Exposed

February 1, 2016
Fans may rank this second entry in Wilder’s intensely erotic Madame X series above the previous one, as it delves more compellingly into X’s identity and her burgeoning desire for independence. The cause of her amnesia becomes a matter of greater distress when X begins to have flashbacks that contradict what her multimillionaire boss/rescuer/lover/warden Caleb Indigo has told her. After she befriends Rachel, one of Caleb’s so-called apprentices (who are actually prostitutes), X witnesses a scene of brutal sex between Caleb and Rachel. The charged confrontation between X and Caleb that follows propels her straight into the arms of another man. Much of the book is written in the second person, as if it’s a letter from X to Caleb, and it gives the narrative an uncomfortable intimacy, particularly when his psychological brutality sends her reeling. More so than in Madame X (2015), the consequences of Caleb’s dark possessiveness and how it affects X are vividly drawn as she takes tentative steps toward an autonomy she has never known. Agent: Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency.