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Nineteen-year-old artist and college
student Nick Anders is frustrated. His boyfriend won’t
consummate their relationship due to something traumatic in
his past, leaving Nick feeling confused and a little
resentful. He meets the mysterious “Obsidian” in a chat
room and they start to have strange, sexually charged
chats. When Obsidian reveals that he knows way more about
Nick than he should, Nick is both afraid and intrigued.
Scarred and changed in a fundamental
way after a horrific night, Kain Mitchell spends his time
hidden away in his house outside of town. As Obsidian, he
can freely speak to, and even seduce, “Moonbeam,” Nick’s
online persona, without fear that Nick will be revolted by
his scars or the horrible secrets he hides. Then Kain
begins to want more. Will the chain of events he sets into
motion destroy them both?
I really wanted to like Mask. Jan Irving
created a genuinely spooky, gothic-style atmosphere. She
constructed the mystery part of the story in such a way that
I was kept guessing about the characters’ motivations, which
is always a plus. The storyline was intriguing, with
several unexpected twists and turns (which I won’t spoil
here). I enjoyed the feeling of increasing danger as
murders and other frightening events began to occur, and
Kain was blamed. Secondary characters, including two of
Kain’s employees and a determined police detective, added to
the sense of menace and mystery. My problem with the story
came from the main characters. At the beginning of the
story, Nick has a perfectly ordinary life. Then Kain comes
in, and seeming very much like a stalker or a pre-abusive
manipulator, he pretty much destroys Nick’s life so he can
remake it how he wants. At one point he even drugged Nick,
which had me seeing red. Nick accepted a lot of the
treatment without real protest, an attitude I couldn’t
understand at all. The paranormal aspects of the book,
Kain’s secret, and the way Kain acted near the end of the
story might justify his terrible earlier actions to some
readers, but I couldn’t get past them. As a result, while I
really enjoyed the atmospheric writing and the mystery
angle, the romance in Mask rang hollow for me. |
