Purity

Handsome young Owen will do anything for love…even if it means murder.

From New York Times bestselling author Douglas Clegg comes his classic dark psychological thriller of dangerous obsession and endless love.

For fans of Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, and Gillian Flynn.

This short novel is approximately 25,000 words in length or 120 pages if in print. The Dark Coming of Age series books do not need to be read in any specific order — they are stand-alones built around a theme of “dark coming of age.”

Owen Crites has grown up in the shadow of the Montgomery summer estate and has always been in love with beautiful Jenna Montgomery, who arrives each summer to her family’s summer home on Outerbridge Island, just off the New England coast.

Now, both of them teenagers, Owen — the gardener’s son — begins to understand that Jenna is meant for a different life in adulthood than he’s destined for — and he knows that he must somehow keep her with him on the island until she no longer wants to leave.

Enter handsome and wealthy Jimmy McTeague, the young tennis star from Manhattan, heir to a sporting goods fortune. Jimmy’s also come to spend the summer with the Montgomery family. To Owen, this intruder is a rival for Jenna’s love, but he soon discovers that Jimmy holds in a deep secret that could destroy him. Soon, a triangle of love, hate, and the darkest of human impulses emerges.