Averil Dean

With an unusual premise and a somewhat taboo relationship, The Undoing by Averil Dean is an engrossing psychological thriller. Told from multiple points of view, the novel begins in the present then works its way backward in time only to circle back to the shocking events that occurred at the story's beginning.

Celia Dark, Rory McFarlane and Eric Dillon are childhood friends whose relationship took a rather unorthodox turn in their late teens. As adults, they purchased then began renovating the Blackbird Hotel, a decrepit and ramshackle part of local history. Just as they are on the verge of realizing Celia's dream of re-opening the hotel as a bed and breakfast, a tempestuous and heated confrontation culminates in a stunning murder/suicide. What transpired between them has remained a mystery for five long years, but when their friend Kate Vaughn re-opens the hotel, the shocking truth about what happened that day will eventually be revealed.

Celia, Rory and Eric have very different personalities and their relationship is quite unconventional. A bit of an eccentric, Celia is a free-spirit who does her own thing. She does not care what other people think of her but she still manages to captivate and charm anyone who crosses her path. She is rather laidback, content to go with the flow and avoids confrontation. Rory is Celia's stepbrother and he is quite protective of her. He is gregarious, fearless and always up for an adventure. Growing up with an abusive father, Eric is somewhat troubled with deep seated insecurities.. Although he has been stable for several years now, in the weeks leading up to their deaths, he is slowly beginning to unravel.

Secondary characters Kate Vaughn and Julian Moss are also prominent players in the unfolding drama. Kate is a local whose friendship with Celia spans several years. Julian is an Olympic bronze medal skier who is much older than everyone else. He also has a hint of a dark past but it is his obsessive fascination with Celia that takes a somewhat sinister turn when she rebuffs his advances. His manipulations sow the seeds of mistrust but he pays a heavy price for his actions.

The narrative is interesting but becomes a little convoluted as the story progresses. Beginning in 2014 with the re-opening of the Blackbird Hotel, the novel then moves back in time. Some of the shifts are just a day or two, while others span several years. The jumps in years are easy enough to follow but the "day before" flashbacks are a little confusing. Each of the chapters are from a different time period and present key information and insight about the various characters. Some of these chapters end abruptly and feel incomplete as the story then switches to another stretch of time and/or characters' perspective.

The Undoing by Averil Dean is a riveting and suspenseful thriller with plenty of startling twists and turns. Secrets, jealousy and obsession are slowly revealed as the novel wends its way to a rather shocking and completely unexpected conclusion.… (meer)

Averil Dean's debut novel, Alice Close Your Eyes, is disconcerting, dark and intense. It is also an incredibly riveting tale of two very damaged individuals, their dysfunctional and violent relationship and the secrets that haunt them. This harrowing psychological thriller is highly erotic and not for the sexually faint of heart.

Alice Croft is the novel's narrator and while she has a compelling voice, it is difficult to like her. There is no mistaking she has had a difficult life but her decisions and judgment are questionable. The deaths of her grandmother and mother a year apart thrust her into the foster care system where she bounced from one abusive home after another. Now in her early twenties, Alice is the successful author of a popular young adult series but her need for revenge is about to take her down a dark and dangerous path.

While readers get plenty of insight into Alice and her dysfunctional past, Jack Calabrese remains an enigma. He shares bits and pieces of his violent past but there are clear signs that he has not revealed all of his secrets. At first, Jack is quite charming but he quickly becomes possessive of Alice and their relationship takes a sadistic turn. Their sex scenes are graphic with strong BDSM elements and while consensual, they are sometimes difficult to read.

Interspersed with current events are flashbacks from Alice's childhood. Pivotal incidents provide valuable psychological insight into her character and her actions. The connection between Alice and Jack is gradually revealed but full understanding of her motivations in seeking him out are not completely clear until the tragic conclusion of Alice Close Your Eyes.

An impressive first novel by newcomer Averil Dean that I recommend to anyone who doesn't mind gritty and realistic stories.… (meer)

3 lifelong friends buy the hotel of their dreams and start renovating it. And then the past seems to try to catch up with them - and the bodies start dropping.

Most of the story is said in reverse order - starting with a death and going back to show how things happened. That way of writing works when the back story changes how you see things - a piece of backstory that changes the way you see things from a future scene. And that requires subtlety and careful handling of clues and hints. And Dean does not manage to pull it off - there is nothing really revelatory in the back story - and the few pieces that could have changed someone's reading do not come off as a surprise.

The only surprise comes at the end of the book, when the book moves to the future of the scene from the start of the novel. And that sounds almost as a cheat - it adds up at the end but the clues and hints were not there earlier - it looks as if the author was too worried to give it up too early. Add the over-long and explicit sex scenes which do not help the action and are there seemingly just to shock and it comes off as trying too hard. The author is considered an erotica author so I expected some of this - but the thin line between erotica and porn is making sure that the scenes actually add to the story. At the same time they were particularly well written either...

If the novel was told linearly, it actually could have worked. Trying to pull off the reverse order backfires. And to add to the mess, Dean is too scared to fully try to pull it off - and adds this end instead of leading with it. And the writing is not strong enough to help either.

I doubt that I will try another book by Averil Dean - not for a while anyway.… (meer)

The Undoing by Averil Dean begins with one drastic action and no explanation. Julian is alone and does something nearly unthinkable. The interesting thing, for the reader, is that it is entirely out of context – there is only the vaguest of hints about how we came to this point. Then we jump back a day, to see what brought Julian to the edge. Then we jump back 5 years, then 3 days before that, then a year before that. As we hopscotch through time, we begin to get a sense of the characters and events.

Celia, Rory, and Eric have been inseparable since childhood, growing up in the tiny Colorado town of Jawbone Ridge. Celia and Rory were raised as siblings (her father married his mother); Eric is Rory’s best friend and Celia’s sometime lover. They did not have easy childhoods – there were abusive parents, family secrets, desertion and death – but these three damaged people had a bond that helped them survive it all. They eventually follow Celia’s long-time dream of buying the abandoned Blackbird Hotel, planning to turn it into a B&B. Instead, the three old friends end up dead, shot to death in the hotel. Who was responsible and what pushed this relationship to the breaking point?

I love the way this story skips through time. I love the way that just when you think part of the story is becoming clearer, a new bit of backstory makes you rethink everything. There are so many threads to unravel! Dean does an excellent job of weaving the disjointed bits of backstory into an ending that completely changes the way you will view the first few pages. It kept me engaged; I read the book straight through, starting in a departure lounge at the Cleveland airport and and finally finishing over dinner at JFK. There was no way I was going to put this one down – I needed to know how it ended! There’s not much greater praise for a novel.… (meer)