Body of a Girl
Olivia Dale is making a name for herself on the crime beat at a Memphis  newspaper. Her byline means everything to her, and the 24-year-old has  cultivated a tough veneer to get her scoops. But that veneer is as fragile as  blown glass. The brutal rape and murder of Allison Avery, a charismatic  young singer whose life holds, and casts, dark shadows, shatters Olivia's hard- won calm. The remaining question: will it shatter her life as well? Olivia both  capitalizes on and privately regrets the enforced voyeurism of her profession.  Always on the margin, always watching, always chronicling the lives of others,  she wonders what her own life might be missing:People are like those nested Russian dolls. There's always someone  else hiding inside the person you think you know, layer after layer, each with  the same painted face. I want to open someone up and hold that last solid little  doll in my hand. I know all of Allison Avery's disguises, femme fatale, loyal  friend, maternal and corrupting sister, virginal obedient daughter, performer,  alive with the magic of her own touch. But who was she at the center? I don't  know if I believe in the soul. I'm afraid of the darkness I see in all of us,  every one of us a mystery. I have looked in the mirror and not been certain that  I saw myself.As she picks through the contradictory remains of Allison's existence, however,  Olivia falls helplessly under Allison's spell. Her quest to discover the truth  behind her death slides into an eerie exercise in doubling, as Olivia begins to  mimic the singer in thought, word, and deed. Where will Olivia draw the line  between self and subject in her terrifying plunge from distance to immediacy?  And will it be the merging, or the separating, that carries the greatest  risks?Body of a Girlis at once atmospheric, erotic, and deeply disturbing. So  effective is Leah Stewart at capturing the sultry heat of a Memphis summer that  the pages practically sweat. It is well-paced and tautly plotted, visceral and  gripping. Stewart has mercilessly sketched the potential emptiness at the core  of the self, and in doing so has given psychological suspense fans a name to  appreciate now and welcome in the future.--Kelly Flynn--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.