Two women take a canoe out on a lake in California, but only one comes back--dead. The other disappears from the scene. Told entirely as a transcript of a true-crime documentary, L.R. Dorn's thought-provoking legal thriller The Anatomy of Desire follows a beautiful young fitness influencer whose ambitions burn more brightly than her smile.
Cleo Ray is a social media star with a handsome influencer boyfriend who has even more followers than she does. The couple has planned a camping retreat with friends to unplug from their electronic devices. Before she meets up with the group, Cleo just has one small task to take care of: break up with her secret girlfriend, Beck. The two go out on a lake to talk but don't return. Beck's drowned body is discovered hours later, with injuries to her face and head, while Cleo is nowhere to be seen. Police eventually find Cleo camping nearby with her friends, acting as if nothing has happened. She's charged with murder and put on trial, but Beck's killing might not be the only reason for which Cleo is judged by the small conservative community.
Though the transcript format creates a matter-of-fact tone in this modern take on Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, Dorn (pseudonym for screenwriters Matt Dorff and Suzanne Dunn) manages to paint layered portraits of the main players, who resist clear labels of good and bad. As the trial progresses, readers may find their preconceptions challenged and their feelings flip-flopping regarding Chloe's guilt and moral character. And when the ending comes, it's a surprisingly poignant one. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, blogger at Pop Culture Nerd