Szereto, Mitzi. Wilde Passions of Dorian Grey. Cleis Press. 2013. $15.95. 288p. PB. 9781573449656.

What if Dorian Grey didn’t die at the end of The Picture of Dorian Grey? What if he faked his death, moved to the Continent, and continued his increasingly debaucheries well into the 20th century? This is the premise behind Mitzi Szereto’s novel. Unlike the original novel in which Dorian eventually realizes the horror inside of himself and kills the portrait, Szereto’s Dorian Grey continues down the same path. For another 288 solid pages.

Each of the book’s four sections is named after the setting’s time period and location, but they could easily be renamed based on the primary sexual act contained inside of them. Section 1: Dorian learns to humiliate people and top men in Paris in the 1920s. Section 2: Dorian becomes a submissive bottom in Morocco in the 1940s. Section 3: Dorian seduces a monk in Peru who subsequently kills himself in the 1960s. Section 4: Dorian joins a group of quasi-vampires in New Orleans that drinks blood and has sex in the 1990s. In each section, Dorian starts by doing something minor and then proceeds into increasingly taboo situations. These episodic moments show Dorian’s desire for pleasure and novelty as he moves on or seeks the next most “debasing” thing when he gets bored.

The primary problem with this novel is that none of the characters is likeable. Dorian Grey lacks any charm, humor, or style to make up for his negative nature. He is the only consistent character, and there is no one else to care about in the novel’s journey. Szereto can write a sex scene well and consistently delivers on new tantalizing erotic acts to keep the reader interested, but this novel is left with the ball and chain named Dorian. If the main character ultimately can’t feel anything and doesn’t care about what he does or doesn’t do, why should we?

This book is recommended for people who like erotica in a novella-style format. This book is not recommended for libraries.

John Mack Freeman