Sellers’s first novel featuring Detective Wade Jackson of Eugene, Oregon is a disturbing mystery involving teenage sex and fanatical Christian extremism. The story open with the bombing of a Planned Parenthood birth control clinic, followed closely by the death of a young client, found nude in a trash dumpster. Jackson becomes worried bout his own teenaged daughter, once it becomes known she used to be friends with the murdered girl. And the victim was sexually active. With his marriage to an alcoholic wife disintegrating and taking on Eugene’s top elected official, Jackson continues to uncover startling revelations about the students at his daughter’s middle school.
Meanwhile, Kera Kollmorgan, a nurse at the clinic, is caught in the midst of the bombing and knowledge of the dead girl’s sexual activities but cannot divulge confidential patient information to the police. She initiates her own investigation starting with an email she received from the dead girl after she left the clinic that fateful day, but before she died. Kera stumbles upon a website where teenage girls and boys chat openly about their sexual escapades with unabashed bluntness. The more she probes, the more she unwittingly puts herself in the bomber’s eye and becomes the next target.
Jackson meanwhile believes he has the murder investigation wrapped up, when another body surfaces. Is it a copycat murder or is there a serial killer loose in Eugene?
The aspects of The Sex Club I found to be disturbing was how the bomber used Bible passages to justify her violent quest, relying on them to guide her quest for destruction and murder. Fundamentalists like this get so caught up in their religious fervor that they can twist the verses in the Good Book to fit their own agenda. On the other hand, Sellers’s concept of Suzie Homemaker/terrorist is hysterical. In one scene, she plans a nice meal for her family after cleaning up her bomb-making materials.
The realism of the teen sex in the story may cause some readers to squirm. It’s interesting to note that the emphasis in The Sex Club was clearly on the girls, while the boys were virtually non-existent, and hardly mentioned after their names appeared.
Sellers does a great job of keeping the pace moving and dialogue interesting. She has a good knowledge of police procedures and autopsy methods that are as fascinating as the mystery. The build-up to the climax will thrill you to its exciting conclusion.
Meanwhile, Kera Kollmorgan, a nurse at the clinic, is caught in the midst of the bombing and knowledge of the dead girl’s sexual activities but cannot divulge confidential patient information to the police. She initiates her own investigation starting with an email she received from the dead girl after she left the clinic that fateful day, but before she died. Kera stumbles upon a website where teenage girls and boys chat openly about their sexual escapades with unabashed bluntness. The more she probes, the more she unwittingly puts herself in the bomber’s eye and becomes the next target.
Jackson meanwhile believes he has the murder investigation wrapped up, when another body surfaces. Is it a copycat murder or is there a serial killer loose in Eugene?
The aspects of The Sex Club I found to be disturbing was how the bomber used Bible passages to justify her violent quest, relying on them to guide her quest for destruction and murder. Fundamentalists like this get so caught up in their religious fervor that they can twist the verses in the Good Book to fit their own agenda. On the other hand, Sellers’s concept of Suzie Homemaker/terrorist is hysterical. In one scene, she plans a nice meal for her family after cleaning up her bomb-making materials.
The realism of the teen sex in the story may cause some readers to squirm. It’s interesting to note that the emphasis in The Sex Club was clearly on the girls, while the boys were virtually non-existent, and hardly mentioned after their names appeared.
Sellers does a great job of keeping the pace moving and dialogue interesting. She has a good knowledge of police procedures and autopsy methods that are as fascinating as the mystery. The build-up to the climax will thrill you to its exciting conclusion.
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