The Editor

by Thomas William Simpson

Sam Adams had the perfect a beautiful wife and son, a job that he loved, and a comfortable home in the suburbs. But a flat tire one Easter Sunday led to the ultimate nightmare.  Now Sam must put his life back together. He rents a small cottage on a secluded country estate.  His new landlord is beautiful, mysterious, and blind. Far from being a helpless victim of her blindness, Evelyn Richmond is playing a strange game with Sam's mind--and soul. What does the seductive and enigmatic Mrs. Richmond really want? Is she merely a bored and lonely woman--or a dangerous sexual temptress? Sam finds himself obsessed with and possessed by this sensuous and unsettling woman, caught in her carefully spun web of dark secrets and forbidden eroticism. Sam Adams has no idea how far Evelyn Richmond will go, beyond what limits she will push him, or where their bizarre courtship will end. Nor will you...

If you think that you are beyond surprise, that nothing can shock you...think again.

Genres: Thriller

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 5, 2000

Reviews

[Linda Cordovite · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro buenísimo. En toda la extensión de la palabra ya que desde la primer página te agarra y no te suelta.
He tenido un mind blowing espantoso, horroroso leyéndolo.

POSIBLE SPOILER:
THANKS GOD que las perritas estuvieron bien. Tenía un pavor de que les pasara algo. Lo sé, soy así. No lo puedo evitar. JAJA
FIN DE POSIBLE SPOILER.

Sigo en estado de shock, es muy impactante para mí el saber lo que se sabe al final del libro y definitivamente NUNCA pasó por mi cabeza que fuera así... me falta imaginación supongo.
Pero de algo si estoy segura, es que Thomas William Simpson es UN GRAN autor del thriller psicológico. Un señoron.

Le doy 4.3 de 5 estrellas porque a mí me gusta más como todo cerrado, saben. Es un libro autoconclusivo así que siempre espero de este tipo de historias que no me dejen con dudas y esta si me ha dejado con varias dudas. Y sobre todo me ha dado miedo.

Pavor a decir verdad pues, me hace pensar en lo jodido que está el mundo, en lo loca que está la gente y en que hay mucho psicópata suelto en todas partes a todas horas navegando con bandera de "yo no fui" ESTE LIBRO ME HA ENSEÑADO, A QUE DEBES DE CONOCER BIEN A LAS PERSONAS ANTES DE ENTABLAR CUALQUIER TIPO DE RELACIÓN CON ELLAS.

El libro tiene frases súper buenas y profundas que la neta te dejan pensando pues cualquiera puede sentirse identificado de una u otra manera con ellas...

Literal, lo digo en serio ¡Qué miedo tengo! :S este libro me ha dejado fría. Muy fría. Con una sensación de incomodidad, desasosiego, crueldad... ay no sé. Tengo miedo. Ahora leeré a Colleen Hoover a ver si se me pasa jaja.

[T.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Simpson's The Hancock Boys and was just blown away.
I've never read such a tightly plotted thriller, ever.
I never saw the ending coming and it took me by total surprise. It's rare for me to be reading along and literally exclaim out loud. But that's what happened.

After reading The Hancock Boys I started looking for more of Simpson's work.
It's hard to find.

I lucked out and found The Editor and The Caretaker, at Half Price Books and snatched them up with great anticipation.
In the meantime, I started researching Simpson.
Nothing.
One small citation on Random House's web site.
It's like the man never existed.

After I finished reading The Editor tonight, I looked Simpson up again and found a news story dated this past May 2012. He's been alive and well the entire time he stopped writing, being a husband and a father. He's returning to writing.

I'm glad, as The Editor was just about as good as The Hancock Boys. About halfway through the book I started getting an inkling about what was going on. I was right, but I didn't see the ending coming quite like it did.
I'll be tackling The Caretaker later in the year.

If you've read my reviews before, you know I avoid spoilers, so I'll say no more.
Only that I enjoyed reading The Editor and if I ever find any more of Simpson's books, prior writings, or new ones that are forthcoming, I'll be reading them.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read two other books by this author. They are always twisted and strange. This one was good, but I did not like the language and some of the descriptive sexual passages. Call me a prude, but I still like a book that I can recommend to any audience. The author did a good job of slowly changing the character through the technique of the main character writing his thoughts, combining the present with details about his past.

Sam Adams, the main character is a book editor. As the story unwinds, we see that he has edited his life for us. One by one, truths begin to come clear.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is horror in the old style. This is good Hitchcock-esque. The story both repelling and attracts the reader. I honestly could not put the book down. The plot demands that you think about the story and that you keep coming back to it. There was no reading another book while I drove through this one. The truth of the story comes out in the last 10 pages and then rises again.

[tomás. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. No me gustó mucho cómo está escrito, el corte entre las entradas del diario a veces se me hacía abrupto; y la historia no es del otro mundo; por lo menos medio libro es Adam diciendo como quiere hacerle el amor a Evelyn o algo y llega un momento en el que es como mmmm ya entendimos, next. Pareces un adolescente cachondo y no un adulto de casi 40 años.
Ahora, ¿el final? Me gustó mucho. Ya mi tía me había dicho parte de él (lmao) pero como lo desarrolló fue 10/10. Este editor editaba algo más que sólo libros.
Pero, irónicamente, al libro le faltó edición, al menos en la versión en castellano:
•- Soy muy peaky con el idioma y acá usaron la palabra “fornicar” mal. Dos personas casadas no pueden fornicar porque, por definición, la palabra hace referencia a relaciones sexuales fuera del matrimonio.
•- Describir un encuentro sexual como “(…)y abusé de ella.” is not it.
•- “(…)mis palabras han resonado en el frío aire de la madrugada.” honey son más de las 7:49am. La madrugada ya pasó.
Entre otras cosas.
Si les gusta el género give it a try I guess

[Katherine Riquelme Rubilar · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro pudo haber tenido fácilmente 100 hojas menos, es una trama que atrapa y el giro de los acontecimientos me lo esperaba y no, eso me gustó de el escritor me hacía dudar, confiar y desconfiar del protagonista. El final me dejó muy conforme, fue cruel y me deja con dudas... ahora andaré por la vida desconfiando de todos.. Gracias Sr. Thomas
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Laura Vargas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una historia muy atrapante ya que el narrador nos libera información sobre si mismo de a poquitos manteniendo el suspenso, sin embargo desde masomenos la mitad del libro uno empieza a darse cuenta del giro que va a tomar la historia.
Me gusto por lo atrapante y ligero de leer que fue.

[Esperanza BM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me pareció un libro entretenido, pero donde me perdió es que a la mitad de la novela ya sabia que iba a ocurrir al final.

[Renee Dubois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full Disclosure: I work with the author. Simpson wrote several novels back in the 90s and at the turn of the century. He then quit publishing to pursue other interests. But he kept writing. And now several of us have taken on the task of bringing his old Warner and Bantam Books, and almost a dozen of his new books, to the reading public. He had a fairly large audience at one time and hopefully a few of those readers will be interested to see what Simpson has been writing.

The Editor is my least favorite of the three psychological suspense novels Simpson wrote while at Bantam with Kate Miciak. I say this for a couple reasons. Probably the strongest reason is because, as a spouse and parent, I found the premise so thoroughly unsettling. The loss of one's spouse and one's child is difficult enough to imagine, but as depicted in The Editor these losses become almost too much to bear. Disturbing is the probably the word I'm after.

A man--a NY book editor--loses his wife and young son in an act of random violence. The story opens when Sam Adams is just beginning to put his life back together after this terrible tragedy. Essentially, the narrative tells the story of a man whose life is entirely shattered but he has no choice but to try and put it back together again.

And herein lies my other problem with the novel. The decisions Sam makes, the choices, often left me cold. And confused.

Only long after reading this novel for the first time did I gain some insight into why I likely felt this way. Originally Simpson envisioned his story as a straight narrative about a middle age, middle class guy who has his life turned upside down by an act of random violence. Only later, after the novel was purchased by Bantam Books, was the narrative twisted into this extremely disturbing psychological suspense novel. I also learned this change led to numerous drafts and unrelenting difficulties with the ending. It was meant to be Simpson's first suspense novel for Bantam but it kept getting shelved and wound up being the third, and final, installment.

Knowing the author has its advantages. You get to hear the inside skinny.

Check out all of Simpson's titles at www.simpson-books.com

[Gabby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam Adams is an editor for a large publishing house. Books, however, are not all Sam edits. This is a cleverly written story that pulled me in from the start even though I really didn't know what it was exactly Sam was revealing in his almost daily journal entries. Sam writes about his life and his work. What begins as a sad story about a man recovering from terrible loss slowly changes into something else as Sam tries to put his past behind him and move forward with his life. When he meets Evelyn, his life changes at a faster rate, and it soon becomes clear that things may not be as they appear. Simpson has a way of doling out information a little at a time that kept me guessing until the very end what was really taking place with Sam and the people around him. Anyone who likes stories told by a narrator who is just a bit devious (understatement) may enjoy this book.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had guessed the ending somewhere around the middle of the novel. I also found it wasn't as good as The Caretaker. It was less if a thriller and didn't have many scary bits. The famous blind cellist was standoffish and not overly likable.

[Nancy Pavlik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slow moving and I should have abandoned it long ago. Kept reading hoping for a surprise. There was none.