"Which is worse, the pleasure of Hell or the pain of Heaven?"
Cameron McKay (Cam to his friends) is a veteran with
nothing to live for. He's no longer in the army. His wife
has left him. He's all alone, so he puts his affairs in
order and jumps off a bridge. His life puts him in a middle
land, between Heaven and Hell, and so the devil Max and the
angel Serefina begin an unusual contest for his soul. Last Temptation is an erotic novella by Wylie
Kinson. The different approaches that the devil and the
angel take to winning Cam's soul fascinated me. Max has the
first crack, and he chooses pleasure. The scene the devil
conjures for Cam is very sensual, very erotic. And it
leaves Cam cold. He has not been able to feel anything
since he returned from Iraq, and the most arousing thing
Max throws Cam's way cannot shake him out of his apathy. Then it's Serefina's turn. She chooses the path of pain,
and the scene here is out of a BDSM nightmare, or perhaps
wet dream. Her approach is to make Cam face the truth about
himself, punishing him when he lies and rewarding him when
he tells the truth. The truth that Serefina draws from Cam
is a surprising truth, but ultimately it sets him free. And
it has another surprising consequence as well. Last Temptation is a very sensually written short
piece, able to delve into Cam's emotional wounds while
still telling a touching story. I recommend it for any
reader who enjoys erotic stories with surprising depths.
Reviewed by Donald Uitvlugt
Posted May 22, 2011
|
