Talk about wierd! A bastard child who is completely deformed somehow matches up with a beautiful woman born in the same brothel as himself. Not only this, he can read minds and then control the reactions of people who look at him. Hmmm, I found this slightly unnerving since I found myself feeling sorry for him and wanting him to have the beautiful woman for a wife. Was he controlling me through his psychic powers? I really thought the book was strange(er) when Henriette and him decide to be lovers depite her being married. When Henriette succums to a tragic death, Hercules seeks revenge in the most gruesome way.

Many in the book club cheered for this book and thought it was great, others were the other extreme.