Helpful Score: 1
Playing out fantasies that won't effect our daily realities is a potent lure for people who inhabit computer chat rooms. In this mesmerizing novel, Martha Baer talks about that phenomenon and adds the potent element of obsession with an online but otherwise unknown lover. Francesca is the online persona of Elaine, a promising young professional who exhibits much savvy while making her way up the corporate ladder. By night, though, as Francesca, she becomes the willing submissive lover of Inez. When Elaine slips and reveals her true identity, Inez disappears, leaving Elaine searching frantically for Inez--with unexpected consequences.
A whodunit with an edge, this debut novel, first serialized in the online magazine HotWired, is a mildly spicy one-night read. By day, narrator Elaine Botsch has it all together as she works hard to scale the corporate ladder.
