JUST ONE NIGHT: EXPOSED...What You Can Look Forward To

Early reviews are sprinkling in for JUST ONE NIGHT PART 2: EXPOSED, the sequel to THE STRANGER and they're pretty damn good.  The word that keeps coming up is "intense" as well as the observation that this installment is a little darker than the first.

I can't say I disagree. Part of that is to be expected.  After all, Simon & Schuster asked that instead of writing one long book for them I break the book up into three novellas and that means pt 2 is the middle of the story...and it's always darkest before the dawn.

Don't get me wrong, it's not Jodi-Piccoult-dark(and she does dark so very well). There are no Nazis, children with terminal illnesses or any of that kind of tragedy. But just as Kasie has struggled to hide her true nature from the world we learn in EXPOSED that Dave is not exactly what he seems either. Like Kasie, he values control over all else but unlike Kasie the control he covets is over his surroundings and of the woman in his life rather than of himself. Through gentle manipulations he has always been able to control Kasie. He has always known what to say to keep her in line and he's always been able to do it while still seeming like a good guy.

But when he learns that Kasie hasn't been under his control after all...when he realizes that she has actually been lying to him and cheating on him he seeks to gain both revenge and control in rather dark and sinister ways. Robert Dade is a take-what-I-want kinda guy. But so is Dave, it's just that while Robert goes after it head on, Dave's way is more subtle and poisonous.

You see signs of it in THE STRANGER. When Kasie tries to initiate sex and actually set the mood rather than letting Dave do it he balks and immediately leaves the house, knowing that he's subtlety shaming/rejecting her by doing so. When he comes back the next day he explains to her who he needs her to be...but he frames it by suggesting that's who she's been all along. She just can't change...at all. There can't even be any mixing it up in the bedroom. It has to fit his vision.

But he says it so nicely...it sounds like he's complimenting her, even apologizing to her, certainly not like he's controlling her...until you start to really think about it.

When she tries to direct the conversation at dinner at Scarpetta he won't let her. He makes it clear what is and is not off limits in regards to their conversation. But again, it doesn't exactly feel like control when he does it. It's subtle.

When Kasie's secrets are revealed subtlety is no longer an option for Dave. He plays a much more brazen game and it gets ugly. Kasie is outraged by his actions...but she also knows that she threw the first punch. He's acting out because of her betrayal and she knows that makes her complicit in her own misfortune. Guilt, anger, self-preservation...it's all in play here...not to mention her lust for the uncontainable Robert Dade who is not exactly willing to wait on the sidelines as she fights this battle. A Goodreads reviewer summed it up like this:

Truths, lies, control, anger, guilt, envy, lust, my head is reeling trying to keep up with all the themes of this book

It's true, there's a lot going on. There were times I was so disturbed by Dave that when I was done writing a scene I had to take a walk and shake it off. Yes, I created him but he took on a life of his own and he makes me very uncomfortable. And be forewarned, he will make you angry. And yet it would have been too easy to make him the perfect milquetoast nice guy. Kasie would have felt guilty, seen the error of her ways, made amends and found a way to start over with Mr. Dade once she got over her guilt. But if Dave isn't who she thinks he is...can she still see that her own actions weren't justified? When you betray someone who is ready to betray you is it still a betrayal?

I'd say yes, but when you're in it it's harder to see. That's Kasie's challenge and her mission. She has to go on a righteous war with bloodied hands.

And then there's Robert. He feels no guilt about being the man Kasie betrayed Dave with. His view of the situation is much simpler: He wants Kasie, she wants him and anything that's standing in the way of their being together has just gotta go. But he sees that Dave isn't the only problem. Kasie is being held back by her own conscience. She's trying to play by the rules that she's been living by all her life. Rules that she was taught as a child and that were reenforced once she reached adulthood. As far as Robert is concerned if the rules are slowing you down you change the rules. It's a lesson he's determined to teach Kasie. Having the resources and influence to change the rules on a whim makes Robert a very powerful man...and alluring...and so much more dangerous than Dave could ever be.

So that's what you have to look forward to. JUST ONE NIGHT PART 2: EXPOSED will be available as an ebook on Monday the 18th of March. Buckle up because if I did this right it's going to be a wild ride.