Stevens has a knack for the arresting, oneiric image. Not to mention the marked girl of the title, an emblem of female innocence defiled by male inadequacy and obsession. Stark and incandescent, these images seem frozen moments in a tortured unconscious. Still, these are only a mild distraction in a page turner that provides outlandish insights into male and female sexual pathology while luring one into a fantastic universe. Grace is not perfection, announces Lucy near the end.
Perfection is the invention of man.
Tattoo Girl may not achieve perfection, but it has grace.