The Wilde Passions of Dorian Gray

In Szereto's (Thrones of Desire) unsettling novel of erotic horrors, she reimagines the ending of Oscar Wilde's classic and takes Dorian Gray from Paris in the %E2%80%9820s to modern day New Orleans, with stops in Marrakesh and Peru along the way. The author clearly knows and understands the source material%E2%80%94each section begins with a quote from the original, but the journey she imagines for her anti-hero is not for the squeamish. Gray's god is hedonism, and like an addict, each high requires that he pursue greater and greater extremes. By the time he arrives in New Orleans and takes up with the Night People, he has but a tenuous hold on humanity. His sexual exploits include turning himself into prey to experience the degradation he generally reserves for others, and seducing an innocent for the thrill of it. The author's writing is both purple and raw when describing various acts involving sex; it is simply raw when describing murder and suicide. There's plenty of all three in Szereto's story. Her imagination is vast%E2%80%94the same cannot be said about the audience for her book. (Dec.)