Sleeping With the Devil

Vanessa Marlow

Publisher:
St. Martin's Griffin

Release Date:
April 15, 2008

Genres:
Erotic
Thriller

ISBN:
Print
9780312364779

Bookmark Rating:

Reviewed by
Jennifer Ray

Review Posted:
May 2008

Meg White lives a quiet little life, content with her job as a chef, and a fiancée who is comfortable, if not particularly exciting.  One night changes her life forever when she meets the mysterious and wealthy recluse, Jordan Blair.  The attentions of the handsome millionaire are heady, to say the least, as the man focuses completely on Meg, introducing her to passion she has never imagined.

The passion soon leads her to experimenting with the sexual kinks Jordan presses her into, and soon her life is a whirlwind of excess, leaving her dizzy and out of control, a state Jordan seems all too happy with as he asserts his own control over her more fully.

Before long, Meg finds herself isolated, having lost all of the friends she knew before Jordan, and at the mercy of a man she begins to fear.

Let me just say for the record that SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL is not a romance, although the beginning may feel like it at first. It is really more of an erotic thriller. Fans of the author’s other work under the name Cheryl Holt may expect a romance here, and so should be warned ahead of time.  If you read this book expecting romance, you take the chance of being disappointed.  If you read it understanding what it really is, you will undoubtedly be as awestruck by this story as I was.

Meg, our heroine, is systematically isolated and controlled by Jordan.  His control is so insidious that at times she begins to doubt her own sanity and his sociopathic nature as he manipulates her into his every whim, no matter how extreme.  At first flattered by his ardor and attention, she is easily seduced, until she descends into utter dependency on him, severing all ties to her old life. 

A study of a sociopath and his victim, SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL is intense and compelling . If you have a low ‘ick’ factor, avoid the book. The lead male does some really atrocious things to the heroine, but they aren't detailed more than is necessary to get the point across and create the right mood for the story. 

Written in first person, we see the story unfold solely from Meg’s point of view, allowing the mystery of Jordan’s motives to build as the story progresses.  I can’t imagine this book being written another way. 

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