None can stop this deadly lover

Love is not always a fairy tale. It can turn into a deadly obsession, involving treachery, rabblerousing and malicious determination. That is what exactly happened in the case of Juliette, the woman scorned.

Drugged and coaxed into sex, the sixth grader mistakes it for love, affection and recognition but she realises she is mistaken before it is too late. But, it does not deter her from loving the teenage perpetrator. Her love is first, intense and unwilling to diminish.

Karen Hamilton, a new entrant into literary fiction, puts all her efforts and experiences as a flight attendant into her first work of literature. The protagonist in ‘The Perfect Girlfriend’ may not sound all that perfect for a reader, but she is gritty, aggressive and ready to go to any extend to win the heart of her lover.

Sexually used for a second time by her ‘lover’ after years, though without recognising the grownup Juliette, her passion intensifies. She begins to live with Nathan, her love interest for a lifetime. But things are all not that bright as Nate finds Juliette a bit difficult to put up with. After living together for a few months, Nathan, a pilot by profession, asks her to leave. She pleads, she begs, she tries all what she can to convince him about her love and how wonderful a wife she can be, how beautiful she can make life for Nathan.

Everything falls in deaf ears. But nothing can dissuade Juliette. Her love turns obsession. Now she is hellbent to win her lover. She manages to get the job as a flight cabin crew so that she can be with him. She does all she can do - housebreaking, theft, impersonation, assault and whatnot. She is dangerous now.

She drugs Nathan in Las Vegas and arrange for a quick wedding, hoping that it could bind them together ‘until death do them part’. Every time, Juliette is mistaken, she fails in convincing her husband. He is adamant. But so is she.
Throughout the 353-page novel, Hamilton tries to grab the readers curiosity, but an amateur as she is, sometimes fails to make the narrative even more lively. The way she keeps the thriller flow is of course, praiseworthy.
‘I don’t know who leaned first, but our lips touched, and we kissed. He tasted of alcohol and cigarettes. “You smell really nice,”’ he said as we broke away. It must have been hairspray because I couldn’t afford perfume and I hadn’t risked stealing any of Bella’s. I leaned forward and took a tiny sip from his glass before replacing it. We kissed again. And then lay down.

I felt the soil, stones and moss beneath my back and only momentarily cared about my dress. But then, he kissed me harder and I forgot about everything. Nothing else mattered. Time began here. I remember thinking that his was it. He was ticket to real life and it was from today onwards that life would begin afresh. Everything would be alright again.

I gave in to my feeling. I felt protected. It felt right.’

But, Juliette is wrong.

Already living in guilt of being unable to save her drowning little brother as a ten-year-old girl, Juliette’s world is full of twists and turns. Hamilton tries to make it as genuine as possible but not successful in her efforts all the time.

Having spent her childhood in Angola, Zimbabwe, Belgium and Italy and worked as a flight attendant for many years, Hamilton’s narration of various cities across the world, including Delhi, is a bit entertaining. Juliette tricking Nathan into wedlock and her attempts to keep Nathan captive and trying to lure him through assault sound a bit absurd. Hamilton falters at many places in her book but manages to keep the reader go up to the end.Since this is her first fiction and that she has done a fairly good job for that matter, one hopes she would soon come out of age.