Secret Obsession

Paige Donohue has spent her entire life feeling inferior to her sister, Camille, who gets all the love and affection from their parents while Paige is treated like the bad seed. So Paige devises a convoluted plan to fake her own rape, hoping that Camille and Pierce, her husband, will take her in. Once ensconced in their home, she'll convince Pierce that Camille is unfaithful, gain his trust, and steal him away.. The plan, however, doesn't go quite as expected. And when Paige's lies are finally uncovered, her mother drops a bombshell that explains her hatred for Paige, rocking the poor girl's already shaky sense of self. An absurd plot, stilted dialogue, clunky exposition, broad characterizations, and flat motivations drain Roby's (Love, Honor, and Betray) tale of any excitement inherent in the set-up. Not helping matters is Roby's habit of telegraphing her characters' every thought, leaving nothing to the reader's imagination. (Sept.)