Slow moving, mostly unsatisfying tale of two stranglings and an attempted third in a small New York town. The attempted victim is a beautiful woman loved by three men--one of whose visits to town coincide with the violence. Fischer shifts his close third person narrative from character to character, giving you the inner thoughts of each, but I'm not sure he does it very honestly or that the book's conclusion is anything more than random. And I don't have the willpower to dive into it again to find out. It is just too tiresome. The characters are either one-dimensional (the three male suitors) or just act too dumb (the object of their affections.) ( )