A smart woman away from home
Tulip Chowdhury spots challenge in a story
A brilliant novel of lust, ambition and betrayal, Dr Slaughter is a work that vividly represents a young woman's struggles to settle down in a new place. Dr Lauren Slaughter, an American is in London trying out her luck. She has brains but no money. As she gets involved with men and women of the elite circle she finds barriers that conflict with her thoughts and the reality. There is one Lauren who is a brilliant researcher and the other Lauren who wins hearts with her beauty and wit. London, she finds, has her in the grip of a complex society that she will need time and experience to settle in. Lauren, the specialist in petro-economics, finds London rather cold and unfriendly. Many women she is introduced to seem to hold her at bay, seem to think of her as a rival. Men are usually drawn to her either for her beauty or her intelligence. And through one of these men she is introduced to Mayfair Jasmine Escort Agency. Oblivious to its dangers, she starts working there in the evening hours. While in America she would have never dreamed of becoming an escort, in London life seems to hold her in a trance and she does and says things that are so unlike the Lauren of the past. At times it seems as though she has turned a new leaf. Her morning hours are spent working as a researcher at Hemisphere Institute of International Studies. The large income of the escort agency holds Lauren spellbound and she does not realize her proximity to the true love that eludes her or the danger she places others in. Finally, Lauren begins to feel at home in London. She finds a grip on events around her. She becomes involved in the political intrigues of a client. She is unaware that the newly found confidence of her new life may actually have her walking on an eggshell. Throughout the story the wheels are turning as Lauren leads her unconventional life. At office her research partner Julian tries to set up a study tour to Kuwait for her, but she finds invitations by Arab sheikhs more alluring. Her newfound friend Van Arkady holds her admiration and yet he seems to hold her at arm's length. New light is shed on the story through this bubbling romance for Lauren. There is General Newhouse, who has her fully engaged in his elite circle. Lauren finds London exciting between her life as an escort and the brilliant researcher who is well known in the professional field. Lord Bulbeck, another social animal, offers her his flat at Brixton. And so Lauren finds an expensive home too. Settled in London, Lauren continues to write her thesis on oil revenues. Though she works at the escort agency, she despises most of the men. However, she needs their money. Just when her confidence is high and she is having bigger dreams she realizes that through Mayfair's Jasmine Escort Agency she has landed herself in dangers that threaten to see the last of her. However, it is too late and she sees the mousetrap closing around her. Lauren finds that the people she has trusted blindly are giving her the eye wash. The London that had seemed to be a home to her seems to have turned into a dangerous place. Lauren is confused by the betrayals around her. From this point the story builds up to pulsating events ; walls come crumbling down and new wings are found. The reader has sympathy for the protagonist and all the troubles she lands herself in. Through Dr Slaughter the reader gets a glimpse of how bewildering it can be for a beautiful young woman to stand up to a new society. At the same time there is also a vivid picture of how a woman with brains and charm, of the kind in Lauren, can get herself into the social ring. And the picture of Lauren is just that, a smart young wpman trying to fit into a picture, a lady who is allured by the prospect of earning huge sums of money and at the same time keeping up with her research work. The characters of Lauren and the other people she meets on her way to the top of the ladder are palpably real and the reader feels as though one is viewing a real life event. Much though the reader may admire Lauren for her clever ways of handling people around, when the noose closes around her we are bound to say, "The girl is too clever for her own good!" The story reaches its climax when Lauren lands in trouble with the escort agency. She finds that life in London does not come on a golden platter. The reader learns, as does Lauren, that strangers are not to be trusted and that life can change within the blink of an eye. Lauren is finally weary of her life in London and her heart seeks her homeland, which is far away America. But can she really clear up the mess in London and go back to her old, peaceful life? Dr. Slaughter has been made into a motion picture under the title "Half Moon Street" and is directed by Bob Swaim.
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