The Girl in 6E by A.R. Torre
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After reading the first Deanna Madden book it’s not hard to understand why Hachette Book Group picked up this originally self-published novel. The Girl in 6E is a unique novel is almost every way.
Centered on the main character, Deanna Madden aka Jess Reilly, her online camgirl persona, this book had me clicking my Kindle’s Next button like my life depended upon reaching the end of the story. Deanna suffers from a mental disorder that makes her focus on death. It’s not some preoccupation or morbid curiosity. It’s a full-on “stay behind locked doors to keep the world safe from me” compulsion that she struggles with daily, the night time worst of all. It’s also genetic, her mother having suffered from the same disorder.
However, Deanna’s one smart cookie. Earning her income as one of the internet’s most popular camgirls, performing for hundreds of clients daily, Deanna has her rules in place. A junkie that lives down the hall locks her in her apartment every night in exchange for free pain pills that feed his addiction. She never leaves the apartment … ever. At least, until a client sparks her interest for reason I’ll not spoil here in this review but suffice it to say that this client and the situation in front of her gives Deanna the perfect opportunity to let her inner demons loose.
I loved the concept behind this story. Deanna is a character you can’t help but love, aching to see her achieve the semblance of normalcy yet sitting on the edge of your seat egging her on, hoping she is able to achieve her goal(s). She’s just so different from other female leads, particularly even from the rest of Torre’s female characters in her other books. Dark, twisted yet also intelligent and self-controlled (to an extent), and infinitely human in her struggles.
While there is the hallmark erotic element that gives Deanna the access to the outside world and the means by which she is able to live, The Girl in 6E is more psychological thriller than erotica. Torre is painstakingly thorough in her research and therefore presents a spellbinding look into a world and mind most would shy away from. I never once questioned a detail or plot device. Deanna Madden may be a fictional character but in the imagination of the author and every reader who imbibes this book she is authentic and real, someone you’d actually want to be friends with as long as you could deal with knowing she’s probably thinking of all the ways she could kill you while you converse … in her apartment, behind locked doors of course.
Torre hits the mark with The Girl in 6E and delivers a story unlike anything any other erotica author out there could possibly imagine sharing with the world. This woman’s imagination knows no limits. E. L. James has nothing on A. R. Torre. I’ll take Deanna Madden over Christian Grey any day.


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