The year is 1982.

This town has a distinct border, the good side and the shady side, where the townspeople battle rats for scraps of food. Mario used to live among the rich, but he now resides on the wrong side of the tracks thanks to the father who left him behind. Worst of all, he’s mourning his mother’s death and what he thinks is the loss of his lifelong dream, becoming a chef.

After meeting Dito who owns “Dean’s Pizzeria”, things are finally changing for Mario. Until Tess enters his life – the beautiful, mysterious stranger who lives in a luxury high rise. But there’s something off, something she’s hiding, something dark.

Some borders aren’t meant to be crossed.

One of life’s stereotypical tropes, at least in America, is the concept of coming from the “wrong side of the tracks.” Sultry is the Night uses this metaphor quite literally. In its unnamed city, railroad tracks distinctly divide “the good life” on one side from the poverty, addiction, and desperation one finds on the other.

Mario knows both sides. He once lived a life of privilege on the tony side. Until that is, his father abandoned him and his mother when Mario was ten, forcing mother and son to live in a small, dingy apartment across the railroad. Now, his father’s abandonment and his mother’s recent long and painful death have left Mario with a gigantic chip on his shoulder.

Enter Tess, formal name Teresa Winston. She represents the elegance and sophistication Mario left behind years ago. She’s charming in a quirky way, and she seems to be as smitten with Mario as Mario is with her. But she’s hiding a dark secret. And while Tess intrigues and inspires, she also triggers Mario’s barely-hidden resentments.

Sultry is the Night is a dark story, as the author warns in the book’s front matter. Some of its scenes take place in places with ominous undertones. While powerful, its themes of rejection, passion, and potential redemption may be triggering for some readers. The sexual encounters between Tess and Mario are explicit yet are neither pornographic nor gratuitous.

Mario may be an angry young man, but he has goals now that he has been freed from caring for his mother. Yet the reader gets the sense that he believes he is unworthy of success or happiness. And then there’s that ever-present anger. While one can empathize with Mario, there is the ever-looming specter that his inner rage will overcome his sound judgment and sabotage his success.

Tess is a woman of secrets and surprises, and not all of them are pleasant. Hard necessities have forced her to make choices she is neither happy about nor comfortable with, yet she feels she has no other options. She may appear brighter and happier than Mario from the outside, but inside is another story.

Many readers will enjoy Sultry is the Night, but others may find the darkness and steaminess off-putting. If the dark side of life is not your cup of tea, this is a book you should skip. But if you are game, you will find the book entertaining.

I grew up Italian in the Niagara Region and attended Notre Dame High School, and then Brock University. In 1999, I moved to Ottawa to pursue work and have worked for two major Ottawa area magazines. Being the shy kid in school, I created stories in my head, and when my Grade 9 English teacher awarded one of my short stories an A +, I knew that I would one day write a novel.

My work appears in various anthologies including Steering 23 Publications, Storytime for Grownups, and Beyond the Levee. In October of 2022, “Revived” was chosen as “Horror Book of the Year” by the “Feed My Reads” community.

When I’m not writing, I’m experimenting in the kitchen, reading, watching 1980s movies, or engaging with my peers on Twitter. I believe in magic. Books are magic. Love is the most remarkable magic.