And then we see him do the most unexpected thing of all-fall in love.Īs the story opens, Dix has just reconnected with his old service buddy Brub Nicolai, now an LAPD detective investigating the serial stranglings of young women. The normally aloof Dix cultivates the relationship, intrigued by the possibility of hearing inside information about the slayings. We see his restless yearning for the night, when he can hide himself in darkness, and the casual cruelties and manipulations that fill his days. Hughes so perfectly depicts is even more frightening: the inner thoughts of a man who hates women, yet is obsessed by them. There is almost no violence portrayed in this book everything happens in dark and secret places where the reader is not permitted to follow. He walks around wearing the skin of a man, saying all the expected things, and feeling nothing. Regardless of his guilt in these murders, the depth of Dix’s misogyny and disconnect from other human beings is chilling. It’s hard to see how In a Lonely Place could be improved upon. Reading it is like peering straight into the abyss. Yes, maybe it’s someone very, very much like Dix… A man who views most other men with contempt and women with something worse. Maybe it’s someone like Dix Steele, a war veteran drifting around the city, claiming he’s writing a book. And when he sees he can’t get away-” Brub shrugged “Maybe suicide or the nut house-I don’t know.
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