Dirty Deeds

PARANORMAL:  This unique story is narrated in the first person by Cameron James, who has two personas: cute, petite city dweller by day; beautiful, badass ninja vigilante by night.  A gentle-hearted woman capable of gruesome acts, Cam deals justice to those who have evaded the consequences of their own foul deeds.  She vacillates between Devin, her simpering ex-boyfriend, with whom she occasionally sleeps, and the new man in her life: handsome, enigmatic Cole.  Devin loves her but is haunted by dark secrets that eventually lead him and Cameron into lethal troubles. They find themselves under Cole’s protection, but then the plot goes wild.

The twisting, sometimes intriguing, plot of “Dirty Deeds” shows a fertile imagination.  The story is gripping at times, particularly in the first half, and the characters, especially Cameron, can be fascinating.  Unfortunately, the plot’s plausibility is severely strained in the second half of the story and its tone is uneven, often at variance with the situations at hand, which are increasingly disturbing.  The badass Cameron seems too easily pushed around by her male counterparts. Most off-putting, however, is that while dark, sordid situations are occurring, Cameron’s reactions are written in a casual, almost cavalier tone more suited to much lighter subject matter.  The moral outrage the reader feels isn’t reflected in the characters, which, in the end, leads to confusion and uneasiness.  Though in the end the plot is resolved, the action by that point feels truncated and the explanation gratuitous. Ms. King has attempted a daunting task with “Dirty Deeds” and the story might work well if the more arcane aspects were explored more fully earlier on.

Marc Joseph