I’ve been reading a LOT lately. A lot more than I used to. I’ve started reviewing for a few publishing houses (including Kensington) and having the authors on my blog for interviews and excerpts and giveaways. It’s been so darn fun meeting all these new-to-me authors!

I also write a craft column for Savvy Authors once a month. This, I think, is the greatest challenge, because while many books are good, its tough to find the ones with craft so stellar I can use it as a teaching point. I’m also joining Roni Loren’s blog this month as the suspense/thriller reviewer for a once-a-month post and suggested read.

One book I read recently (actually listened to on audio during my long drive to work) was DAMAGED by Pamela Callow. I started listening to it and turned it off. The beginning scene just didn’t grab me. Later, I started listening again, and as soon as that first scene was over, the book absolutely took off. I think this is the first book since Stephen King’s PET CEMETARY that turned out to be just too intense for me to finish. It was THAT good. The plot was so dynamic and heart wrenching. Characters intertwined into a weave so complex I couldn’t stop listening. What ended up making me put it away? The romance.

Okay, it was a thriller, so I can’t fault the book for the romance aspect. And I didn’t put it down because it was bad. I put it down because it was heartbreaking. The protagonist heroine and antagonistic hero in the book had a prior relationship, a secret came out about her past and the hero went ape-sh*t. They were both devastated, both felt betrayed by the other and broke up. When the story starts again, they are pulled together by this murder case and, man, is this emotion palpable. Every scene they’re in together made my stomach ache. And it was so damn realistic. Every one of us has been in a situation where there was no going back, no putting the broken pieces back together, no matter how much you loved the other person. This was a case of the characters’ insecurities wrought from their past being just too ingrained in to their individual personalities to allow love to conquer.

I only reached the 1/3 mark of the story and finally had to give it up. The couple continued to travel down this hopeless path, hurting each other with every step. It killed me. If I weren’t a romance writer, maybe I could have persevered. And I’m not a conflict-squeamish type. I throw everything possible at my h/h. Drive them into crisis at every possible opportunity, but this was just too much. Had this been a romance, I would have stuck it out, because I would know they would turn it around and come out together in the end–as better people and with a stronger relationship. But it wasn’t. It was a thriller. And I just couldn’t watch these two injure each other any longer.

If you want to experience deep, visceral, moving relationship emotion — this is the book for you. If you love a complex thriller — this is the book for you. Maybe at some point, I’ll pick it up again, because IMO it’s an amazing study in writing emotion among other techniques. But not now. Not for a while. The battle still sticks with me, a month after I stopped listening not even half way through the book! Truly powerful!

If anyone has read this book, I don’t want spoilers, but if you could just tell me these two end up okay, I’ll start listening to it again.

Have you ever experienced a work that was just so good it was too good? Something so intense you had to put it down?