The Girl with the Bad Mentality

'If this is a confession, and I can find no less misleading word for it, then it is a confession of love, not hate. I’m not trying to justify what I felt, what I did, or even what I didn’t do. It’s too late for that. I’m not seeking forgiveness either. It’s too late for that, too. What, then? I don’t know. Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Perhaps I’ll know when it’s over. That won’t be long.' As a child, Chrissie never felt loved by her parents, and as a teenager she came to believe that she possessed what she could only describe as a bad mentality. When she meets the auratic Cassie at a party during her second year at university, however, Chrissie experiences a sexual and intellectual awakening that promises to transform her sense of herself. And yet she soon begins to doubt Cassie's affection for her, and, when Cassie disappears, the traumatized Chrissie is left to try to rebuild her life in Hamburg. But her attempt to leave the past behind her is thrown into disarray when, years later, she discovers that Cassie appears to have exploited their relationship for her own ends. Feeling compelled to seek some kind of retribution for this perceived act of betrayal, Chrissie sets in motion a series of actions that soon spiral out of control, with devastating consequences.