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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling erotic thriller, May 4, 2008
This review is from: Sleeping with the Devil (Paperback)
Meg White lives a quiet little life, content with her job as a chef, and a fiancée who is comfortable, if not particularly exciting. One night changes her life forever when she meets the mysterious and wealthy recluse, Jordan Blair. The attentions of the handsome millionaire are heady, to say the least, as the man focuses completely on Meg, introducing her to passion she has never imagined.
The passion soon leads her to experimenting with the sexual kinks Jordan presses her into, and soon her life is a whirlwind of excess, leaving her dizzy and out of control, a state Jordan seems all too happy with as he asserts his own control over her more fully.
Before long, Meg finds herself isolated, having lost all of the friends she knew before Jordan, and at the mercy of a man she begins to fear.
Let me just say for the record that SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL is not a romance, although the beginning may feel like it at first. It is really more of an erotic thriller. Fans of the author's other work under the name Cheryl Holt may expect a romance here, and so should be warned ahead of time. If you read this book expecting romance, you take the chance of being disappointed. If you read it understanding what it really is, you will undoubtedly be as awestruck by this story as I was.
Meg, our heroine, is systematically isolated and controlled by Jordan. His control is so insidious that at times she begins to doubt her own sanity and his sociopathic nature as he manipulates her into his every whim, no matter how extreme. At first flattered by his ardor and attention, she is easily seduced, until she descends into utter dependency on him, severing all ties to her old life.
A study of a sociopath and his victim, SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL is intense and compelling . If you have a low `ick' factor, avoid the book. The lead male does some really atrocious things to the heroine, but they aren't detailed more than is necessary to get the point across and create the right mood for the story.
Written in first person, we see the story unfold solely from Meg's point of view, allowing the mystery of Jordan's motives to build as the story progresses. I can't imagine this book being written another way.
It is very well written, and the plot is intriguing, but the material is most certainly disturbing. SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL is not a cozy read, but one that will make you appropriately uncomfortable while you read it. That said, it was highly entertaining and I really can't recommend it strongly enough.
**5 Bookmarks, courtesy of Wild on Books**
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A descent into hell...., September 29, 2008
This review is from: Sleeping with the Devil (Paperback)
Meg White and her boyfriend Steve were enjoying their anniversary when they met Jordan Blair. Instantly, Meg is uneasy about Jordan and his cool, possessive stare unnerves her. She's amazed that someone so handsome and sophisticated would be interested in little ol plain her. She's nothing special but Jordan makes her feel like she's the most amazing woman on earth and when he steals her away from Steve, she follows only too happily. He showers her with attention and gifts and his sexual appetite for her is insatiable. It's as if he can't sate himself enough on her flesh, as if he can't brand himself deep enough in her body. At first, Meg luxuriates in his lifestyle, enjoying everything he has to offer but it quickly goes wrong. It started with simple requests and gentle coaxing, a change of hairstyle or a suggestion about a dress. Before she understands what is happening, Jordan has completely taken over her life. Everything he does is a manipulative step that will place her further and further under his control. Meg at first fears for her personal identity, her sanity and then her life. When Jordan begins to tire of his games and ultimately her, Meg desperately tries to claw herself out of her stupor. What follows is the most evil game of cat and mouse ever construed and Meg's frantic bid for survival.
After I read Sleeping with the Devil, I really had to ask myself why I read it. This was seriously one of the most disturbing books I have ever read. There are no sexual kinks to explore and be titillated by in this book and this is not an erotic or sensuous read as the synopsis would suggest. The sex that occurs in this book was clearly used to punish and to destroy. The antagonist Jordan Blair was one of the most deranged, socipathic, evil characters I have ever read about and he tortures and destroys Meg White for no other reason than the fact he enjoyed it. He sadistically and systematically strips her of her sense of self and molds her into his ideal woman, an emaciated blonde. He's beyond sick. He's evil. He will give you nightmares.
Reading about Meg's downward descent into hell was so disturbing, yet I was completely fascinated. Vanessa Marlow (or Cheryl Holt) has created a unique and compelling character in both Jordan and Meg. While the story is told entirely from Meg's point of view, the glimpses that Meg gets of Jordan's psyche is for lack of a better word, fascinating. I literally couldn't put the book down and after I was finished, I had to grab my safe and sane husband for a comforting hug. To know that there are possibly men or women out there like Jordan gave me chills and this book left me feeling sick to my stomach. At first, everything that Jordan does, Meg allows. He picked his victim well, for she's too submissive and too naive to comprehend what he wants from her. You are going to be horrified by her seeming acceptance and stubborn denial of the situation, your going to will her to run, and you root for her when she does fights back, even when all it does is make it worse. While we are given small glimpses as to why Jordan gleefully ruins her, this is all about Meg and her slow descent and then her desperate struggle to bring herself back from the dead.
While it was very, very, very hard to read, Sleeping With The Devil was extremely well written and a finely crafted foray into one woman's hell and the monster who put her there. Read at your own risk.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
chilling character driven psychological thriller, April 19, 2008
This review is from: Sleeping with the Devil (Paperback)
Desert chef Meg White enjoys her mundane middle class lifestyle although she almost always is broke as her pay stinks. However, when she meets affluent older Jordan Blair while vacationing with her fiancé Steve the salesman on the rainy Oregon coast, she is immediately attracted to his sophisticated charm. He is just as hooked. She ends her engagement rationalizing Steve is hooked on Kimberly whom he just met, gives up her job, and quickly moves into Jordan's expensive penthouse.
He expands her sexual encounters into a variety of S&M and other partners, but reduces her world to his apartment. Meg soon becomes concerned as she realizes Jordon is controlling every aspect of her life. She fears if the bird escapes the gilded cage, this control freak will hunt her down.
This chilling character driven psychological thriller focuses on control by an obsessed person using any means from sexual to economic to guilt inducement in order to maintain domination and supremacy. Meg's first person account showcases her change from euphoria to doubt to abject fear as she reassesses just who Jordan is. With a superb final twist, fans will appreciate this strong look at abuse that comes in many ways not just physical and emotional, but sexual and economic terrorism.
Harriet Klausner
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