Dominance: A Novel

By Will Lavender

THE PROCEDURE HAS BEGUN . . .

Fifteen years earlier. Jasper College is buzzing with the news that famed literature professor Richard Aldiss will be teaching a special night class called Unraveling a Literary Mystery—from a video feed in his prison cell. In 1982, Aldiss was convicted of the murders of two female grad students; the women were killed with axe blows and their bodies decorated with the novels of notoriously reclusive author Paul Fallows. Even the most obsessive Fallows scholars have never seen him. He is like a ghost. Aldiss entreats the students of his night class to solve the Fallows riddle once and for all. The author’s two published novels, The Coil and The Golden Silence, are considered maps to finding Fallows’s true identity. And the only way in is to master them through a game called the Procedure. You may not know when the game has begun, but when you receive an invitation to play, it is an invitation to join the elite ranks of Fallows scholars. Failure, in these circles, is a fate worse than death. Soon, members of the night class will be invited to play along . . .

Present day. Harvard professor Alex Shipley made her name as a member of Aldiss’s night class. She not only exposed the truth of Paul Fallows’s identity, but in the process uncovered information that acquitted Aldiss of the heinous 1982 crimes. But when one of her fellow night class alums is murdered— the body chopped up with an axe and surrounded by Fallows novels—can she use what she knows about Fallows and the Procedure to stop a killer before each of her former classmates is picked off, one by one?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Release date: Jul 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781451617313

Will Lavender

WILL LAVENDER is the author of two previous novels, Obedience (which was a New York Times and international bestseller and was translated into fourteen languages) and Dominance. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Book preview

Unusual Literature Course Rocks Small Vermont Campus

by Ethan Moore, Jasper Mirror Staff Writer

January 9, 1994

The Jasper College Faculty Board has approved a controversial night class on a vote of 5 to 4.

LIT 424: Unraveling a Literary Mystery will be taught by famed professor and literary scholar Dr. Richard Aldiss. Aldiss contacted the Jasper administration late last year and was adamant that this campus was where he would teach if he did return to the classroom. He will teach via satellite from the Rock Mountain Correctional Facility, where he is serving consecutive life sentences for the brutal 1982 murders of two female Dumant University graduate students. He will be prohibited from speaking about his crimes and from using his victims’ names. The class will be open to nine undergraduate students, each of whom will be specially chosen from the literature honors program.

There are those who adamantly oppose the course and its professor. Dr. Daniel Goodhurn, a Virgil scholar at Dumant, claims that Jasper College is making a horrible mistake by bringing Aldiss back into the classroom.

Is Richard Aldiss a genius? Goodhurn asked. Of course. But what that man did to two innocent women at this institution goes beyond evil. I ask you: What will the students at Jasper learn from this monster? Richard is a twisted, deceitful individual. I assure you that teaching literature will not be his intention in this class. His true mission will be revealed very late in the semester—and by then it may too late.

Those in favor of the night class, however, are just as unwavering.

Dr. Stanley M. Fisk, professor emeritus at Jasper College, says that Richard Aldiss will inject life into a program of study that has become very stale. The man and his work, especially his research on the reclusive novelist Paul Fallows, is truly ground-breaking. Our students here at Jasper will be reenergized by the great professor. In my mind it is as simple as that. Aldiss will revolutionize how they think about books.

The class will begin on the first evening of the winter term. The nine students have been chosen and will be allowed to turn down the invitation if they so desire.

First Class

1994

1

Just after dark they rolled in the television where the murderer would appear. It was placed at the front of the lecture hall, slightly off center so the students in back could see. Two men wearing maintenance uniforms checked the satellite feed and the microphones, then disappeared as silently as they had come. It was now five minutes before the class was to begin, and everything was ready.

This was the first class of its kind, and its novelty—or perhaps its mystery—made it the most talked-about ever offered at tiny Jasper College. As mandated by the school president, there were nine students in the classroom. They were the best of the best in the undergrad literature program at Jasper. Now, on the first night of the semester, they waited anxiously for their professor to emerge on the screen.

The class was LIT 424: Unraveling a Literary Mystery. It had been offered at night because this was the only viable time, the only hour when the warden would allow the murderer free to teach. He would teach, if you believed the rumors, from a padded cell. Others said he would be in front of a greenscreen, with special effects to replicate a lectern before him—an illusion of a classroom. The rest claimed he would simply be shackled to his chair in an orange jumpsuit because state law prohibited anything else. They had to remember what this man had done, these people said. They had to remember who he was.

The room was warm with the closeness of bodies. The chalkboard seemed to glisten, even though the Vermont night outside was bitterly cold. The quads were mostly silent, save for the protesters who stood the stipulated two hundred yards from Culver Hall, where the night class would be held. The class met in the basement of Culver for this reason: the powers-that-be at Jasper did not want the protesters to be able to see what was happening on that TV screen.

The few students who were out at that cold hour witnessed the nervous candlelight of the protest vigil from a distance, through the copse of beech and oak that dotted the woodsy campus. A light snow fell, flakes rushing upward in the January wind like motes of dust. Not far away, Lake Champlain purred in the wind. It was as if, one freshman said as he looked down at the scene from a high dormitory window, someone were about to be executed.

Just beyond the protesters, in a building that was dark save for a few bottom-floor lights, a pair of state policemen sat in a room the size of a broom closet, drinking coffee and watching their own blank feed on a tiny screen.

Unraveling a Literary Mystery—this too had been contested. The president of the college chose the title because it sounded to him fitting for what the professor had in mind. But in fact the president did not know exactly what the class would entail. He could not know; the murderer had only hinted at a literary game his students would play in the class. About his syllabus he had spoken to no one.

It was this inability to even guess at what was about to happen that silenced the classroom now. In the weeks before the semester had begun, when they went home to their families on Christmas break, the students who had registered for LIT 424 had time to think. To weigh their decision to take this strange course. They wondered if something could go wrong in that lecture hall, if their professor could somehow . . . it sounded crazy, yes. Most of them did not say it aloud, or if they did, they spoke only to their roommates or their closest friends. Slight whispers, torn away by the wind, carried off into nothingness.

If he could somehow get out.

This was what they were thinking in those final seconds. Some of them talked about their other classes that semester, flipped through textbooks and highlighted paragraphs in trembling arcs of yellow. But mostly they sat, saying nothing. They stared at the dead television screen. They wondered, and they waited.

Finally the television went to a deeper black, and everyone sat up straight. Then the box began to hum, an electrical, nodish oohing, a kind of flatline that moved left to right across the room. Their professor—the MacArthur-winning genius, once a shining star at nearby Dumant University and the closest thing to celebrity a professor of literature could possibly be, the same man who had viciously murdered two graduate students twelve years before—was ready to appear.

Then the blackness dissolved and the noise died away and the professor’s face came to them on the screen. They had seen pictures of him, many of them preserved in yellowed newsprint. There were images of the man in a dark suit (at his trial), or with his wrists shackled and smiling wolfishly (moments after the verdict), or with his hair swept back, wearing a tweed jacket and a bow tie (his faculty photograph at Dumant in 1980).

Those photographs did not prepare the students for the man on the screen. This man’s face was harder, its lines deeper. He was in fact wearing a simple orange jumpsuit, the number that identified him barely hidden beneath the bottom edge of the screen. The V of his collar dipped low to reveal the curved edge of a faded tattoo just over his heart. Although the students did not yet know this, the tattoo was of the thumb-shaped edge of a jigsaw puzzle piece.

The professor’s eyes seemed to pulse. Sharp, flinty eyes that betrayed a kind of dangerous intelligence. The second the students saw him there was a feeling not of surprise, not of cold shock, but rather of This, then. This is who he is. One girl sitting toward the back whispered, God, I didn’t know he was so . . . And then another girl, a friend sitting close by, finished, Sexy. The two students laughed, but quietly. Quietly.

Now the professor sat forward. In the background the students could see his two prison guards, could make out everything but their faces—the legs of their dark slacks, the flash of their belt buckles, and the leathery batons they carried in holsters. One of them stood with legs spread wide and the other was more rigid, but otherwise they mirrored each other. The professor himself was not behind a pane of glass; the camera that was trained on him was not shielded in any way. He simply sat at a small table, his uncuffed hands before him, his breathing slow and natural. His face bore the slightest hint of a smile.

Hello, he said softly. My name is Richard Aldiss, and I will be your professor for Unraveling a Literary Mystery. Speak so I can hear you.

Hello, Professor, someone said.

We’re here, said another.

Aldiss leaned toward a microphone that must have been just out of the camera’s view. He nodded and said, Very good. I can hear you and you can hear me. I can see you and you can see me. Now, let us begin.

Alex

Present Day

2

Dr. Alex Shipley got out of her rental car and walked to the front door of the silent house. She’d worn heels, goddamn it, maybe on the notion that the people at Jasper College would be more impressed with someone who showed up to a crime scene dressed unlike the academic she was. Now she was ashamed of the choice. Ashamed because the professor would surely notice, and this would give him an advantage in the mind game they were about to play.

Above her a flock of winter wrens exploded from a tree, and she flinched. It was then that Alex realized how terrified she was to be back here, to be near him again. She urged herself to focus. The professor was one of the most brilliant men in the world, but he was also deceitful. He would have fun with this—if she let him.

She must not let him.

They lie. All birds are death birds.

Alex looked up. He leaned against the open screen door, staring at her with dead eyes. His mouth was frozen in a cruel smile. The stroke had taken his features, polished his face into a mask. One side was completely lifeless, the pasty skin stippled with reaching blue vessels, the lip curled upward into a tortured grin. The other side, the living side, had learned how to do the same—he had trained himself in a bathroom mirror. Now he always smiled, always, even when there was nothing to smile about. Even when he felt pain or sadness or rage.

Alexandra, he said. Not Professor, not Dr. Shipley. (She, too, noticed these things.) He did not invite her in. In true fashion, he would make her stand there on the cold front porch, suffering a bit. Always a challenge, always a test. Alex would not give him the pleasure of seeing her put her arms around herself for warmth.

Good morning, Professor, she said.

I was told about what happened to our mutual friend. How . . . tragic. The smile touched his eyes. I knew they would send you to me in due time.

No one sent me, she said.

He was amused by the lie. No?

I came here on my own accord.

To see me, then. Like old friends. Or perhaps old lovers.

Something caught in her throat. She stared at the destroyed face, the wind slicing against her exposed neck. Damn him.

Would you like to come inside, Alexandra?

Please.

Inside the small house there were books everywhere. Piles of them, mountains of them leaning in the dark. No artificial light in the tiny, not-quite-square rooms, just the natural dishwater seep of the morning sun. Through a window she could see the dark fingerprint of a half-frozen lake behind the house.

He led her to a back room and sat in a frayed armchair, facing that window. More books here, studies on dead writers, an Underwood on a small desk buried beneath a landslide of ink-crowded paper. Above that a poster depicting a man’s face, one solitary word scrawled across his eyes, nose, mouth. The word was Who?, a pencil dusting barely visible in the weak light. The face was that of the mysterious novelist Paul Fallows. Below, in a fierce red font, the poster’s caption read:

WHO IS FALLOWS?

He did not offer her a chair. She stood in the center of the room, watching the great professor breathe. Even there, with his back turned to her, he emitted a kind of ferocity. It was worse now. Worse, she figured, because he knew they needed him. She needed him.

Tell me, he said.

The reason I’ve come to you this morning is because . . . But she could not say it. She felt him watching her even as he faced away, seeing her not as a tenured professor of comparative literature but as the dithering student she had once been. A child.

You haven’t accepted it yet, he said. The fact that it has happened again.

You’re wrong. But it was weak, hollow.

The professor caught her eyes in the reflection in the window, held them. Michael is dead. He’s dead and there’s nothing you can do about that now.

The words, the finality of them, stunned her. She looked away.

Do you remember him? she asked.

A beat, then, Not especially.

But of course he did. Dr. Michael Tanner, Jasper College resident modernist, was teaching at his alma mater. Michael had been with her in the night class fifteen years ago. She even remembered his seat: right in front, not very far from that television screen.

The murder, he said. Like the others, I presume.

Yes—but different.

He looked up, his interest piqued. How so?

This murder was more cautious than the first two. More controlled.

Are there suspects?

None, she said, then added, But there has been some talk on campus. Gossip.

Go on.

There are some who believe it could have been his wife, she said, meaning Sally Tanner, née Mitchell—another student from the night class. Alex had never imagined her with Michael, never thought they would end up married and both teaching at Jasper fifteen years later. But of course there had been so many things she had missed. Sally discovered the body. Also the timeline she’s given to the police—there are inconsistencies.

A moment passed, then he mused, And so the authorities contacted you.

They did.

Why?

I think you know why.

The professor’s eyes dragged slowly toward her. It is not because you are brilliant with the subtleties of literature. I can think of so many other professors who might be better equipped to interpret the symbolism of this crime—and of course there will be literary symbolism, or else you would not have called on me this morning. We both know that.

Professor, she sighed. Let’s not do this. If you can’t help me, fine. But if you can, then I—

Us.

Excuse me?

"If you can’t help us, Alexandra. You have masters at Jasper now that they have called on you to play the sleuth again, do you not? And I’m sure at the university where you are currently teaching as well. I’ve forgotten, where is it again?"

Alex was silent. He knew she taught at Harvard.

You have men who are above you there.

And women.

But mostly men. I’ve seen them. Cocksure oafs who walk into a room and each believes he is the most brilliant one there, every time. I went up to Cambridge once, before my smile was perfected. It was an awards gala in my honor, but no one seemed to want to look at me. They were intimidated. Perhaps they were afraid.

She said nothing.

Are they intimidated by you, Alexandra?

Still nothing.

You and your fuck-me shoes?

That’s it.

She turned around, picked up her purse, and went out the door. The house was too dark now, the sun having swung behind a cloud outside. She couldn’t remember her bearings. All she could see were books and shadow-books, stacks of them leaning and toppling and forcing themselves out from the walls. The rooms like a chambered Nautilus, spiraling outward and on top of one another. She began to move through the labyrinth, cursing herself for coming here, for believing the professor could give her any answers. Damn it, Alex, why do you want to believe he’s changed? Why—

Dostoyevsky.

That stopped her. She stood there, listening to the seams of the old house scream in the wind, waiting.

Dr. Tanner, the professor said from behind her. I know that he was murdered by an axe. And the two others, the ones from before—they were killed in the same way. ‘He pulled the axe quite out, swung it with both arms, scarcely conscious of himself, and almost without effort, almost mechanically, brought the blunt side down on her head. He seemed not to use his own strength in this.’ 

Crime and Punishment.

Yes. Not one of my favorites in the canon, but there is the answer for you, Alexandra. The connection. This is nothing but a pale copycat, a mimic on the loose. Your killer—he is a stupid man with no original ideas of his own.

I don’t think so, she said. As I said before, there was something different about this crime.

Different how?

Alex measured her words now. She needed to be clear at least on this, needed to say to the professor what the two men from the college had told her to say. It has to be perfect, they’d warned her.

On the surface Michael’s murder looks just like the ones you—just like the Dumant murders from the eighties, she said. But if you look closely, there is something else. Something new.

He waited for her to go on.

And so she gave him the phrase the men had supplied to her, the bait: This murder . . . it’s like a puzzle.

This made him stiffen. Just those few words, the challenge Alex Shipley had put before him—she felt the tension rise in the tiny room. She had him.

I live just a few miles from that dreadful place, he said then, almost to himself. I hear the things they say. I know how they can be.

Is that your agreement to help, Professor?

He gazed at her. Do they think I had anything to do with what happened?

She said nothing. She wanted the silence to answer for her.

Very well. Perhaps it is good to be believed in again. To be feared.

Will you help, Professor?

Because I owe you?

Because whoever did this is still out there. Because we both have a history with Michael Tanner. And yes, because you owe me. You owe me fucking big-time.

It’s more than that, Alexandra.

I don’t—

You worry that this unfortunate twist in the plot will shine a light on everyone who took the night class. Especially you.

This has nothing to do with the class.

"Is that what you told yourself on the flight back to Vermont? The thought that screamed through your mind as the businessman from Amherst was oh-so-subtly hitting on you? It’s not about the night class. It’s not about the night class. IT’S NOT ABOUT THE NIGHT CLASS." The professor’s voice rose, then was swallowed by the house. Then he laughed—a cruel, nasty bark.

Michael, she said softly. He was part of it. He loved books, just as we do. He lived for literature. Whoever did this to him had a plan, had been perfecting that plan for a long time. What you said before—there is some truth there. The police believe this killer is a copycat, that he is re-creating what happened twenty-seven years ago at Dumant University. The victim is a literary scholar, there is blood on the wall in the Rorschach pattern, the books have been arranged around Michael’s library—the killer studied those old crime scene photographs, Professor. He learned them.

She fell silent, watching him. She could feel his mind moving, somehow, the electric churn of his thoughts. He was the most brilliant and the most aggressive man she had ever known. In the strangest hours she would find herself thinking about him, remembering the class, the search for the identity of a mysterious writer and all the secrets she would uncover about the professor’s own crimes.

Please, Alex said. I need an answer.

Just one question.

Alex waited. She recalled the faces of the men that morning. Two faces, a college dean’s and a police detective’s, broken by what they had seen in Michael Tanner’s cluttered home library across campus. She knew; she carried those same scars.

Anything, she said.

Dr. Richard Aldiss leaned closer. Tell me again how you discovered that I was innocent.

3

Twenty-four hours earlier Alex Shipley strode into her lecture hall and the room fell silent. There were stares, as always. The electronic chatter on campus about Shipley was immense. She was tall, lean, beautiful—but she was also brilliant and extremely demanding of her students. Her classes were some of the most popular at the university, and it was not uncommon to walk into a Shipley lecture and see students lining the walls, like a queue at a rock concert. This course in particular was a hit: it was called The Forger’s Pen: Literary Hoaxes of the 20th Century, and teaching it was what had made her name as a young professor at Harvard.

She wore a pencil skirt because the weather was getting warmer, a thin knit jacket her mother had sent from Vermont. She never carried a bag, because at her age a bag made her look even more like a student. The comparative lit department chair, Dr. Thomas Headley, needed no more reason to treat her like someone who should be sitting at the children’s table.

She carried only a few sheaves of transparency paper and a single text. One leather-bound volume, the threads on the spine catching the stark light of the classroom and glinting. The book was Paul Fallows’s masterpiece, The Coil.

What are you doing tonight, Dr. Shipley?

Alex looked up, found the student who had posed the question. Anthony Neil III. He sat in a middle row, a frat-boy smirk on his face. His friends flanked him, hiding behind their Norton Anthologies.

I’m working on my Camus translation, she said flatly. Do you read French, Mr. Neil?

Tu as un corps parfait, the boy said.

"Funny, I don’t remember that line in The Stranger."

Try the abridged edition.

Alex kept her eyes straight on the boy and said, That must have been the version of the text you read before our last exam.

Then she turned away and began to make notes on the whiteboard as the class howled.

*   *   *

What is literature? she asked when everyone was quiet. It was the question she always asked, without hyperbole, to begin this particular lecture.

Literature is emotion, said a dark-haired girl from a back row.

Literature is a writer’s secret life recorded in symbols.

Alex nodded. Great books are both of those things, she said. "The emotion in Anna Karenina is fierce. The symbolism in books such as Ulysses and Beneath the Wheel and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, is still being fought over in lit programs across the world. She paused for effect, drawing them in. Forty faces, all of them belonging to upperclass English majors on their way to bigger and better things, were held by her words. But what if literature were more than that. What if it were a game?"

A game? a gaunt boy toward the front asked. How do you mean?

I mean, she said, what if you could read a book and treat it as a competition between you and its author? Like a contest.

In any contest there has to be a winner, another student said. How do you win against a book?

Point duly noted, Alex said. "But a brilliant professor once told me that you win when you know you have won."

Richard Aldiss said that?

Alex froze. Even the professor’s name did that to her. Her blood raced. It was the student from before—Neil. One of her tricksters. They always sought her out, gravitated to her because of her past.

Paul Fallows, Alex went on, picking up the loose thread of her lecture. Of course you’ve heard of him.

At first there was nothing, only the tight, nervous silence of the hall. They knew of her history with the writer.

Finally a boy just behind Neil said, The reclusive writer. The madman.

Some say he was both. Others say he was neither.

What do you mean, Dr. Shipley?

Alex steeled herself. It was still difficult to talk about Fallows, more difficult now because there had been no closure. Things had ended so suddenly that she could never truly understand how the nightmare of Aldiss’s night class had gone as far as it went. Fallows, the famous recluse, was the very reason Alex was in this lecture hall right now.

She answered the student’s question with movement. She approached the document camera and switched it on. The lights in the lecture hall were synched to the machine, and they automatically dimmed.

She laid the first sheet of transparency on the platform.

What I am about to show you, she said, has been seen only by a select few.

Alex stepped to the side, letting her students see what was projected on the screen behind her.

It

Reviews for Dominance

[readingover50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received Dominance as an ARC from Goodreads first reads program.
I really enjoyed reading this book. The plot was interesting, and so were the characters. Professor Aldiss was scary and you could feel his condescending hatred of others in his dialog. The story follows Alex Shipley as she and eight other students take a special night class in 1994, and their subsequent gathering in the present day. The book alternated between 1994 and today, with the events of 1994 mirroring the events of the present day. The reader learns the details as Alex learns them. And knowing whom to trust is always in question.
Much of the book concerns "the procedure", a game where the participants try to get inside of a book. I could just see a bunch of pretentious college students playing this game and feeling like they are a part of an elite group. I knew some people like that when I was in school. But of course, the problem becomes who is playing the game and who is telling the truth.
For me the book became more interesting the more I read. By the end, I was flying through the chapters, trying to find out what happens next. I look forward to reading more from Will Lavender.

[soubhikiewiet · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm pretty sure I heard about Dominance on a favorite books list by an author I really like. It may have been George RR Martin? So I wanted to read it.

It was interesting, I like the premise. But the writing didn't really hold my interest, and I wasn't really invested in the ending. I would have liked more info on the stories in the Fallows novels.

[bnbookgirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While the premise of this book was interesting, I was confused. I thought this novel had no flow to it. I generally like stories that are told by alternate people or alternate periods, but it just didn't work for this one. I usually give books 50 pages and if I don't like it, I give up. (Too many books to read to waste time), but I kept going on this one thinking it had to get. I thought in the middle, it did get a bit more interesting but other than that, this was not a winner for me. There was not a single character that I could relate to or even liked. I would not classify this one as a thriller or suspense. I had high hopes for this one, but can't say much good about it.

[beckyjg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In 1994 an elite group of nine students is brought together at Jasper College for a most unusual literature class called Unraveling a Literary Mystery. While the nine gather together in a lecture hall on campus, their professor, a convicted murderer, appears to them on closed circuit TV from prison. Prisoner and professor Richard Aldiss, convicted of the brutal 1982 murders of two female students of literature at Dumant University, will lead the nine in the discovery of the true identity of mysterious author Paul Fallows. Aldiss will also introduce his students to an intricate game called the Procedure, an esoteric game which can only be played by students so steeped in the work of the author that they can, with no prior notice, slip into the word for word recreation of scenes from his novels.Fifteen years later, the remaining students from the night class are called together to mourn the loss of one of their number. Michael Tanner--who, along with his wife Sally had stayed on campus after graduate school--has been murdered in what appears to be a copycat crime. Alexandra Shipley, Alex, who discovered the true murderer in 1994, exonerating her professor and earning his release from prison, has been asked by the detective on her friend's case to consult. On a visit to Professor Aldiss she's told to pay close attention to the surviving members of the group. As she investigates--and as her former friends begin dying, hideously--the case becomes more and more bizarre.Dominance unfolds in episodes alternating between the original class in 1994 and Alex's point of view in the present day. The writing is good and tight, as is the plotting. The characters on the other hand, in particular that of Professor Aldiss, who has the potential to be as fascinating as Hannibal Lecter, are never developed enough to become truly interesting. Unfortunately, the same must be said for the game, the Procedure, upon which the whole plot ultimately hinges. When first mentioned it seems a fascinating concept, but that fascination is not borne out. The few glimpses we get of the game seem stilted and awkward, so play-acty that it's hard to imagine anyone getting so absorbed by it that it could become dangerous.And that may well be the problem with the novel as a whole. It's neat, and it's intriguing, but, despite the spooky settings and recurrent murders, the danger never really emerges enough to threaten. Dominance is Will Lavender's second novel, and although it was somewhat disappointing, I look forward to his future work.

[jen6e6moore · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read this in one day because I could not *wait* to see what happened next. I find it a little implausible in places (beyond the usual serial killer thriller aspects) and the pacing is definitely off, but I definitely enjoyed it enough to read Lavender's other book. People who like Gone Girl will like this one, I think - not as deep psychologically, but just as twisty.

[snazz_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My advice? Skip it. The synopsis had me thinking this would be an epic psychological mystery. But Lavender never delivers. The book is all about the set up and never reaches the promise of the premise. The characters are one-dimensional. The solution of the mysteries are disappointing. And the killer? Well he or she (no spoilers) could not possibly have committed any of the crimes given what we observe throughout the novel. Alex is physically with this person through many of the attacks. There is no way he or she could possibly have committed them. Plus the writing. Ugh. I felt like I was reading a present day Downton Abby. But one that was devoid of any believable emotion. The narrator says the characters are feeling a particular emotion, but their actions and the events do not back up the alleged feelings. And when you find out exactly what "The Procedure" is ... you will realize just how dumb this book is. If playing the procedure is dangerous, than every actor in any horror movie is risking their life. And what exactly is so rewarding about playing the game? The thrill of having memorized lines? Woopdie do. How intellectually challenging (sarcasm).Honestly, this book is all bark and no bite. And even the bark is pathetic.

[candyh_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is another intensely riveting novel by Will Lavender. This story involves a group of students who are gathered some years after they took a specific college class. These students are 'used' to bring an end to a gripping mystery through the use of a game called Procedure. The twist, turns and challenges are mind boggling and keep the reader on the edge until the very end. Once again I am not crazy about the way the book ends, but if you enjoy a good mystery, then this book is for you.

[lisalynne_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dominance got my attention in the very first pages and hung on to it right to the end. It’s a book about a book with an author who may not even exist. It’s about the night class, taken a decade ago, and how it changed the lives of the students who took it. It’s about The Procedure, and the danger it represents. And it’s about a present-day murder and how it may change everything they thought they learned in the night class.Back in 1994, tiny Jasper College offered a very special night class. It was taught by Richard Aldiss, a literary genius, and he would be teaching from his prison cell: Aldiss had been convicted of the brutal murders of two female graduate students at his former university. He is also an expert on author Paul Fallows, a recluse whose identity has never really been established. Aldiss challenges his students to discover Fallows’ identity and hints that in the process, they will uncover the real murderer.In the present day, they have a new murder to solve: the death of a night classmate brings the students back to Jasper College. Alex Shipley, the star of the night class, has been asked to work with the local police — she solved the previous mystery and has at least some relationship with the genius professor. The former students congregate at the home of aged Dean Fisk for the funeral, while Alex and the police hunt for a murderer — and wonder if the night class turned one loose.The pacing is what really draws you into the story. Writer Will Lavender doles out little nuggets of information, hints and tidbits that aren’t quite enough to really tell you what’s going on, but certainly make you keep reading. What is the Procedure, exactly? What happened in Iowa? What is the name of the man in the dark coat? What did Alex uncover in the night class?The story has a bit of a locked-room feel to it, with all the students/suspects staying in the Dean’s home. That’s a bit of a stretch, but not completely improbable. Alex has to worry about whether there’s a murderer in the next room, plus she gets to wonder what’s going on amongst her old classmates while she is off working with the police or talking to her former professor. The story brings out Alex’s insecurities about what she discovered in the night class, about her position at Harvard, and the way she relates to her former professor and fellow students.Dominance is a story full of juicy twists and turns. There are secrets, lies and unexpected revelations. You get enough information to keep you involved in the story, but not enough to know what it all means. I was curious at the start and every bit of revealed information fed the fires a little further. Definitely an intriguing read!

[souleswanderer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dr. Richard Aldiss, accused of killing two female graduate students during his tenure of teaching at Dumant University, is a current inmate of Rock Mountain correctional facility and serving consecutive life sentences. He has also been announced as the instructor for a late night class at Jasper College, LIT 424: Unraveling a Literary Mystery. Broadcast via satellite TV and limited to only nine of the top literary undergraduate students. The year is 1994.Before we even get to meet the students we jump to the present day and meet Dr. Alexander Shipley, now a professor and former student of the class. She's come to question a gentleman about a recent murder and it isn't until the end of the scene we learn it is Aldiss. From the get go, Lavender doesn't enjoy revealing anything in an easy manner, rather he teases and then pulls the curtain back with a flourish. I understand he is trying to build tension and create a heightened sense of pacing, but I found it off-putting in his liberal use of 'aha' moments. Jumping back and forth from 1994 to the present it is fairly easy to follow the main story. The previous night class students are being killed, similar in fashion to the Dumant deaths, of which Aldiss had been cleared. There are a lot of unanswered questions which dangle like a torn spiderweb fluttering in the breeze as the story progresses, one of which wasn't answered until halfway through the book but gets a lot of references: what is the Procedure?Once that is explained the book takes on a more menacing feel in that you don't know if those around you are playing a scripted game, or following a maniac's deceitful plan. As the reader you're left to follow Alex in her search for the truth, both in the past and present, as she searches for clues and a missing manuscript from a reclusive author, Paul Fallows.Fallows is a literary iconic hero after publishing only two books and remaining far from public scrutiny in his personal life. Students have turned his books into a sort of cult and his work is continually examined, argued about, and discussed as to its symbolic meanings. Not something I would recommend as I was never really clear as to why there was such a hold over the students in the beginning, except for their need to win. Arbitrary prizes that only a select few may ever recognize or acknowledge wasn't a high enough motive in my mind, but then again I'm not a graduate literature student either. Although I did manage to figure out the who-dunnit, and wasn't at all surprised about the mystery author, by the end I was just ready to go read something else. Quite possibly the big puzzle promised on the flap wasn't as puzzling as I had hoped.

[samsattler · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I probably should have known better. On the one hand, I despise the kind of novels that have transformed Dan Brown and James Patterson into multi-millionaires. On the other, I love “books about books,” especially novels involving mystery and murder. Those always start with a bonus point or two in hand when I begin them, so I had high hopes for Will Lavender’s new thriller, Dominance. My hopes, however, were misplaced in this case.Dominance is about little Jasper College and a special night class, “Unraveling a Literary Mystery,” being taught there to an elite group of senior American Literature majors. The most unusual thing about the class is that it is being taught via closed-circuit television from the prison cell of a former professor who is there because he murdered two female college students at a different school. Strangely, copies of Paul Fallows novels ornamented the bodies of both victims. Paul Fallows, himself, is a mystery. Despite the stature of his work, and the notoriety connecting his books to the brutal axe-murders, no one has ever seen or spoken with him. Now, Professor Aldiss hopes that one of the nine students in his class will finally be able to solve the Paul Fallows mystery. With that purpose in mind, he feeds them a series of tantalizing clues that will have them competing to see which of them will finally solve the riddle that has frustrated Paul Fallows scholars for decades.Lavender presents the novel in a series of flashbacks to the 1994 class alternated with flashes forward to the present day. One student, it seems, did make a major discovery during the class, a discovery so important that it forever changed the life of the professor and eventually led to a professorship at Harvard for the student. The story begins on the evening of the first class, and proceeds like an out-of-control train rushing down a mountainside to its destiny. One can see from this brief synopsis that the book’s plot has a lot going for it. Booklovers (who will, of course, love the premise) will be jumping all over this one – as did I. My quarrel is not with the plot; it is with the book’s style.At first glance, Lavender’s book seems to be more than 350 pages long. Within those pages, the author has crammed 53 chapters – which is not necessarily unreasonable. But it turns out that the chapters are really much shorter even than one would suppose because, almost every time there is a shift between past and present, the publisher has inserted a little three-page break with a title on the middle one (“The Class,” “Iowa,” “Alex,” etc.). That is bad enough, but it gets worse.As the book nears its dramatic climax, the chapters grow shorter and shorter, each of them ending with the type of cliffhanger that reminds of those old Saturday morning serials kids used to love so much. The chapters grow shorter - but not the white space between them. I suppose that by making the reader turn the pages more often to get to the meat of the story, the publisher is hoping to build the tension involved in the reading process. That might work on some, but many others will react as I did: with snarling frustration at the silliness of it all.Novels that read more like screenplays are precisely why I cannot read Dan Brown and James Patterson novels. I reluctantly add Will Lavender to the list (and I feel sure that he will not at all mind being lumped in with that highly successful pair). Don’t get me wrong: fans of Brown and Patterson will love this book. If you’re one of those, don’t miss Dominance.Rated at: 3.0

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nine elite literature students are invited to take a class, given by satellite by a renowned literary professor who has been convicted of the murder of 2 students. What follows is a psychological game playing chase as the sstudents attempt to answer a myriad of questions. I couldn't put it down.

[kraaivrouw · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I love a good thriller, especially one with puzzles and a literary mystery with a serial killer added in for good measure. This, however, not so much. The book is relatively short (about 337 pages) with largeish print and lots of white space. There's a saying in Texas, "He's all hat and no cattle." Unfortunately this book is all set-up and no action. At 175 pages in I expect you to stop setting up and actually get down to business plotwise. That didn't happen and when I found myself avoiding reading it to do other things (like watching a parking meter that was out of time blink - no, really), I moved on.

[nancyewhite · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ummm. Hmmm. Wellllll. This mystery is an intruiguing and well-crafted puzzle (think And Then There Were None). The novel ocuses on literature and books. So those are good things that one might enjoy reading. BUT it is completely and totally unbelievable. No one would do the things these people do to play a game (especially a game that revolves around the writings of what sounds to be an Edith Wharton knockoff). It just doesn't ring true at all. So I recommend it only for those who love tight plots, puzzles and unexpected twists but don't care about believeable characters in authentic situations.

[suetu_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Total Mind FreakGenerally speaking, were I to use the term “contrived” in a book review, that would be a bad thing. But Will Lavender’s sophomore novel, Dominance, exudes contrivance, and it totally works. It reminds me of those classic scenes where one character states, “I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve brought you here…” And that’s not too far from the set-up in Dominance. A group of old college classmates has been reunited by the death of one of their own. More precisely, by his murder.Nine of them had been students in a most extraordinary literature class years ago. Their professor, an expert on the subject, is a convicted murderer. He is teaching them via telecast from inside a maximum security prison. The subject of the class, Unraveling a Literary Mystery, is the elusive novelist Paul Fallows. Fallows had published two acclaimed novels back in the 70’s, and his true identity has never been known. Scholars had been digging for it for years. Some believed that the novels themselves held clues to the author’s identity, and that the answer would be found through playing a game called “the Procedure.”Got that? It’s a lot of set-up. Dominance is told in two times. Part is set in 1994 during the Fallows class and the events that led to the professor’s exoneration for the crimes of which he was convicted. (This is not a spoiler; it’s known from the opening of the novel.) The other half of the novel is set in the present day, as one by one the students from that class are picked off by an unknown murderer.The atmosphere throughout is contrived, gothic, and ridiculously melodramatic, but it’s all sort of fun. Lavender does a great job of creating suspense. Partly this is mechanical. The first half of the book is composed of 21 chapters; the second half is 37—nearly twice as many. The story speeds up exponentially as it goes, so if things feel slow at first, hang on. There’s a lot of white space on these 368 pages, so it’s a quick read.I don’t think Dominance is a complete success. It’s 150 pages before you get an inkling of what the mysterious “Procedure” really is. And once I found out, I was like, “That’s it?” I consider it to be a weak element of the story. Plus, I don’t think any of the characters are particularly well-developed, most of them serving as Breakfast Club stereotypes and pawns: the jock, the actor, the tramp—or their adult counterparts: the coach, the drunk, the soccer mom.But despite any flaws, I have to admit I stayed up past 2:00AM to get to the dénouement. And when you get there, it really is (to use the PG version of the phrase) a mind freak. It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a puzzle like this, so I have to say, “Thumbs up!”

[missheather3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Reminds me of an adult Westing Game. Once I got into this, I couldn't put it down. I enjoy a true mystery - one of my new favorites.

[melaniehope · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An excellent mystery thriller. The story reminded me a bit of Silence of the Lambs meets Agatha Christie. It is a dark, spooky story with a group of former classmates who are gathered together for memorial. One of these classmates may be a killer.I really liked that the chapters alternate from present day and then switches to the year 1994.In 1994, these students took a night class taught by Prof. Aldiss. In 1982, Aldiss was convicted of the murders of two female grad students; the women were killed with axe blows and their bodies decorated with the novels of notoriously reclusive author Paul Fallows. Aldiss wants the students of his night class to solve the Fallows riddle once and for all. The author’s two published novels, The Coil and The Golden Silence, are considered maps to finding Fallows’s true identity. The only way in is to master them through a game called the Procedure.I really had to stop and think a lot during this book. It was a very intellectual read. I never came close to guessing who the real murderer was.The only two negatives of the story for me was that I never really thought the Procedure game made sense and I could not relate to that part of the story. I also did not really find enough closure in the ending.Besides that, I did not want to put this book down. It was spooky and chilling. The cover looks like the story might be gruesome and gory, but that was not really the case. This was an extremely hard to put down book!

[enamoredsoul_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Dominance" by Will Lavender is a novel that is sure to send tingles down your spine, goose-bumps all over your body, and keep you awake at all hours of the day to find out just what happens. I should know, I finished this book in less than 24 hours, and stayed up till 3 AM just trying to finish it.Expertly weaving the storyline through the past and present, the book begins with a controversial class "Lit 424; Unraveling a Literary Mystery" is being taught at Jasper College, in the year 1994, to nine undergraduate Honor students who were specifically chosen and invited to take the class. The class is being taught by the infamous Professor Aldiss, a renowned Fallows scholar, who has been convicted of murdering two students at Dumant University. Currently incarcerated, Prof. Aldiss teaches the students via satellite, using a TV screen and a microphone, to communicate with his students who assemble in the basement of the school, so as to avoid intrusion and distraction by other students, and protestors.Fast forward several years to present day, and we come across Alex Shipley, one of the nine from the controversial lit class, visiting Professor Aldiss to gain insight on the murder of one of the other students of the class. Alex Shipley was the one, spurred on by the teachings of Professor Aldiss, who followed the riddles and clues provided in the Fallows novel and uncovered the true identity of Paul Fallows, and exonerated Aldiss of the crimes he was accused of, at the same time. Years later, when the modus operandi of the murders at Dumant University are replicated, Alex Shipley reaches out to Aldiss to try and solve yet another mystery.The body count is rising, each of the nine being targeted one by one, and Alex is desperate to find the killer. Has The Procedure begun, again? How far will the murderer go this time? And who is the murderer?"Dominance" by Will Lavender is a novel that will keep you on your toes, without exaggeration, till the very last page. The action, the mystery of it all, plays out till the very end of the book. Full of intrigue, drama, interesting characters, and bizarre incidences - this book is sure to make keep you engaged with every word, every turn of the page. Seamlessly weaving his story in and out of not one but two incidences of the past, the author has done a remarkable job of writing an utterly compelling mystery novel. The writing is simple, but the story is extremely interesting, and keeps the reader invested every step of the way. Especially the book-within-the-book premise, and uncovering the mysteries of a novel within a novel, is quite fascinating! A MUST-READ for mystery lovers!

[voracious_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Dominance" is a literary mystery that is based on a puzzle created between two books written by the fictitious author, Paul Fallows. Alexandra and eight other students are chosen to attend an elite night class with a famous convicted serial killer, Richard Aldiss who was once a Professor of English Literature. The night class, taught via remote videoconference with Professor Aldiss in the prison, challenged the students to solve the mystery of the author of the two books, who to date had been unknown. As Alex and the other students attempt to unravel the mystery of the author's identity, they are introduced to "The Procedure", a method of entering the world of the book and challenging the other students in their dominance of the literature. The concept of the Procedure is not fully explained until further in the book as the mysteries unravel. However, two storylines begin to unfold throughout the novel as Alex takes the class and investigates into the life of Paul Fallows in 1984, and as she returns to Jasper College in the present day after the 2nd death of a night class peer, which was staged to look like the famous murders that put their professor in prison in the first place.In all, the storyline is very complicated, though not so convoluted that it cannot be followed (though it is hard to explain in a book review!). As with Will Lavender's first book, "Obedience", I enjoyed the thrill of a literary mystery, solved by book lovers who enjoy the concept of a puzzle inside a novel. Both novels were engaging and exciting and unique for a thriller fiction novels. Dominance was at times a little far-fetched, but I willingly cast aside my skepticism because the novel was enjoyable (did we really have videoconferencing in 1984? Would they let a convicted killer teach a class...?) The concept of the "Procedure" was a little underdeveloped and I would have liked to have learned more about it, as it played such an instrumental role in the storyline. The ending was a little confusing, though everyone else seemed to enjoy it. I have appreciated the comparisons to the Clarice-Lecter relationship between Aldiss and Alex as it was creepy and readily apparent. I also felt this book was like "Ten Little Indians" by Agatha Christie (and then there were eight!) In all, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a fast-paced literary murder mystery.

[donnambr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book started very promisingly. I love a good thriller or mystery and this seemed to provide a good mix of puzzles, mysteries and dangers. The book revolves around a former professor (once convicted of murder, now acquitted), a current professor (once a student of the former professor), an author and a game called 'The Procedure', which seems to involve emulating the author's works in real life. The aspects of the mystery surrounding the professor and author and murders that have taken place are very compelling, particularly as the book is told by jumping between the past and the present so you only learn a little bit at any one time.Where the book falls down for me is 'The Procedure'. Perhaps it's a little too clever for me but I just couldn't grasp the concept of people becoming so enamoured with 'The Procedure' that it led to ruined lives, hatred, mistrust and - ultimately - murder.That notwithstanding it was a good read with some very interesting characters and a number of twists and turns that certainly kept me guessing, even if they did seem a little far-fetched at times!

[tammydotts · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In 1994, nine English majors met for a night class at Jasper College. What made the night class special was its professor: Richard Aldiss, a convicted murderer. The nine students are given the task of discovering the identity of reclusive, renowned author Paul Fallows.Years later, after the class resulted in Aldiss’ acquittal and the revelation of Fallows’ identity, the students reunite at a funeral. One of their classmates was murdered in an eerie imitation of the crimes of which Aldiss was accused.Dominance by Will Lavender keeps both timelines in the air smoothly by focusing on Alex Shipley. In 1994, she’s the student responsible for solving the 1994 mysteries. In present day, she’s a Harvard professor. The reputation from her student days lead the police and Jasper officials to ask her to help solve the current crime.That should be the signal that Dominance is not a piece of literature, that it’s nothing more than a Lifetime movie in book form. How Lavender juggles the two stories, however, makes it a little more than that, requiring a little more from readers expecting a James-Patterson-esque mystery to leave behind on the airplane or forget after reading. The final twist of Dominance makes it a novel readers won’t soon forget.In 1994, the students don’t know what’s about to happen to them. In the present, they’ve all lived through it and don’t need to discuss it in detail. Lavender cleverly avoids exposition traps by doling out information almost on a need-to-know basis.For example, the night class introduces the students to a game known as the Procedure. They refer to it in the present day setting as well. The rules of the game or how the students are involved remain unclear for a good while. Lavender explains it at exactly the right time, when readers are just about to give up caring about the game out of frustration. Granted, the game is odd and it’s hard to picture anyone taking it as seriously as its proponents, but, at the same time, it’s popular on college campuses where young adults may be more indulgent. That is, it’s popular on Lavender’s fictional campuses, although it’s not far fetched to see it catching on in reality.The biggest problem with the game is its dependence on Fallows. Although the author is a central part of the mysteries, Lavender doesn’t do much to establish why he carries such importance in modern literature and why his works would captivate students so.Aside from Alex and Aldiss (who although innocent of murder seems capable of everything else and more of which he’s accused), many of the characters blend into each other. The grieving widow, herself a former member of the class, appears on scene only to cry and serve as a brief red herring. That’s not a spoiler; it’s evident she’s never really a suspect. Another classmate appears to serve only as a sexual diversion. Alex’s former boyfriend is a little more fleshed out, but not fully enough to prevent some contradictions. Oddly, the minor character who does stand out is Daniel Hayden, one of the students. Hayden dies between 1994 and the current story, but his behavior in 1994 makes him someone Lavender should used as an example for how to create the remaining characters.These flaws don’t matter all that much. Dominance remains an entertaining and suspenseful read. Lavender builds tension, increasing the stakes as the novel progresses. Readers can’t sit back and wait for the answers to the novel’s central mysteries to be handed to them. As Alex investigates each time’s mystery, every piece of information leads to the next, with clues intertwining across time. Sometimes the characters miss obvious connections, but there’s plenty for the reader to have to work to figure out. Much like Aldiss points his students in the right direction (or occasional wrong direction) and leaves it to them to identify and answer the correct question, Dominance expects its readers to do the same.Not all answers readers come up with turn out to be correct. And the last pages of Dominance have the potential to cast the previous pages in a new light. A re-read promises a new experience.Dominance is an above-average summer read. Pages will turn quickly.

[rgazala_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Who is Paul Fallows? He's an American literary giant, the author of a pair of novels scoured in college English departments around the country for deep, eternal truths about the human condition. For decades, brilliant English literature students at elite universities across the nation participate in a twisted game called the Procedure in attempting to discover the recondite Fallow's long-obscured true identity. The object of the game is to win, of course. The best players find winning the game comes not so much from trying to uncover who is Fallows, but why is Fallows? And the cost of victory may well prove fatal."Dominance" is Will Lavender's second novel, and it's a good book. It's billed as a thriller, but the majority of it reads more like a cozy literary mystery sporadically spattered with murders of varyingly violent description. The story lurches back and forth in time between events set in the present-day and 1994. Though Lavender handles the flashback aspect of his tale reasonably well, it can still make for a disconcerting read, and adds unnecessary confusion to a fairly straightforward murder mystery. Lavender writes well -- despite the recurrent flashbacks the plot progresses at a decent clip, his dialogue is generally realistic, and he's very good at setting tone, mood and atmosphere.Readers will note obvious correlations linking "Dominance" to popular works preceding it. The relationship between Lavender's main characters, Harvard professor Alex Shipley and her (unjustly?) imprisoned former professor Richard Aldiss, is heavily influenced by the similar contretemps between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in Thomas Harris' 1988 novel, "The Silence of the Lambs." Much of the present-day plot happens in a creepy old house on a fictional college campus, where seven of Aldiss' former students gather to mourn the death of a recently murdered classmate only to each find him- or herself as much prey as suspect while freshly killed corpses pile up. It's reminiscent of any number of locked room murder mysteries, and sprinkled too with elements from Shirley Jackson's 1959 horror novel "The Haunting of Hill House," and Stephen King's 2002 television miniseries "Rose Red" (which itself owes homage to Jackson's novel).It's an intelligent and worthwhile read, but readers with an appetite for an action-packed serial killer thriller won't be sated by "Dominance."

[theloopylibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dominance is not what I expected it to be. I was afraid I’d be reading a gruesome tale of an ax-murdering serial killer, but that’s not really what this book is about. It’s about a game, specifically literature as a game. It’s a game based on the works of a writer whose identity is unknown. When a literature class is brought together to study the works of this unknown author, their assignment is to use clues from the books to discover the writer’s identity. Their professor is a convicted killer whose guilt is also called into question during the course of the class. The game continues long after the class is over, and just as some mysteries appear to be solved, others begin. What are intriguing about this book are its intricacies and puzzles. It reminded me somewhat of the Da Vinci code because of the embedding of codes, clues and maps throughout. Even when I figured out the whodunit part of the story, I learned I didn’t really know what I thought I did. The book’s ending leaves the reader questioning everything they thought they knew about the characters. How many of them were still playing the game and will the game ever really end? Although it starts a little slow, Dominance is a fascinating novel that the reader will still be pondering long after reading the last page.

[silenceiseverything · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

You ever read a book where you dislike the character so much you WANT them to get picked off by the serial killer? No...well that was my reaction to the main character in Dominance. This chick was a flaming idiot (when she wasn't being so annoyingly condescending). I could excuse her behavior when she was in college considering she was young and I can buy her naivete then. However, if 15 years pass and you're still acting like a clueless idiot, then I'm thinking that's more of an "it's always going to be there" thing rather than something that can be beaten out of you with time. Unfortunately, the stupid idiot of the main character wasn't my only problem with Dominance. Dominance is one of those books that has a kick-ass, wonderfully creepy premise...that doesn't live up to its full potential. For example, the Procedure is supposed to be this creepy life and death game that makes everyone who is so absorbed with it go a teeny bit crazy. Yeah, I didn't buy that considering that the Procedure was barely alluded to and what was alluded wasn't interesting enough to make a normal sane person get so involved in it that they are desperate to WIN it at all cost. And the clues that the Night Class connected to Aldiss and the murders were very...out there. I have a hard time believing that someone as idiotic as Alex can make a connection between clues A and B (when A and B have absolutely NOTHING to do with each other and require tons of leaps in logic) when it takes a genius to make those types of connections (and a genius she is not). Another thing: I get that the author was trying to have this sort of symbiotic relationship between Alex (the idiot) and Aldiss (the somewhat creepy suspect guy), but I just couldn't get into it. Aldiss has the potential to be truly...off and creepy, but he never comes out that way. I didn't see him having the type of presence that would get students to do his bidding. He just wasn't that much of a developed character. In fact, none of the characters were very well-developed. And that made it hard to care about them and react woefully when they started kicking the bucket. Why the two stars instead of one? Because Dominance really did have a great premise. I also liked how the narrative shifted from the 1994 Night Class to Alex's current thoughts (that could be because I wouldn't have been able to deal with a book that had Alex's sole narrative throughout it). The 1994 narrative reminded me heavily of those teenage slasher flicks from the '9 (a lot of which I adore), so that was naturally my favorite part of Dominance. The current plot was one that I could take or leave. So, in the end, I was disappointed with Dominance. I think it had the potential to be a really creepy, well-drawn out, psychological thriller, but it fell short. However, the premise was so unique that it kept me reading (that and the fact that it was a Vine book, of course) even when I was rolling my eyes at the stupidity of the main character regardless of the fact that I'm supposed to buy that she's really smart. Anyway, I think maybe I'll give the author's next book a shot in hopes that it's better than this one.

[jgolomb_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wil Lavender's "Dominance" is smart, dark, intense and deeply moody. This thrilling murder mystery is part "Silence of the Lambs", and part Agatha Christie and is driven by Lavender's slow and purposeful development of characters and clues and revelations around key plot points.Lavender bounces the reader between past and present building up the mysteries and tensions surrounding a 20-year old pair of murders and a recent murder that brings former college classmates together for a macabre reunion.Both past and present mysteries revolve around former professor and convict Richard Aldiss. This very Hannibal Lecter-like character continually dances along the fine line of being good and evil as he helps guide his students to first finding the truth behind the murders he was accused of over 20 years ago, and then the more recent murder of their classmate. 20 years ago, the top 9 students in the Literature program at a small Vermont college take a course that promises to unravel the mystery of who novelist Paul Fallows really is. It's taught by Aldiss via closed circuit TV under heavy guard from his prison cell. Lavender does a masterful job at building and connecting multiple mysteries while teasing the details and leaving the reader salivating for more. The interactions between Aldiss and his students, particularly Alex Shipley, will evoke memories of Lecter and his "student" Clarice Starling. Aldiss is extremely smart, deep and bizarre and has a way of pulling all of those around him into his own cult of personality.Some of Lavender's clues are a bit clunky. Some of the dialogue feels too forced. The conclusions left me a bit disappointed, but any book that keeps me up late riveted and excited for more while keeping me more focused on every shadow and creak in my house than on getting a good night's sleep, will get a high recommendation from me.

[kippras · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This makes the third thriller this summer that I’ve had problems putting down.In 1994, nine university students participated in a unique class called “Unraveling a Literary Mystery,” taught by Dr. Richard Aldiss via his jail cell where he was serving a sentence for two gruesome murders. He introduced them to a game called the Procedure, a process of the study and understanding of the works of reclusive literary master, Paul Fallows.During that class, one student, Alex Shipley, figured out the identity of the reclusive “literary mystery” Paul Fallows and found information that helped release Aldiss from his prison cell.Now, years later, she’s going back to Jasper College and getting the “old crew” together because someone has recreated one of the murders from the past with a former classmate. The fear is: every one of them could be next—or the killer.This was a fascinating premise for a story.It’s not a strong character-based novel—I didn’t get that strong of a connection with the characters but, for some novels, that’s okay. Will Lavender has developed a plot that I was completely absorbed in. And I’m good with that. Lavender kept me on my toes trying to figure out what was going on and stringing me along for the ride. He kept me guessing along with Alex, the main character, and, for that, I was pretty happy The book flipped from the past (1994) to the present, essentially telling two intertwined stories at the same time. I think Lavender did an extremely nice job of helping the author keep track of what had happened in the previous section of that timeline. Oftentimes, books that switch back and forth can get confusing for a reader because they don’t remember what happened in the previous section—any time a reader takes a break from a story (or any part of a story), forgetting is a possibility, meaning, of course, you have to go back and read the last page of the previous section—and it disrupts the flow of the narrative–and pulls the reader out of the story. Lavender makes it easy to remember without making too much of an author intrusion—and, besides, I didn’t want to put the book down anyway A good quick read. Now I want his first book, Obedience, and I’ll definitely be in for the next book he writes as well.(Disclaimer: Received ARC from Simon & Schuster through Publisher’s Weekly.)

[chaostheory08 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

* In compliance with FTC guidelines, it should be noted that I received the book for free.“What if you could read a book and treat it as a competition between you and its author?” – Alex Shipley, Chapter 3.That is pretty much how I tackle anything from the mystery/thriller genre, whether it be a TV show, a movie, or in this case… a book. Will Lavender is an author of what he calls “puzzle thrillers,” novels that are not quite mysteries and not quite thrillers but incorporate elements of both, and I have never read anything like it.Like most of you, I enjoy a good mystery book. I love the challenge it posts in the beginning, the chase, the way it all unfolds in the end. My book-love started with those Nancy Drew Mysteries collections. As a kid, I ate all of it up. But after a while, it begins to look the same. Someone gets killed, there are clues left behind, the villain taunts the heroes, the villain gets caught. Over and over. And sometimes, it builds and builds only to an ending that is less than satisfying. This book breaks through all that.The book jumps right into it; setting up the premise that will last the whole book. Our hero, Dr. Alexandra “Alex” Shipley, was a part of an elite experimental class in Jasper College, Vermont in 1994. This class was being taught by a jailed professor named Dr. Richard Adliss, convicted of brutally murdering 2 grad students. The crime scenes were littered with the books of the author Paul Fallows. Who is this elusive Paul Fallows? Richard Adliss then shows his class of 9 students how to answer that question.Fast forward to “Present Day”. Alex is now a professor at Harvard. She is famous in the literary world as the one who found out about Fallows’ true identity. In the process, she also acquitted Adliss of all charges against him. But then, one of her former classmates gets killed in the same way as the grad students’ murders. She then uses the skills Adliss taught them to solve this mystery.The book bounces back and forth between 1994 and present day. Normally, I get turned off by this storytelling device but Lavender showed excellent use of flashbacks. It kept me on my toes, guessing at every turn of the page. Both past and present settings are equally exciting. I love that both settings move forward rather the present the only one progressing and the flashbacks are just random points in the past. Parallel time lines, I enjoyed. Also, I liked the cast of characters. Some are a little bit cliche but the focus is very heavy on the main characters that I did not mind the minor ones that much.It is definitely one of the most frustrating books that I have read in a while. When reading mystery novels, I usually solve the puzzle somewhere midway through the story. Some authors just make it too obvious. But this one? Oh boy. I had suspicions but I was never 100% sure until it was officially revealed. The plot was airtight and solid. The flashbacks are very essential to the present day storyline as if it answers the questions of the present.(On a side note, I was playing around with the idea that the BAU team from the CBS show Criminal Minds would have a field day with the villains in this book. It should be interesting to see what Dr. Spencer Reid does with the whole Paul Fallows lore and how they would eventually figure out what was going on. Looking at my notes, one of the bullets said, “Totally Criminal Minds material!”)I know some of these do not make sense but I am telling you, read this book and you will see the genius! You will be bombarded left and right with clues that you would not be able to put it down until the mystery is solved. I read it and treated it like a competition between me and the author and guess what, Will Lavender won.Rating: 5/5.Recommendation: If you’re tired of your usual mystery/thriller novels and looking for something different, pick this one up. This is definitely something new.

[jackieblem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Will Lavender is inventing his own genre--"puzzle thrillers", which his website describes as "novels that are not quite mysteries and not quite thrillers but incorporate elements of both". Whatever else they may be, they are tantalizing reads to a mystery buff and book lover such as myself."Dominance" jumps back and forth between 1994 and the present day, following nine very special literature students and their highly controversial professor. The students were handpicked and Richard Aldiss, the professor, was teaching via a video feed from prison,ul Fallows, who is a mystery in and of himself as he had only written two (possibly three) books of cultishly fascinating literature. This new class was charged with solving the literary mystery of just who this author was. To do so, they had to learn to play The Procedure, developed from Fellow's book, and cryptically mysterious. Startling things happen during the course of the class, making one student very famous in the literary world.Flash forward to the present day when the class is called together because of the suicide (or was it?) of one of their own. Strange things begin as the old friends meet each other again, and begin to die one by one.This is a gloriously frustrating book to puzzle through as you are given clues from two different mysteries nearly two decades apart but very much having to do with each other. The deeper into the book you get, the faster the clues come until there is just NO wayyou can put it down until the last page is turned. And even then...well, read it and see.

[macygma · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Paul Fallows is the most reclusive person since Howard Roark. Students have been looking for him for years. A game has sprung up around their search called The Procedure. It is played by immediately stepping into a roll as one of the characters in one of the two novels he wrote. There is reportedly another novel but is has never been found.Upon the death/murder of Michael Tanner his fellow classmates regroup to pay tribute and to become reacquainted. Alexandria Shipley, Dr. of Literature at Harvard has been chosen to give the eulogy. Part of a night class years prior Alex, Michael, and others meet to talk over their memories. Originally a group of nine of the best and brightest Lit scholars their number is rapidly decreasing. A police detective is killed, he was one of the group as well.The number one suspect is Dr. Richard Aldiss. Teacher of the night class he made a different impression on each of his students. He is crippled now, but wasn’t when he taught their class from prison where he was held for murdering two female students at another university. Free at last could he be committing some sort of payback? Alex is dedicated to solving this mystery, just as she and Jacob Keller solved the one nine years ago. Will she live long enough to find the killer? Will any of them?WOW! This thriller made me think wrong about a dozen times and I absolutely had no idea until the real “bad-person” was revealed. That doesn’t happen very often. The characters were so well written that I could see them meeting in my living room. The plot very well done and I couldn’t have asked for a better story.

[gchristianson_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dominance by Will Lavender ISBN:978-4516-1729-0Advance review : coming in July 2011 from Simon & SchusterMy advance copy came by UPS in the middle of a snow storm. The poor UPS driver got stuck in our driveway and had to be towed! It worth all the trouble to get this book into my hands...Dominance is a "who dun it" murder mystery. Complete with a cast of interesting characters called together in an old mansion. That is where the comparison to the formula murder mystery ends. This book is a quick paced easy read with unexpected plot twists. Just when you think you have it all figured out, the author reveals information that changes everything!The book bounces between present day and 1994 when the cast of characters were in undergraduate school and part a unique class. I have to admit that I kept getting the students in the class confused. Just about the time I was reaching frustration, Will Lavender thoughtfully included a summary of all the students in chapter 18!After reaching the end of this book I have the urge to re-read the whole book now that I know "Who Dun It". I never did have it all figured out. I think it would be an entirely different read know the ending! I loved that this book kept me guessing to the very end. That is the mark of a great mystery! I am looking forward to the next Will Lavender book.

[sruszala · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Started out promising but there were a lot of holes in the story, and the "locked room teen horror film" aspect was grating after a while.