Eric Jerome Dickey is finally starting to get his due. He has
weathered the unfortunate label of "black author" and has simply
become known as an author, and a very good one. His characters are
mostly black, true, and there are even some real
"African-Americans" in THE OTHER WOMAN (there's an Ethiopian
immigrant, for one) but the concerns he writes about in THE OTHER
WOMAN can affect anyone, of any race. Still, I don't think that
anyone can write about them quite the way Dickey can.

THE OTHER WOMAN is told from the point of view of Freckles, a
television newswriter who is married to Charles, a middle school
teacher. Their situation is, I think, fairly common: they both
work, they're on somewhat different schedules, and they are all too
often like ships passing (and occasionally and hurriedly bumping)
in the night. Things aren't bad between them, not by any means, but
they're maybe a little too ... complacent. They're in a content and
comfortable, if not exciting, groove.

That at least is what Freckles believes until she begins receiving
frantic calls from David Lawrence. Lawrence has a tale to tell: his
wife, Jessica, is having a torrid affair with Charles. Freckles
confronts Charles, who admits the affair but downplays his
emotional involvement, even as he is confronted with the truth that
the affair has been carried out over the course of eight months.
Lawrence has proof in the form of instant messages between the two
lovers that are explosive in their content. Lawrence, perhaps the
most complex character in THE OTHER WOMAN, has an agenda of his
own. Hurting and humiliated, he uses Freckles as an instrument of
revenge against both his wife and her paramour. The conclusion is
explosive but no less shocking in its inevitability.

Dickey does an incredible job here. I don't think I've ever read a
novel by a male writer who has done such an excellent job of
getting into a woman's psyche. I'm not sure if I can describe this
correctly, but here it goes. There are those areas of a woman's
emotions that a man has some difficulty understanding. Dickey gets
the description of those emotions just right. But where a man would
ordinarily try to explain those and break them down to be
understood, Dickey does not. Dickey, in the literary sense,
understands what Wynton Marsalis has stated in the musical sense:
that what is not played is often as important as what is played.
This doesn't mean Dickey neglects the guys, however. The guys react
as males will do. Do they ever.

One other thing. Dickey does not exactly shirk away from graphic
sexual descriptions. While he is not subtle in his descriptions,
however, he is never gratuitous. THE OTHER WOMAN reads as if Dickey
spent some quality time talking with women about what they want and
want they need. Oh, one other thing. If there is a sudden run on
the Altoids 12-packs at the local Sam's Club, it's because of THE
OTHER WOMAN. And gentlemen, an extensive field study I conducted
recently indicates that it works both ways, if you're interested in
giving as good as you get.

THE OTHER WOMAN is a book about women and men --- and is for both.
Dickey just gets better and better at what he does and is finally
getting the widespread recognition he deserves. This is one book
that everyone needs to check out, for many reasons.