Darkness Bound

Teasingly erotic, Brooks's first novel is that rarest of sexual thrillers, in which the sex isn't gratuitous but a convincing means to an end. Unfortunately, the book's erotic cover may cause horror/thriller fans to overlook this title on the bookshelf. What begins as a way for Seattle stockbroker Dillon Masters to live out his sexual fetishes turns into a high-stakes game of strategy and deceit, in which the prize is life. The players in this game are few--including Masters, his wife, his mysterious lover (whom he calls the ""Dark Lady""), her husband, a detective, a psychiatrist and a lawyer friend of Masters--but the many extremes each takes to destroy the others are shocking. Midnight phone calls, secret dalliances and dangerous play-acting ensue until Masters realizes he's caught in a complex scam and could be pegged for murder. The novel's final scenes burst with the intensity of a first-rate horror film, and it's difficult to detect a loophole in the intricate plot. (Oct.)