Kirjahaku

"A scintillating take on marital and workplace dramas with compelling characters and devilish surprises...Goldstein's precise, elegant prose cleverly takes its time revealing his characters' secret desires, building suspense for fun to come...when readers are alone with each character's thoughts, the author serves up something delicious." -Kirkus ReviewsHow well do you really know the people you encounter every day?Craig Schumacher is not your typical executive. With a gentle spirit and a morning ritual that includes serene meditation alongside his cherished rabbit, Golda, Craig values connection over competition. Yet, beneath his calm, polished exterior lies a secret he's worked hard to keep hidden-one that could change everything.Enter Byron Dorn-Craig's employee and chaos incarnate. Crude, impulsive, and driven by envy, Byron is elated when he and his wife stumble upon information that he believes could unravel Craig's life. But when Byron ropes another couple into his schemes, things become a lot more complicated.Because Craig isn't the only one with a secret. And as the stakes rise, everyone will have to decide what they're willing to sacrifice to get what they want-and when they're willing to walk away.Set against the dynamic backdrop of San Francisco, this gripping psychological novel weaves a complex tapestry of deception, envy, desire, politics, and power.

When Stanley Berman, a Jewish New York attorney, is appointed Chief Counsel at a North Carolina University, he opts to share a house with his good friend, Thomas McClellan, a professor in the school's English Department. The men spend their evenings drinking wine, playing chess, and lamenting their ineptitude with women. Then the Professor, a Southern good old boy, former high school football lineman, and avid hunter, hatches a scheme to bring a young woman into the house, insisting that as a creative writing teacher, such women find him alluringly subversive and artistic. The Counselor is dubious but persuaded nonetheless - much to his detriment. The articulate but bumbling Counselor and Professor find themselves outwitted at every turn by Victoria, a young woman who is clever, inscrutable, and superb at finishing what she starts. She initiates passionate sexual encounters with the men, but as time goes on, what she demands in return becomes untenable. When she goes missing, John Watson, the county sheriff - and the Professor's lifelong friend - feels compelled to open a murder investigation. Full of wicked humor, artful eroticism, scintillating dialogue, and a bit of intrigue, Enemy Queen is an exhilarating romp set in a North Carolina college town.

A novel about a family even more dysfunctional than the one you grew up in. Will's Surreal Period is a richly satisfying tale - at times laugh-out-loud hilarious and at times deeply moving - that features a rollickingly dysfunctional family, a seemingly endless array of succulent foodstuffs, and a brain tumor that transforms a mediocre painter into a virtuoso. Now toss in a smidgen of BDSM and a few beguiling tidbits exploring brain chemistry and human evolution, and you have a story that will hook you fast and captivate you till the end. 'Will's Surreal Period proves why works of fiction are high art... . Robert Steven Goldstein deftly converts our raw human foibles into emotive entertainment and, as he does, reminds us, sometimes painfully, sometimes hilariously, who we are.' - MICHAEL J. COFFINO, award-winning author of Truth Is in the House