Title: Dominance
Author: Will Lavender
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: July 5, 2011
Hardcover: 368 pages
ISBN: 978-1451617290
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
From the Publisher:
THE PROCEDURE HAS BEGUN . . .
Fifteen years earlier. Jasper College is buzzing with the news that famed literature professor Richard Aldiss will be teaching a special night class called Unraveling a Literary Mystery—from a video feed in his prison cell. In 1982, Aldiss was convicted of the murders of two female grad students; the women were killed with axe blows and their bodies decorated with the novels of notoriously reclusive author Paul Fallows. Even the most obsessive Fallows scholars have never seen him. He is like a ghost. Aldiss entreats the students of his night class to solve the Fallows riddle once and for all. The author’s two published novels, The Coil and The Golden Silence, are considered maps to finding Fallows’s true identity. And the only way in is to master them through a game called the Procedure. You may not know when the game has begun, but when you receive an invitation to play, it is an invitation to join the elite ranks of Fallows scholars. Failure, in these circles, is a fate worse than death. Soon, members of the night class will be invited to play along . . .
Present day. Harvard professor Alex Shipley made her name as a member of Aldiss’s night class. She not only exposed the truth of Paul Fallows’s identity, but in the process uncovered information that acquitted Aldiss of the heinous 1982 crimes. But when one of her fellow night class alums is murdered— the body chopped up with an axe and surrounded by Fallows novels—can she use what she knows about Fallows and the Procedure to stop a killer before each of her former classmates is picked off, one by one?
My Review:
Dominance by Will Lavender is a uniquely designed mystery/suspense thriller that takes the art of this genre to a new dimension. This one is perhaps the antithesis of “cozy” and by no means is it a straightforward murder mystery. The story begins with the news that an infamous literature professor, Richard Aldiss, now incarcerated for murder, will be teaching a night course, a course that will focus on unraveling a mystery surrounding the murders for which Aldiss is incarcerated. Alternating between 1994 and present day where Alex Shipley, a student in that 1994 night class, sees the start of another series of murders, Lavender crafts an incredibly complex series of plot twists that will keep even the best amateur sleuths guessing until the end. Mixing suspense, mystery, flashbacks (which, by the way are essential in the manner in which Lavender has crafted this novel) with a twist of irony, this story will do to readers’ attention what its title implies. The reading is fast, yet the writing is mesmerizingly brilliant and I forewarn that this one will keep readers engaged until the mystery is unraveled in the last few pages of Dominance. I highly recommend Dominance to all mystery/suspense fans as Lavender has broken new ground in this genre.
To learn more about author Will Lavender and his books, please visit his website.
I received a complimentary arc of Dominance by Will Lavender from Simon & Schuster. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.
Oh my gosh, this sounds gripping! When I start a book like that it takes over my life.
I thought it was fabulous and cannot wait to se what he writes next.
I was just thinking that I haven’t read any mysteries this year so far. This one sounds hot off the presses! I’ll look for it!
I think it would make an excellent choice. Let me know what you think of the book.
I am convinced that I need to pick this one up. Thanks for a great review.
Oh I am pleased, do let me know what you think of the book.
I want to read this one! I didn’t get to it quickly enough through Galley Grab, but I’m keeping it on my list to read.
I truly enjoyed it and look forward to more works by Will Lavender.