Love.
Looking for love, finding love, losing love. The quest for love is at the very core of our humanity. It drives us mad, then sends us over the moon. Even when we think we’ve conquered it, it can emerge from hiding at any time, provoked by a chance encounter, a face from the past, a voice, a song. It can wreak havoc in our lives, devastating our happy homes just as easily as it builds them in the first place. Love is one powerful beast.
I’ve faced this beast many times throughout my life. First, as a teenage girl obsessed with a brooding, dark-haired boy who hijacked my brain. Next, as a young woman living abroad, lured in by curly blond hair and a sexy accent. Then by the kind, stable man who became my husband—a man from my hometown who shared the same dream of starting a family. I thought that was the end of it. I thought the love beast had moved on to other prey. But I was wrong.
After an amicable divorce, I went forth into the new frontier of online dating. Surely my kids, my career, and my wonderful friends would protect me from the beast, make me a more reasonable participant in the process of finding a “life partner” for this next stage of my life. But, no—the love beast had other plans. Not only was I just as emotionally vulnerable as I was in my teens, I now had to become a warrior—armed and ready for the shameless liars, the subtle deceivers, and even the sociopathic con artists who hide in plain sight with sparse dating profiles.
I didn’t have to look very far to find good company. In real life, and works of fiction, stories about the love beast abound. I reached out to some of my favorite author friends to find out which bad love stories moved them most. Here’s what they came up with.
Looking for Mr. Goodbar, by Judith Rossner
– Selected by Liv Constantine, author of The Last Mrs. Parrish and The Last Time I Saw You
Lynne Constantine’s pick is the 1975 #1 New York Times Bestseller, which would later become a blockbuster film. Inspired by real events, the novel follows a young woman in New York City who is murdered by a man she picks up in a single’s bar – the dating app equivalent of the time. Theresa Dunn has been tormented by love ever since a devastating break-up with a college professor. She turns to the single’s scene to fill the void, eventually juggling two very different men. One presents a chance at a traditional, albeit mundane, relationship. The other is volatile, but exciting. In the end, she rejects both and returns to her favorite spot, Mr. Goodbar, to continue her search for “the one.” It’s there she meets the man who will kill her in her own bed. This cautionary tale examines the inherent dangers of intimacy with strangers, and how the search for love can overpower reason.
The Good Girl, by Mary Kubica
–Selected by AF Brady, author of The Blind and Once a Liar
In another woman-meets-stranger scenario, Mary Kubica turns the theme on its head more than once in this blockbuster bestseller. Told from multiple perspectives, the novel finds Mia Dennett, the daughter of a prominent Chicago judge, kidnapped by a man she picked up at a bar. This enigmatic stranger, and kidnapper for hire, betrays his employers and takes Mia for himself. Mia’s distraught parents search for her with the help of a charming detective, who grows close to Mia’s socialite mother as the story unfolds. Meanwhile, even stranger things begin to develop between Mia and her captor in the remote cabin where they’re holed up. The theme of love, and love’s deception, is front and center in every delicious thread of Kubica’s heart-pounding thriller. A great pick by AF Brady.
Our House, by Louise Candlish
-Selected by Hank Phillippi Ryan, author of Trust Me
Hank Phillippi Ryan found Louise Candlish to be the queen of misdirection in this twisty-turny suburban noir. Fiona and Bram Lawson are separated, but sharing their coveted family home for the sake of their children. One day, Fiona returns to her house to find that it’s been sold, strangers are moving in, and Bram and the children have disappeared. This jaw-dropping set-up shakes us from our belief that we can ever really know anyone—even a spouse and the loving other parent to our children. Love then takes center stage when the desperate Fiona walks into a bar and meets a handsome stranger. Can he be trusted to help her? Vulnerability meets attraction—a lethal combination. The rest, as they say, you’ll have to read to find out!
A Stranger on the Beach, by Michelle Campbell
-Selected by Kaira Rouda, author of Best Day Ever and The Favorite Daughter
Caroline Stark’s marriage is crumbling all around her. She feels angry and betrayed. Suddenly, a handsome stranger is looking in the window of her beautiful beach house. “What could possibly go wrong?” Kaira Rouda asks, with a glint in her eye. This perfect summer read combines all of the juiciest love themes into one page-turning tale. The stunning deception by a husband. The thirst for revenge. The lure of instant attraction. So what if you know nothing about this stranger on the beach? So what if he might become obsessed with you, your house, and your entire life? Michelle Campbell reaches every one of us with this brilliant premise, because we know we would do exactly what Caroline does, and open that door.
Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hiller
-Selected by Joe Clifford, author of The One That Got Away and the Jay Porter thriller series
Joe Clifford didn’t hesitate in choosing Jennifer Hiller’s latest and greatest as his pick for best bad love story. Geo Shaw’s obsession with her teenage boyfriend and serial killer, Calvin James, ended with the murder of her best friend, and resulted in her serving time in prison some years later. As Geo navigates her new life after being released, she strikes up a romance with her childhood friend, Kaiser Brody, who is now a cop with the Seattle PD. But when new bodies begin to surface, they’re strikingly similar to those slain by Calvin James, and Geo’s new love is put to the test. Hiller’s novel gives obsessive love a starring role in this breathtaking thrill ride.
You, by Caroline Kepnes
-Selected by Wendy Walker, author of The Night Before
Nothing fascinates me more than sociopathic seduction. True sociopaths lack genuine empathy, so they study it from a very early age. The result? Absolute perfection. A sociopath can seduce the most skeptical prey. He watches every facial expression, every body movement, and adjusts his technique for that one special woman until he gets it just right. From there, obsession sets in, because the sociopath cannot accept defeat. Caroline Kepnes blew me away with her spot-on portrayal of what happens when a sociopath meets an unwitting, trusting victim who makes assumptions and decisions as though Joe were an everyday, normal guy. Living in Joe’s head, seeing how he thinks, and devises his devious plans, is both addictive and disturbing. It is impossible to look away as this train wreck unfolds page after page.
