Irina is a professional photographer in Newcastle who specializes in scouting attractive, often awkward men in public spaces to model for her provocative, voyeuristic portfolios. After receiving an invitation to exhibit her work at a prestigious London gallery, her obsessive behavior and substance abuse spiral into a cycle of extreme manipulation and physical aggression. She navigates a toxic friendship with her companion Flo and grooms a young supermarket employee, testing the limits of her social immunity while documenting her subjects through a lens of female-gaze fetishization and violent entitlement.
This novel targets readers interested in the "unreliable female narrator" archetype and the subversion of traditional gender roles in transgressive fiction. It appeals to those who study the power dynamics of the artistic gaze and the psychological impact of digital-age isolation. Readers finish the book with an uncomfortable understanding of how aesthetic beauty masks predatory behavior and how societal expectations regarding gender can obscure the reality of domestic and sexual psychopathy.
Balanced in tone; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2020
- Language
- EN
