The first thing debut novelist Marlene M. Bell does right in STOLEN OBSESSION—about antiques appraiser Annalisse Drury, who’s convinced that an ancient necklace is cursed—is its first sentence: “A ground fog shrouded investigators while they unearthed her roommate from the black dirt of a farmer’s field.” In eighteen words, Bell creates the edgy atmosphere that will pervade the story, despite scenes set on a sun-dappled Greek island; in addition, readers are given a first glimpse into the dark experience that will shadow Annalisse’s actions throughout the story. What’s more, Bell tricks readers into thinking they know what the mystery is going to be, then leaves them reeling uncertainly when they realize that things are only going to get more complicated.
When Annalisse realizes that art dealer Generosa Zavos has come into possession of an ancient artifact linked to the murder of her roommate, she refuses to sit idly by. So she ropes Generosa’s son Alec, something of a Greek playboy, into helping her destroy the necklace. The first half of the book effectively builds up the plot’s intrigue layer by layer, while also weaving in key details about Annalisse’s past. And as readers slowly piece together her backstory, they come to view her as a real, round character with a fearless personality—someone they might like to be, minus the goons who break into her apartment or the boss who touches her inappropriately. But this stark believability in the protagonist’s character that makes it so jarring when her thoughts inappropriately revert to those of a tween girl experiencing her first crush.
In one scene, when Alec gives her an offhand complement, Annalisse only thinks, “He’d called her pretty.” That reaction is so out of place that the reader is abruptly tossed from the flow of the story, and this forced sexuality happens an uncomfortable number of times throughout STOLEN OBSESSION. The real romance, on the other hand, comes in spare, unexpected moments, like when Annalisse admits she’s scared and Alec takes her hand underneath the table. This reader, at least, hopes that Bell will give us more of those moments and less of the former in the much-anticipated second installment of this series.
~Christina Doka for IndieReader