Goddess X by Robert Verrastro

About the book

Keith Martin's lonely existence is marked by the absence of his Goddess, Dawn, the kind and beautiful next-door neighbor who raised and nurtured him while his parents nurtured their careers. To him, no woman measures up to her and no man is good enough for her. They are separated forever by an enormous generation gap and by Dawn's marriage to nightclub owner, David Ciavelli.

When Keith and his co-workers attend the grand opening of David's dark and ghoulish new nightclub called No Escape, he is shocked to witness David passionately kissing another woman. Realizing that he must warn Dawn, Keith decides to contact her despite the pain it will cause him to reconnect with her only to lose her again to the reality of a twenty-year age difference. Overcoming his fear, Keith makes a trip to his old neighborhood and pays a visit to Dawn, who welcomes him with tears and hugs. Once together, their filial bond is quickly restored and becomes the basis for an awkward but intense physical attraction.

Keith's newfound bliss is short-lived when he discovers that Dawn has been physically abused by David throughout their entire marriage. Just as shocking, but more bizarre, he learns that Dawn's house has been plagued by violent ghostly hauntings for years because of David's reckless toying with the occult. Enraged by this information, Keith begins an investigation that leads from the past to a future where David and his jealous mistress Rosa, a self-proclaimed sorceress, are planning a cruel demise for Dawn that is twenty-four years in the making.

During a party at Dawn's house, David and Rosa attempt to channel the evil spirits in the house and coerce them to assault Dawn's consciousness according to an ancient Tibetan spell. If successful, this spell would render Dawn an incurable catatonic, effectively eliminating her without the specter of murder. Overcoming tremendous obstacles, Keith forces his way into the house and disrupts the diabolical ritual before Dawn can be harmed. During the melee, however, Rosa takes matters into her own hands by driving a brass fireplace poker into Dawn's heart. Rosa and David escape the scene, leaving Keith to mourn over his dead goddess.

About the author

Robert Verrastro was raised in Connecticut and received his B.A. in English from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. His lifelong interest in traveling began when he visited the Soviet Union in 1988. Since then he has traveled to many countries including Uruguay where he befriended the Andes survivors; made famous in the best selling book Alive. In 1997, he moved to New York City and worked in the television commercial industry for several years. He now resides in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife, Rosemarie.