Visiting Philadelphia where he learns of his disturbing likeness to a notorious businessman, Southern bachelor Tristram Heade is drawn into his double's world when he is made a tempting offer. 20,000 first printing. $10,000 ad/promo.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Even readers unaware that Smith (Soul/Mate) is the pseudonymous Joyce Carol Oates will note that this ingenious, seductive tale of murder and madness boasts a seasoned literary sensibility, beginning with its opening phrase: "Tristram Heade's tragic adventure began inauspiciously, and surely by chance...."). Tristram, a reclusive Virginia bachelor and antiquarian book collector, visits Philadelphia on business. There, his life takes a bizarre turn when he is mistaken by hotel personnel for shady gambler and real-estate speculator Angus T. Markham. Not only does Tristram find Markham's suitcase, clothes and dagger in his room, but he is soon visited by the tearful but exotic and lovely Fleur Grunwald, a black-clad mystery woman who also insists that Tristram is Markham-and her sometime lover. Enchanted, Tristram decides to play along and assumes the identity of Markham, with fatal results. To his astonishment, Fleur soon reveals herself as a split personality, with her alter ego, Zoe, emerging through a "low, throaty, singsong, seductive voice" to describe the alleged tortures of Fleur's sadistic husband, Otto, a philanthropist and misogynist whose abuses include the inscribing into Zoe's flesh of a byzantine maze of grotesque tattoos. His sense of justice inflamed, Tristram determines to free Zoe/Fleur from her sufferings by killing Otto. The plot, strewn with twists and corpses, is also laden with coincidences and symbolic devices that create an air of artifice. Nevertheless, Smith/Oates has written yet another novel that will keep readers awake through the wee hours, and guessing until the last page. BOMC and QPB selection.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Tristram Heade travels to Philadelphia to buy a rare book, and strange things begin happening. A train porter hands him a wallet, supposedly his, but inside is identification for an Angus Markham. On impulse, Heade registers at a hotel where he is greeted as Markham. Later, Markham's luggage arrives in his room. In the middle of the night, he is awakened by a beautiful woman come to beg his, or rather Markham's, protection from her rich, sadistic husband. Who is this Markham, and why is Heade starting to act as he believes Markham would? This is a tense psychological suspense novel filled with dual identities, double crosses, and duplicity. It is also filled with philosophical and literary allusions suggesting that this is less about the mystery of Markham than about the fragile mystery of identity. It's just what one would expect from the celebrated Joyce Carol Oates, who uses the pseudonym "Rosamond Smith" for her psychological thrillers. Highly recommended.
Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I Hated It,
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This review is from: You Can't Catch Me (Paperback)
The author seems intent on impressing readers with how much she knows about antiquarian books -- in one instance, she devotes an ENTIRE page listing books and their authors . . . boring. The main character, Tristram Heade, is supposedly from this century, yet he thinks, acts, and speaks as though he's from the 1700's. All of the other characters in the book are just as lost in time . . . making the book, in my opinion, a confusing and totally unbelievable read. I wouldn't recommend it to ANYONE!
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