The Original Sin - Softcover

Gabriel, Marius

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553296493 ISBN 13: 9780553296495

Publisher: Bantam, 1993

Synopsis

Eden van  Buren lies chained to an iron bedstead in a homemade  cell. Her captor is a handsome tormented young  sculptor who lives alone in the Arizona desert. He  is honest, compassionate, and uninterested in  money. Why then has he kidnapped Eden and demanded  ten million dollars in ransom? And why does he seem  intnet on destroying Eden's mother? The answer  lies in half-century of dseire, brutality, and  betrayal--a dark skein of tangled lives and shameful  secrets that spans three generations and three  continents, from Franco's Spain to the cruel brulaity  of Veitnam, from the haut monde of Bevery Hills to  exotic Costa Brava to the basement of an isolated  house where Eden's captor seeks his ransom  revenge. For he is more than a kidnapper; he is an  avenging angel, and he represents the final piece in a  puzzle of lies and deception that began with. .  .the original sin. A gripping novel of love,  revenge, and redemption, The Original Sin  is a work of stunning intensity and riveting  suspense--a novel that establishes Marius Gabriel as  one of the most exciting new voices in contemporary  fiction.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"Riveting. . .A sexy, hard-to-put down read."--Kirkus Reviews.

Eden van Buren lies chained to an iron bedstead in a homemade cell. Her captor is a handsome tormented young sculptor who lives alone in the Arizona desert. He is honest, compassionate, and uninterested in money. Why then has he kidnapped Eden and demanded ten million dollars in ransom? And why does he seem intnet on destroying Eden's mother? The answer lies in half-century of dseire, brutality, and betrayal--a dark skein of tangled lives and shameful secrets that spans three generations and three continents, from Franco's Spain to the cruel brulaity of Veitnam, from the haut monde of Bevery Hills to exotic Costa Brava to the basement of an isolated house where Eden's captor seeks his ransom revenge. For he is more than a kidnapper; he is an avenging angel, and he represents the final piece in a puzzle of lies and deception that began with. . .the original sin. A gripping novel of love, revenge, and redemption, The Original Sin is a work of stunning intensity and riveting suspense--a novel that establishes Marius Gabriel as one of the most exciting new voices in contemporary fiction.

"A compelling read. . .pulsing with romance, danger and suspense. . .sex, scandal and dirty secrets."--Publishers Weekly

From Kirkus Reviews:

A first hardcover (and first US publication) for American writer Gabriel, who lives in Spain: a hefty but positively riveting tale of love and loss that spans three continents and as many generations. Wealthy, cultivated Mercedes Eduard seems to have everything money can buy, but her serene life in Costa Brava is abruptly shattered when she receives a photograph of her daughter--half- naked and chained to a bed. On the back of the photo is a terse note: GO TO THE POLICE AND SHE DIES. Jump-cut then to the daughter herself: 20-year-old Eden Van Buren, a spoiled rich girl with a nasty heroin habit. While she's locked in a windowless basement cell somewhere in the Arizona desert, her painful drug withdrawal evokes--surprisingly--sympathy and concern from her mysterious masked captor. His identity and his purpose in kidnapping Eden are revealed slowly, bit by tantalizing bit, in this bizarre, passionate story. For although he seems like a madman, Joel Lennox is indeed a man with a purpose. Unknown to Mercedes or Eden, he is the son that Mercedes gave away years and years ago. Placed into the hands of a God-obsessed preacher and his bitter wife, Joel was repeatedly tortured--both mentally and physically--by his adoptive parents. He believes that the kidnapping and the ten-million-dollar ransom he seeks are no more than his rightful revenge against a mother who abandoned him and a sister who was given all the love he craved. But Joel doesn't count on falling in love with his captive. And when he learns, finally, the real reason that Mercedes was forced to give him up, his vision of the world is destroyed in precisely the way he had hoped to destroy Mercedes. A sexy, hard-to-put-down read from a writer likely to draw an enthusiastic following. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0553296493
• ISBN 13: 9780553296495
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 704