The year is 1987 and Christof Douglas and his wife Katya live an affluent life as he is the president of DFT Entertainment and she works at a museum. The pair summer at their home on the Jersey Shore, although as of late, Chris has been spending more and more time at the apartment in the city because of the demands of work. It seems that he and Katya have been drifting apart since the death of their child some five years before, but additionally, DFT is amidst some hot and heavy negotiations to sell of part of the company, plus they are being investigated by the FCC, which forces Chris to be at work even more.
Out of the blue, his office is contacted by an insistent woman whose name he doesn't recognize, but she turns out to be his first love, Maria, now going by a pseudonym. Before they can speak, she is murdered and he falls under suspicion. To make matters worse, he doesn't mention any of this to Katya and when she does find out, things only deteriorate further. He turns to his closest friend, Paulson, who once saved his life during the Vietnam War. As he digs deeper into why Maria was murdered and what she was investigating at the time of her death, Chris only grows more confused. A letter of brief explanation from Maria received after her death only spurs his need to know further and a trip to Paris for Maria's funeral forces him deeper into the mystery and in the crosshairs of those who silenced her. As his life slowly crumbles around him, Chris begins relying more on the advice of his inner voice, one which grows in aggression as the days pass. As he fears for the lives of those closest to him, he discovers that betrayal surrounds him at every corner. Is it his fate to be doomed?
While the mystery surrounding Maria's sudden reappearance into Christof's life was interesting, I found I got really bogged down in all of the business transactions and FCC stuff that occurred at the beginning of the book and the political angle the book took as it progressed. Chris makes a lot of classic mistakes in not communicating enough with Katya, but he's still a somewhat sympathetic character. I found it a bit odd that his conversations and struggles with his internal self seemed to ramp up dramatically towards the end of the book and, to be honest, I’m not really sure that I am clear on what became of Christof, or at least, how he came to be where and who he was as the book closed.
While the story was a good one, it just wasn't what I was expecting based on the excerpt I initially read. If you are looking for a story of more of a fantastical nature, Parcae's Wish is not for you. If, on the other hand, you want to read a story of love, deception and espionage in the time of the Vietnam War and the late 80's, check out Parcae's Wish.
