Flowers of Darkness

Writer Clarissa Katsef, the protagonist of this intriguing if slow-moving near-future thriller from bestseller de Rosnay (The Rain Watcher), has spent 20 years with her second husband—until she discovers he’s been cheating on her. Luckily, she’s found the perfect refuge: a technologically advanced apartment complex in Paris that’s run by a mysterious organization called C.A.S.A. and is dedicated to giving artists an inexpensive, supposedly art-conducive environment, complete with an AI (which Clarissa names Mrs. Dalloway). Instead of feeling inspired, Clarissa begins to feel watched, tired, and creeped out by a neighbor’s suspicious disappearance. She’s also haunted by dreams of her first, stillborn child. And when a 19-year-old writer and fan reaches out and wants to meet for coffee, even this appears to be part of C.A.S.A.’s hidden agenda. However, when Clarissa and her beloved 14-year-old granddaughter begin to investigate her uneasy feelings about the technology and the neighbor’s disappearance, they can’t find much. Nearly plotless, this sensitive examination of relationships and the nature of privacy will appeal mainly to readers of literary fiction. Suspense fans may feel shortchanged. (Feb.)