Larissa La Roche, the anti-heroine of this heartstopper tale of misadventure and revenge, has it all. She is the scion of a Napa Valley wine family; she gets to fly around the globe in her persona of flight attendant; she seems to have landed the ideal mate. Yet all is not right in her world. At the age of ten, she witnesses first-hand the murder of her mother. This tragedy is succeeded by others, some life-changing, others more 'casual.' Insensitivity and shallowness merge insensibly into violence and horror. The common thread is the presence of a predatory misogynistic male.
Once Is Never Enough: Revenge Never Sleeps, among other things, is a fascinating window on the psychology and modus operandi of a serial killer. In this case, the serial killer is female...a woman energized by a tragic concatenation of circumstance that ultimately spells revenge. What's more, the book is a tongue-in-cheek (but finally livid) commentary on institutional chauvinism and the rapacious objectification of women. Our serial killer gets away with murder. To the world, she is a happy, successful and very accomplished person. In her heart, she is a seething maelstrom of untrammeled rage. The devolving plot, the character depictions, are the stuff of great suspense reading; they are also a trenchant commentary on our violence-ridden times.
The writing is masterful, adroit, always one step ahead of the reader. Monique Gliozzi, the author of this remarkable potboiler, knows whereof she writes: she is a commercial pilot; a medical school graduate with expertise in forensic psychiatry; and she has previously published other novels in the genre. Dr. Gliozzi's familiarity with foreign ports of call comes through - especially in the second half of the book, where readers get to sample tasty aliquots of homes away from home. Although not quite auto-fiction, the book and its memorable cast of characters are distillations of the writer’s myriad and fascinatingly diverse self.
In Once Is Never Enough: Revenge Never Sleeps, Special FBI Agent Isabella Ashford returns to track down a super-capable villainess across continents and time. (Readers of airport fiction are in for a particularly grisly flight.) But this book goes beyond airport fiction: it is an expert portrait of a sociopath and of toxic personalities, and of the flammable mixture that can result from mixing them. Be forewarned: in this book - as in life itself - justice is not always served. But the elements of a possible sequel are deliciously present, and readers can hope for the best - and more
Once Is Never Enough: Revenge Never Sleeps
by Monique Gliozzi
Tellwell Talent
book review by Michelle Jacobs
"It’s not unusual for this sort of sociopathic behavior to have origins from a deep-rooted childhood trauma."
Dual tragedies in the life of Larissa La Roche, once as a child and later as an adult, generate a traumatic break that sends her on a sociopathic killing spree. Working as a flight attendant gives her access to traveling businessmen who are more than willing to be alone with her in a hotel room. Their fates are sealed when they meet the dangerous Larissa, whose trauma compels her to prey on men. She becomes the hunter until one FBI agent begins to see similarities in the suspicious deaths of men in various cities. Special agent Isabella Ashford leads a team in pursuit of Larissa before she strikes again. Both will be tested as Ashford sets a trap to catch her and eventually follows her trail to Europe. Will she slip through their clutches and get away free and clear?
Buzzing with suspense, this mystery is packed with intrigue and thrills as Larissa’s life begins to move down an unexpected and shocking path. Female serial killers are unusual in life and fiction, but Gliozzi has created a compelling and dynamic character. The killer’s motives are clear, and the FBI profiling and use of psychoanalysis add to the authenticity and realism throughout the story. Tracking Larissa’s moves becomes a race against time and propels the plot to intense moments of uncertainty, close getaways, and even closer captures. As Larissa outsmarts at every step, special agent Ashford persists but is often restricted by her superiors, protocols, and proper procedures. Readers will be unnerved by the callous killing and by the vulnerabilities of the men that Larissa manipulates so easily. But they will cheer the brilliant tactics and clever insight of the special agent balancing her life at home with her career as she faces down a serial killer on the loose.
