This debut novel by Chip Cheek is about seduction and sex, as well as the scandal, sorrow, and reverberating effects of betrayal.
It's late September 1957. Henry, 20, and Effie, 18, who are from the rural and somewhat backwards town of Signal Point, Georgia, have just
…more gotten married and are spending their two-week honeymoon in Effie's uncle's cottage in Cape May, New Jersey. Unbeknownst to them until they arrived, it's the off season. While a few stores and restaurants are open, the place is pretty much deserted. After one boring week, they are ready to hightail it back South when these naïve newlyweds meet sophisticated New Yorkers Clara, Max, and Alma, who live in the house across the street. Gin-soaked, party-hearty evenings follow one after another as the entire town becomes their bacchanal playground and nothing is seemingly off limits. When Effie gets a cold and takes to her bed with a fever and the sniffles, Henry and Alma start what becomes a torrid love affair. Of course, this secret is exposed, and the scandal and betrayal that result are intense and powerful.
While it's a compelling, albeit overplayed, story of passion gone wrong, I found it difficult as a reader to watch Henry destroy through his uncontrolled lust what we were led to think he held so dear: his love for Effie. Henry was a virgin when he married Effie, and it seems unrealistic that in a matter of days after having sex for the first time he is so capable and willing to destroy the marital boundaries he only just vowed to obey.
The characters are quite colorful, and the descriptions of Cape May are delightful. In addition, I do give the author credit for the last chapter. It was nothing like what I was expecting, but it works surprisingly well. Still, the novel relies far too much on the many explicit sex scenes to carry the plot forward and keep the reader engaged, and somehow this just feels cheap. Hence, four stars instead of five. (less)