Exposed
A novel by Cris Mazza

"A fascinating, unsettling tale, told by an untrustworthy narrator whose perceptions shift and dance manically." - ALA Booklist

"Talent jumps off her like an overcharge of electricity. . . . Mazza refuses to clarify, to give in to realism or allegory. She prefers to let the ripples of her puzzle carry us into the murk at the edge of the pool. . . . To stir us with those lyrical, savage scenes." - Los Angeles Times Book Review

"She has produced something more unique, more stimulating and thought-provoking than most of what passes for literary fiction these days." - Minneapolis Star Tribune

In a new novel as inventive as her earlier works, Cris Mazza combines a mystery with an evocative story about one woman’s precarious attempt to distinguish between reality and perception.

When one of Connie Zamora’s news photographs sets off accusations of a hoax and personal threats, her own doubts about what actually happened lead her to a job with a theater. There, the distinction between truth and perception is further blurred. Faced with another debate over a photo, this time one that may prove arson, Connie sets out to solve the mystery. But unraveling what took place only leads to the unraveling of Connie’s own life - and possibly her grip on reality altogether. Cris Mazza creates an intriguing and haunted character whose life is made up of dreams, deception, delusion, and hallucination, in a novel that poses more questions than are answered. Exposed defies readers to make sense of that shadowy area between fact and fiction, between art and life.

Cris Mazza received national critical acclaim for her first novel, the PEN Nelson Algren Award-winning How to Leave a Country (Coffee House 1992). Her short story collections include Revelation Countdown and Animal Acts.

.