Penguin, London 1999

Nicci French, or whoever hides behind this name, is a master of the psycho-thriller, and this novel is a special masterpiece.

Alice Loudon, a young career woman in a settled relationship, falls in love with a man she meets in the street, conveniently called Adam. He is the dream come true of a passionate lover and after only a month together with him she consents to marry him. Of course, now her problems begin.

Why do I get the impression, that it´s the Puritan British mind, that can´t allow passionate sex and love to be good? Adam turns out to be into violent sex-games and just as violent jealousy and Alice fears for her life. She begins to dig into Adam´s past; first, because she, too, is jealous of his former relationships, then, because she finds out, that one of his former girfriends disappeared, another died in a disastrous mountaineering expedition, led among others by Adam.

And the moral of this story: Better stick to your kind, sexually rather boring partner, then get involved with strangers, however good-looking.