CRUEL POETRY Renata is young, beautiful, and has sex for money and kicks. Few are immune to her intoxicating allure-even her pet Burmese python, Pepe, seems captive to her charm. Richard is one of her clients, a poetry professor with a wife and two sons, whose erotic fascination with Rennie is threatening his home and job. Meanwhile, Julie, a shy wannabe novelist, spies on Rennie from her room next door in between bouts of frustrated writing. Both would do anything to save Rennie from her dangerous occupation and become her one true love. Set in Miami's gaudy vacationland and the haunting atmosphere of the Everglades, CRUEL POETRY is a gripping story of fatal attraction that captures the Florida behind the postcards. As the lives of Richard and Julie unravel amidst drugs and murder, Hendricks amps the adrenaline jolts and sweeps us to a bittersweet climax. * 2008 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original * Rights Information Publisher: Serpent's Tail paperback (May 1, 2007) Territory: World Rights Available: Film/TV Reviews: Blurbs: "I loved this book. It’s a private ticket into a secret world of desire and sex and the raw edge between them. I don’t know why the book has chapters. I read it page to page with the fever of the addicted." - Michael Connelly "The authentic heir to James M. Cain, Vicki Hendricks is the high priestess of neo-noir. A fierce and fearless talent." - Dennis Lehane "I never miss a book by Vicki Hendricks. No one on the current scene is writing supercharged, erotic, real noir novels like these." - George P. Pelecanos "Cruel Poetry opens with a sex scene as hot as the scorching Florida sun and grips as tightly as the heroine’s pet python. Strap yourself in for another rollercoaster ride of sexual obsession and perversion from Vicki Hendricks, reigning queen of American noir." - Lauren Henderson "[A]n enormous amount of damn fine sex in Vicki Hendricks’ take on the folie a deux—mad passionate beach-front lust, entertaining sexual practices, and an ever-welcome python. But more than this, in Renata she gives us a femme fatale with the courage to see herself honestly...enough blood to turn the Everglades red ...a Thelma and Louise with the guts to stay alive." - Stella Duffy "Vicki Hendricks is a true original. She is undoubtedly one of the most important noir writers of the past twenty years." - Jason Starr "Frighteningly close to perfection." - Allan Guthrie "[Vicki Hendricks is] fearless and writes high pulp like the smartest, coolest grindhouse softcore flick you've ever seen." - Anthony Neil Smith Purchase at Amazon.com

CRUEL POETRY

Renata is young, beautiful, and has sex for money and kicks. Few are immune to her intoxicating allure-even her pet Burmese python, Pepe, seems captive to her charm. Richard is one of her clients, a poetry professor with a wife and two sons, whose erotic fascination with Rennie is threatening his home and job.

Meanwhile, Julie, a shy wannabe novelist, spies on Rennie from her room next door in between bouts of frustrated writing. Both would do anything to save Rennie from her dangerous occupation and become her one true love.

Set in Miami's gaudy vacationland and the haunting atmosphere of the Everglades, CRUEL POETRY is a gripping story of fatal attraction that captures the Florida behind the postcards. As the lives of Richard and Julie unravel amidst drugs and murder, Hendricks amps the adrenaline jolts and sweeps us to a bittersweet climax.

* 2008 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Paperback Original *

Rights Information

Publisher: Serpent's Tail paperback (May 1, 2007)

Territory: World

Rights Available: Film/TV

Reviews:

Blurbs:
"I loved this book. It’s a private ticket into a secret world of desire and sex and the raw edge between them. I don’t know why the book has chapters. I read it page to page with the fever of the addicted." - Michael Connelly

"The authentic heir to James M. Cain, Vicki Hendricks is the high priestess of neo-noir. A fierce and fearless talent." - Dennis Lehane

"I never miss a book by Vicki Hendricks. No one on the current scene is writing supercharged, erotic, real noir novels like these." - George P. Pelecanos

"Cruel Poetry opens with a sex scene as hot as the scorching Florida sun and grips as tightly as the heroine’s pet python. Strap yourself in for another rollercoaster ride of sexual obsession and perversion from Vicki Hendricks, reigning queen of American noir." - Lauren Henderson

"[A]n enormous amount of damn fine sex in Vicki Hendricks’ take on the folie a deux—mad passionate beach-front lust, entertaining sexual practices, and an ever-welcome python. But more than this, in Renata she gives us a femme fatale with the courage to see herself honestly...enough blood to turn the Everglades red ...a Thelma and Louise with the guts to stay alive." - Stella Duffy

"Vicki Hendricks is a true original. She is undoubtedly one of the most important noir writers of the past twenty years." - Jason Starr

"Frighteningly close to perfection." - Allan Guthrie

"[Vicki Hendricks is] fearless and writes high pulp like the smartest, coolest grindhouse softcore flick you've ever seen." - Anthony Neil Smith

Purchase at Amazon.com