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This short, fifty-nine-page story blends eroticism and terror. It covers a few days in the life of a woman who is reunited with her former lover, only to learn that whatever befell the battered and bruised Kerry may not be as horrible as what lies ahead.
Annette is a woman who works in a psychiatric unit. She’s currently in a relationship with another woman named Melanie. Before that, however, her lover and partner was Kerry. Kerry has been missing for over a year. One day she’s found and brought into the hospital where Annette works. Kerry is covered with terrible bruises and cuts all over her body. Not only is she physically scarred, but it’s obvious she’s mentally damaged as well. After a short recuperative stay in the hospital, Kerry is released, and Annette brings her back to the home they once shared. Melanie is understanding and tries to cope as Annette attempts to help Kerry without abandoning her new relationship. Things go off the rails quickly, however, as mayhem and murder are introduced, and corpses begin to accumulate.
Author Salt energetically tells her story primarily in Annette’s first-person voice. She doesn’t skimp on the sex or the violence and covers both in explicit detail as the story unwinds. While the narrative is easy to follow, extensive spelling and tense errors frequently impede pace. One is compelled, however, to push on to the novella’s end simply to find out what will happen to the kind and caring Annette and the increasingly unstable Kerry. As in many tales of this sort, surprises await.