I am always intrigued with theme like obsessive love or forbidden love as the plot of a story. And this explains why I picked up this book without hesitation after reading the blurb. And to top it off, my curiousity was piqued by the cover where it stated 'A gripping memoir of romance and murder'.

Kate, the narrator was an undergraduate when she first knew Tim Franklin. She was only twenty, while Tim was a mature man in his fifties. They were both students at Exeter University. One evening while they were drinking in the pub, Tim told Kate that he was a lifer (a person sentenced to or serving a term of life imprisonment). Kate thought he was kidding at first, because he gave her the impression he was such a charming and charismatic gentleman. He further told her that he could be recalled anytime should he done anything, but he stressed to her that he didn't mean it to happen and that it was all an accident. Kate believed him because he was quite popular in the university and that most of the students kind of respect him.

Anyway, Kate fell in love with Tim. But as time went on, Kate found out he was not what she thought he was. He became possessive, and he wanted to control her life. And when she threatened to leave him, he showed signs of suicidal and thus, Kate was forced to stay with him until one day things just got out of hand and Tim ended his life.

It was in the later part of the story that Kate narrated how she began to dig into his past and learnt he had an unhappy childhood, and how his obsessive and controlling behaviour led him to adulthood. The story slowly unfold when Kate found out that he was married and later how he was involved in another relationship but ended in a tragedy when he killed her, although he claimed he was defending himself.

No matter how sick Tim is, it shows how he views and handles love differently from the others, and unfortunately it ended up in a tragedy. I have never read anything like this and all I can say is Dangerous Love is one stunning memoir.