CURIOSITIES-A NEW YORK SIDESHOW

She thought he was a Good Samaritan. She was wrong.
In Curiosities – A New York Sideshow, Alice Needham—a sharp-witted, 20-year-old paraplegic—runs a struggling secondhand shop in Lower Manhattan and escapes her traumatic home life through painting. But when a chance encounter with a mysterious homeless man sets off a chain of unsettling events, her world is flipped inside out.

Raw, gripping, and darkly human, Curiosities dives deep into trauma, survival, and the fine line between trust and danger.

A complex, unforgettable protagonist
A must-read for fans of psychological thrillers

Ready to step into Alice’s world?

Curiosities – A New York Sideshow unfolds in the heart of a gritty, yet vividly painted New York, a city where every corner holds secrets and every shadow hints at hidden lives. "Curiosities" delves into the intricate dynamics of human resilience and the complex interplay of relationships burdened by trauma, hope, and the longing for connection. At its core, the story examines the societal struggles of outcasts, embodied through its protagonist, Alice, and her interactions with those who inhabit the periphery of society. 

As a paraplegic, twenty-year-old Alice Needham faces emotional and physical abuse, seen as an oddity in her confined world. She manages a failing basement shop called Curiosities in Manhattan's East Village, selling unwanted second-hand items. Limited by leg braces and crutches, Alice sketches and paints the unique appearances of people she glimpses from her shop window.

Her life includes peculiar figures like her large mother, Inge, her small father, Bruce, her loyal friends, Moses Drury and Hank Bullard, and her eccentric neighbor, Mrs. McKinstry. Alice’s world changes dramatically when she becomes involved with a homeless man she believes to be a Good Samaritan, leading to unexpected events that alter her life forever.

Author's Note: I've always felt that stories primarily in one main location have an intimacy that draws the reader like no other. They have an unimpeded, raw vantage point where extraneous storytelling trappings are scraped away, leaving only naked truth…with no place to hide. Curiosities - A New York Sideshow is such a novel.

Rob Kircher is a consistently 5-star reviewed psychological suspense thriller author.

Copyright © 2025 Rob Kircher Books - All Rights Reserved.

At the heart of the narrative lies a provocative exploration: what if memory, rivalry, and even desire predate our first breath? Rosa and Julian’s bond is forged not only by genetics but by a shattering psychic connection—a channel through which thoughts, dreams, and even intentions pass unbidden. As children, their mutual awareness manifests in uncanny synchronicity, their silent communication unsettling and inexplicable to outsiders.

But with adolescence comes a sharpening of their abilities and the darkening of their private world. The spacious, sunlit rooms of their Port Royal mansion become stages for invisible battles, where mind games and sudden, inexplicable bursts of emotion leave their parents bewildered and afraid. What begins as an extraordinary gift curdles into a dangerous weapon, especially as Rosa and Julian discover the limits—and the costs—of their telepathic reach.

As secrets unravel and old wounds are exposed, the twins must confront the paradox of their existence: each is both the other’s greatest ally and most formidable adversary. Amidst opulence and privilege, they grapple with identities shaped and shattered by forces beyond ordinary comprehension. Villa Lipari becomes not just their home, but the crucible where destinies are forged and the meaning of connection is tested to its breaking point.

The incredible advancements in medical research suggest that it is entirely plausible for sophisticated intelligence to have existed within Rosa and Julian's fetuses long before the traditionally held twenty-eighth week of pregnancy and the very real plausibility that awareness of each other may have occurred at their moment of conception. Even more astonishing, it is entirely reasonable to think that Rosa and Julian's fetuses had the means to alter selective elements within their predetermined genetic paths through the development of acute telepathic abilities.

Villa Lipari-A Naples Love Story is an intense psychological suspense thriller novel set within the affluent backdrop of Port Royal, Naples, Florida, chronicling the extraordinary telepathic powers of Rosa and Julian Lowenstein, fraternal twins, and their most unimaginable love-hate relationship. It pries open normalcy and exposes a most competitive underside that entraps their wealthy South American father and his blue-blood trophy wife in their invasive and traumatic psychological battle for survival.

I've always felt that stories primarily in one main location have an intimacy that draws the reader like no other. They have an unimpeded, raw vantage point where extraneous storytelling trappings are scraped away, leaving only naked truth…with no place to hide. Villa Lipari-A Naples Love Story is such a novel. 

Rob Kircher is a consistently 5-star reviewed psychological suspense thriller author.

Copyright © 2025 Rob Kircher Books - All Rights Reserved.