Stacking in Rivertown

An intricately emotional and erotic debut and a haunting foray into the deepest recesses of a sexual underworld, "Stacking in Rivertown" is a novel of love, pain, and redemption. Young, beautiful, and happily married, Beth is finally learning to relax and enjoy her success as a bestselling novelist. She has at last achieved the well-adjusted life she always wanted; it almost seems too good to be true. And it "is." Beneath her thin veneer of normalcy lies a terrifying history of sadism, sexual torture, tragic violence -- and a single long-buried secret that could destroy her. Beth is scarred by childhood abuse: as a sixteen-year-old runaway, she was picked up by Ben, an upmarket pimp whose girls are virtually slaves and who specializes in expensive sadomasochistic "plays" for wealthy clients. In one of those plays, Beth was stabbed and her best friend (and lover), a fellow young prostitute, was savagely murdered in front of her eyes. Now, recaptured by Ben, she struggles to remember what happened and who did it. "Stacking in Rivertown" marks the auspicious debut of a refreshingly bold new writer. In the bestselling tradition of Thomas Harris and David Lindsey, Barbara Bell plunges readers deep inside the mind of a woman struggling to survive and rebuild her life despite a harrowing past. As Beth flees for her life, fighting to get her revenge and somehow learning to love without pain, "Stacking in Rivertown" hurtles its readers toward a terrifying and unforgettable climax.