Ringarra

This thoroughly satisfying, explicit contemporary Gothic concerns Katsie McLeod whose parents died on their Wyoming ranch when she was a child. Raised in Philadelphia by her independent Quaker aunt, Katsie is getting her MBA at Wharton where she meets Bob Waterson, a business whiz from Australia. On a visit to his home, Bob takes Katsie to the grand, isolated estate of Ringarra to meet the remarkable head of the company he works for. Katsie is obsessed by ruthless, magnetic Michael Taverner, feeling controlled by him in a way utterly alien to her self-image as a thoroughly liberated woman. The twist in this modern Gothic, besides its trappings and its freely acknowledged sexual impetus, is Katsie's awareness of and struggle with the side of her that would choose obsession. She and Bob are further endangered when they uncover the complex fraud Taverner is engaged in, and Katsie must reach far back in her memory for the strength to pull free from his evil hold. March 5