Product Description

American sculptor, Ross Marteau, returns to Texas from Paris after a love affair ends violently. He becomes involved with Celeste who suggests a commission: her sister, Leda, who as well as being beautiful, is a hunchback. Ross finds himself pulled into their world and ensnared in a web of secrets.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2161434 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Penzler Pick, April 2001: David Lindsey can write horrific thrillers such as Mercy, which ranks up there with such serial-killer novels as By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens and The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. However, he is also the author of gentler tales--psychological suspense where the horror is subtle and comes from everyday and unexpected sources. Animosity belongs in the second category.

Ross Marteau is an American living in Paris, where he makes a decent living as a sculptor. After a particularly nasty breakup with his girlfriend of several years, he decides to return to his home in Texas and work from his studio in the art-friendly city of San Rafael. There he settles into a routine of working in the mornings on his next project and sharing conversation and a beer in the afternoons with his friend Amado Mateos. It is during one of these afternoon meetings that he notices a newcomer to the town.

Celeste Lacan is a beautiful woman who soon approaches Ross with a proposition. She would like to offer Ross a commission to sculpt her sister. Ross demurs--he already has a commission--but Celeste asks him to meet her sister before refusing, and when he does, he understands why Celeste is so insistent. Leda is not only the most beautiful woman Ross has ever seen, she is also the ugliest, and as a sculptor Ross knows that he will learn something new about beauty. As Ross begins working with Leda and meeting Celeste in the afternoons, he becomes obsessed with the two sisters. Life is about to become a living hell for Ross Marteau, and the ending of this story about art and love is breathtakingly horrifying. --Otto Penzler

Review
This latest offering from well-known thriller writer David Lindsey tells the story of Ross Marteau, a famous American sculptor, and his miserable love life. A middle-aged artist who has sold out, he makes a good living sculpting female nudes of and for the very rich. We are introduced to Ross in Paris as he is in the middle of a messy break-up with his latest lover, Marian. To recover from his wounds he heads home to his studio in art-friendly San Rafael, Texas. There he soon becomes entangled in a bizarre triangle with two sisters, Celeste and Leda. They have sought him out especially to sculpt the younger one, Leda, an extremely beautiful cripple. Of course, nothing is what it seems, and shadows from the past abound. Why did they seek Ross out? Are they really sisters? What is going on between Celeste and her mysterious husband? What does Leda really want from Ross? Lindsey piles on the twist and turns but, unfortunately, the main characters are so unreal and unsympathetic that the reader finds it hard to identify with them. A book for David Lindsey fans only! (Kirkus UK)

Synopsis
American sculptor, Ross Marteau, returns to Texas from Paris after a love affair ends violently. He becomes involved with Celeste who suggests a commission: her sister, Leda, who as well as being beautiful, is a hunchback. Ross finds himself pulled into their world and ensnared in a web of secrets.