Rage in the Page: who comes up with these??

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Title: After the Night
By Linda Howard

This one was weird. Faith comes from white trash family that everyone in town hates; her mom’s having an affair with the local big-shot, and her dad and older brothers are mean drunks. One night mom and the big-shot disappear, and everyone thinks they ran off together (this would be "the night"), so the next day, in retaliation, big-shot’s son, Gray, comes to kick them off the corner of his family’s property where they’ve been squatting for years, and he experiences “inappropriate”thoughts about Faith, who, at the time is 13 to his 19. Fast-forward several years…

Faith made good in the world, though the rest of her family didn’t. She hasn’t seen her mom for like 15 years, but she just heard that she showed up at Grandma’s house. Rather than go there and ask mom why she ran away and what happened to Gray’s dad, it’s obviously a better choice to go back to the hometown where everyone will hate her to find the answers. And Gray’s still there, running the local bank or something. His sister, Monica, has a semi-irrational hatred of Faith (it’s not like she encouraged mom to sleep with her dad) and tries to kill her. Plus Gray’s mom has been hiding in her room and has some mental issues. Gray’s dad’s former partner is in love with his mom, but since she’s emotionally unavailable, he sleeps with Monica and calls her by her mom’s name.

Gray, of course, both hates Faith because she looks just like her mom the slut and is drawn to her (perhaps because she looks like her mom the slut…). So he tells the grocer to not sell her food and then goes to her house and practically rapes her. I mean, she argues and then succumbs to his overwhelming charm. This happens repeatedly.
And then it all comes out in the end that dad’s partner killed him because he actually was planning to run away with Faith’s mom, and then paid her off, which is why she’s been in hiding for years. And even though Faith looks just like the slut who broke up the family, Gray’s going to marry her and Monica and his crack-pot mother can just deal with it.

Labels: crap, romantic "suspense"