SOURCE: "Fever in New Orleans," in The New York Times Book Review, June 7, 1987, p. 37.

Banks is an American novelist, editor, critic, and educator. In the following review, she favorably assesses A Recent Martyr.

This is a striking book, one with as much depth as the reader dares to plumb. A Recent Martyr, written by Valerie Martin—the author of the novels Set in Motion and Alexandra—details the torrid and extraordinary sadomasochistic affair between Emma and Pascal. Through it, Emma tells us, she is "to discover the sweet and unexpected horror of [her] own nature." When Emma's husband discovers the affair, he wonders why she would choose a man as dangerous as Pascal. The fact is, Emma does not so much choose as succumb. She describes her attraction to him as "an onslaught of high fever," and it is at least that.

More danger still is posed by...