrouded in death.

When Douglas meets shy and insecure Marjorie at a local fish store, he wonders if she might be the woman to satisfy his increasing sexual needs. After a few encounters at the local Fish Are Fun club exchanging thoughts about fish and aquariums, Douglas seems convinced that Marjorie just might be the right girl for him. And while this troubled girl fantasizes about a life with a man who actually seems interested in her, Douglas hatches an unthinkable plot to turn Marjorie into the girl of his dreams. From his initial introduction as an abused boy desperate for tenderness and parental love to his evolution into a sexual predator, Douglas is an unforgettable character.

If you're looking for a fast-reading, tightly and very well-written suspense book, try Shrouded. Sex, violence, tropical fish, plenty of tea and sweets, and corpes everywhere - what more do you want in a suspense novel? Read it. You may be creeped out ... you may be downright scared ... but you definitely won't be disappointed.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creepy and Unusual, July 23, 1999

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shrouded (Paperback)

Creepy story about two socially maladjusted people whose lives intersect with nasty consequences. Douglas is a mortician with no interpersonal skills, making lists on his computer, and approaching each task in life analytically. Physically abused as a child, he finally moves out of his mother's house as an adult and slowly unravels mentally, turning into a quiet homicidal maniac. Marjorie is an asthmatic, overmothered wallflower who craves attention. Her timid involvement with a fish owner's club brings her into contact with Douglas. The book is convincing in showing how minor personality problems can either mask a dangerous psyche or get one in a lot of trouble. Could make a very good film.