She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Into the Dark, and reported the following:The sequel to And She Was, my new book Into the Dark, focuses on a missing webcam girl named Lula Belle – a naked, shadow-draped “performance artist” who stretches and bends seductively as she tells tales from her youth. The series protagonist Brenna Spector – a PI with perfect autobiographical memory -- is fascinated by Lula Belle. But it’s for a very different reason than her rapt male audience. Many of the stories she tells sounds exactly like stories from Brenna’s own childhood, leading the troubled investigator to believe that this strange, shadowy figure may have ties to her long-gone sister, Clea.Learn more about the book and author at Alison Gaylin's website.
On page 69 of the book, Brenna watches a Lula Belle download with her friend (and perhaps more) Det. Nick Morasco. It’s the first time Nick has seen Lula Belle – and he too, appears to be under her spell… but for reasons all his own:“He didn’t smile back, didn’t drink. He set his bottle down on the coffee table and leaned forward and his expression changed, deepened into something Brenna couldn’t quite figure out. It wasn’t the rapt, obvious lust with which Trent had watched Lula Belle. Sure, she supposed he could have been turned on and trying to hide it from her, but it seemed to Brenna more of a sadness.
Lula Belle said, “I kept thinking, if I was the reason why that little bird lived… then I must have been the reason why he died. Right?”
Morasco swallowed hard. He closed his eyes.
Brenna clicked off the download. “Powerful stuff, this performance art.”
“It is.”
“Nick?”
He looked at her.
She knew she had no right to ask, not when she couldn’t stand in a parking lot for five minutes without lapsing into a memory she couldn’t talk about. She knew it wasn’t fair, but she put her hand on his, and she asked him anyway. “When you watched that video, what were you thinking?”
--Marshal Zeringue
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