“A Blood Affair” by Jan Roberts

“A Blood Affair” is yet another book about the Mafia. No, not the Russian Mafia, but the more classic version – American with Italian roots. It’s also about IRA and their deadly clashes with each other, about drug addicts – and about a young, beautiful, fragile woman caught in between.

Not exactly a suitable position for a young beauty, but India Grey manages. Brutally raped during a robbery at a hairdresser’s, broken and hooked on antidepressants, she marries a man she’s barely known. She believes she’s found a rescuer in Jack Donovan, but the day after her wedding she finds out the awful truth: he is the third son of the boss of the Mafia. India hates the Mafia. So their marriage remains sterile, and, a stranger to her husband, she falls in love with a Catholic priest and eventually becomes his mistress.

Having narrowly escaped death several times, having been betrayed and having become a traitor, living in a continuous fear for her life, India discovers a shocking truth: good can turn evil one day, and what seemed unquestionable evil may one day prove to have a lot of good in it. Someone desperately loved can become the worst enemy, while someone habitually hated will once turn out to be your only friend. Nearly killed by her former lover and saved by Jack, she finally has to completely reconsider her position and rediscover the people around her. It’s Jack who truly loves her – it’s Jack whom she loves. They forgive each other and start from scratch…

The terrible circumstances in which India finds herself lead her and everyone around her to an amazing discovery: she is made of steel, this girl. The strength of her will and her ability to make spontaneous decisions where most girls of her age would lose their heads and collapse, save her life more than once. She emerges reformed; even her formidable father-in-law has turned to doing good – probably for the first time in his life – under her influence. But I don’t envy her…

Did I like the book? Well, not much. I don’t like books about the Mafia in general, and this one, besides, has too many sexual scenes. It embarrasses me when sexual intercourses are described too straightforwardly; it even makes me feel dirty. It took me a while to finish this book; I read a couple of others while consuming “A Blood Affair” bit by bit, putting it aside and then retreiving it from the shelf again. I think I’ll donate it to the library now; it might have success there, since many people love such stuff, and exactly for the same reasons why I dislike it. But I certainly did like India Grey – even when she sinned. I was especially impressed when she stopped the abortion at the last moment and decided to keep her baby against common sense. The Mafia could have easily killed her for carrying her lover’s child, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to destroy this little life. She loses her child afterwards, but that’s not her fault. And, unexpectedly, Jack forgives her.

The book is not the kind you’d want to read to your young child, but if you like “tough” stuff, this one is for you.