TWELVE: A DATE WITH OBSESSION

By Alan Reynolds.

Know More

A tense psychological thriller. Sarah, an ambitious senior manager for a prestigious departmental store decides to find a partner using an on-line dating website. After rejecting eleven potential suitors, she reads the profile of Jez Steadman, the twelfth, and believes he has possibilities – good looking, intelligent and, importantly, solvent. Initially, the signs are promising and Sarah believes she has made a good choice, but, gradually, his behaviour becomes more and more obsessive. What happens when she becomes attracted to the new Compliance Manager at the store? How will Jez react when he discovers her affections for him have been stolen by someone else? A fast-pace novel that will give readers plenty of twists and turns to the final page.

A Word from the Author

I was reading an article in the newspaper about a relatively new phenomenon called ‘gaslighting’ where someone (usually a man) controls another person by manipulation, threat, humiliation and so on. This gave me the inspiration for ‘Twelve – a date with Obsession’.

In the event, the book is not about ‘gaslighting’ which has been widely covered in literature. ‘Twelve’ is far more subtle and, in its own way, more frightening.

Sarah is a successful and ambitious senior manager in her early thirties and having put all her energies into her career, realises that life is passing her by and there is something missing in her life; a partner, someone to share her success.

In the absence of a wide circle of friends she decides to try online dating. She logs on and sifts through the hopefuls, discounting the first eleven, but number twelve catches her eye. Could this be the one? Her potential partner is called Jez and she is immediately drawn to his good looks and his intellect.

What follows is a contemporary thriller, and, as the relationship develops, we learn that Jez lives with his mother in a large house in the country. Is Sarah ready for his emotional insecurities? The plot twists and turns; find out what happens when Sarah’s head is turned by a new arrival at work. How will Jez react when he finds out that Sarah’s affections have been stolen by another.

You will be gripped to the final page.

(Alan Reynolds, November 2018)