Customer Reviews

The Sex Club

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I would normally not have picked up The Sex Club off the shelf, as I'm not much of a mystery fan. However, the masterful and expressive cover caught my eye. Surprise - L.J. Sellers held my interest from first to last, and I hated to see the story end. This is a police procedural, following the steps of the detective as he solves the crimes. The police aspects are well-researed, and the reader rides along with the detective eyes open and cheering. The characters are well drawn, complete with human foibles, and very sympathetic. Thankfully, the author did not stoop to giving the detective more than his share of faults. The tender romance is treated softly, a natural outcome of proximity, but does not overwhelm the crime story. And the crimes! Realistic for today, sadly. As it is set in Eugene, OR, home of my alma mater, that added personal interest, but the setting could Smalltown, anywhere. Living as I do now in a hotbed of Christian conservatism, the issues she brings up of religious fanatacism were very to the point. I am looking forward to the next Detective Wade Jackson novel.

Owning a Kindle has opened my reading list up to a lot of new writers- indie and professional alike. L.J. Sellers has been one of those lovely new discoveries: The Sex Club was my first contact with Det. Jackson and whilst it is not perfect, I look forward to reading Sellers' other titles.

In terms of writing, the quality is right up there with more well-known crime/drama/police-procedural authors. It was an easy read that was hard to put down. Some of the dialogue was a little stiff and formal, but the biggest weakness was the characters- they tended to be black and white, two-dimensional stereotypes. The "baddies" were right-wing and possessed negative traits, the "good guys" tended to be lefty-liberals. It made the book a little predictable. Interstingly, the majority of characters are female.

Author LJ Sellers knows how to write a compelling, page-turning, heart-stopping, blood pumping thriller of a story. She has created a vivid and multi-layered cast of believable characters. From promiscuous church-going pubescent teenagers to a lonely and wanting love in her life main heroine that works as a dedicated nurse in a Planned Parenthood clinic, to a religious psychopath with a God-complex blowing up buildings and doing everything she can to exact God's punishment on sinners, the characters jump right out of the pages and take up residence in your head.

LJ has a no frills, concise style of writing with a voice that does not get in the way of the story. Her prose shows the controlled and classic restraint of a veteran writer. The story she writes is so strong and intriguing she has no need of all the bells and whistles of frilly fiction that we so often see in novels, the countless adjectives, adverbs, exclamation points, etc. She just delivers the story, and hits you right over the head with it. She can take a bite out of your heart and stab you in your ear with a few simple words.

I highly recommend The Sex Club. Plan on putting everything aside for a day, because you won't be able to put it down once you get drawn into it, and that happens very quickly. I look forward to reading more from Sellers.

Well if you are a liberal I guess you will love this book, for me too much of the typical skew againt the conservative types. Could have been better if a little more balanced. Just my opinion. Oh and I didnt buy the ending.., i was left thinking yeah right..,

I'd like to give a very honest review and opinion of this Author. She is an excellent writer. Very talented. Her stories are very enjoyable. They are well written, well put together, not predictable. Very fresh. I also like how she provides just enough of the gory details needed for the story, without going overboard and turning it in to a sickening gore-fest. She also does not have her characters cursing just for the sake of cursing. While there are some strong words in her books, they are always said at appropriate times, and are mostly far between. Again, just enough to make the story sound real. She really is an excellent mystery writer.

That said, as good as she is, she could be better. I am very glad I read these books out of order. I started with book 3 in the series. (It's the least offensive one) I can honestly tell you that had I started with book one or two, I wouldn't have read any more. You see, for all her talent and fresh ideas, she is very offensive in that she is using these books to push her personal views on politics and religion. When I read a book, I want to become absorbed in it! I want to let go of all of the things going on around me, and really just immerse myself in the story. I found that so hard to do because after awhile, I found myself being insulted and offended about every 4 pages. I am conservative, and I'm a Christian. And as a conservative Christian, I really felt like I was being beat up in these books. Her views on conservative Christians are not at all a good representation of how most conservatives or Christians feel or act. These books had excellent story lines, so it seems like such a shame she had to offend half her readers. I really saw no reason for her to insult republicans, Christians, pro-lifers, and people with conservative family values. Once or twice, I could have easily overlooked, but it isn't once or twice. It is constantly. It is almost like you are being lectured to. I didn't like it, and it really ruined the books for me. As much as I enjoyed the stories, and feel she is a talented writer, I have to say that she would be a better writer if she would leave politics and religion out of it. It is a fiction mystery, and there is no reason to insult others for not sharing your same views. There was really no reason at all for about 80% of the statements she makes concerning her political/religious views. It was not a part of the story, and it added nothing to it.

In closing, she is an excellent writer. She is smart and funny, and can really hold your attention. BUT if you are conservative, Republican, pro-life, religious, and do not believe in supplying 13 year olds with free abortions, birth control, and STD treatments without their parents knowledge, or do not believe in gay marriage, are not ultra-green, and you support the military, then these books are probably not for you. Because like me, you will find yourself being insulted, not respected, for having a different view then this author.

The only advice I would ever give her is to please leave the politics and religion out of it. It's not a part of your story, and it is hurtful, and very insulting to the readers who paid for your books. If I want to read about politics and religion, I will, and often do. But I do not care to have it shoved down my throat when I am trying to unwind with a good fiction mystery.

Okay story, nothing new. It bothered me that the author continually bashed conservatives and Christians. When will people of either political party ever learn that you are alienating half of your audience when you denigrate either liberals or conservatives. It distracts from the story.

Writing about the hard issues and choices that women have is something in which L.J. Sellers excels. In The Sex Club, Sellers tackles the controversial topic of Planned Parenthood, a world-wide organization that provides counseling on sex education, disease transmission and pregnancy options.
A pipe bomb explodes at a birth control clinic and we are introduced to a wonderfully portrayed nurse/heroine named Kera Kollmorgan. One of her clients from the clinic is soon found naked and dead, tossed without regard in a dumpster. There are so many potential suspects and very few clues to lead to any case solution, and the violence continues to escalate as conflicting philosophies and relationships collide. Kera appears to be the target but due to patient privacy issues, a lot of the clinic information cannot be released, even to the police. Add in another level of intensity when you realize that most of the victims are early teens, hardly more than children that are playing a very dangerous game. Secrets abound and the lead detective fears that his own teen daughter may be targeted as well. Kera has realized the connection between the dead girls and the school and churches they all belong too, and rather than reveal the information, starts her own investigation which puts her in the spot light as a target as well. Oh, and add a little politics in there for flavor as a high ranking official becomes under suspicion and the investigators are walking on tenterhooks.
Sellers' straight forward writing style coupled with a compelling mystery will capture your attention from the start and keep you turning the pages through the thrilling conclusion of this very important topic. The police procedural aspect of the story is well researched and the characters believable in their complexities.

This book was provided to me free of charge by the author.

I would really give it 2 1/2 stars. It wasn't bad but not really that good either. The author seems to have done little or no research on polic procedures outside of watching cop shows on TV. Jackson might be the worst detective in fiction, he seems clueless, lock on to on suspect, then switchs to another and back. Not sure he could find a lost bike at a school yard to be honest. The books are worth the price but that is about it.

I bought THE SEX CLUB for my Kindle with some misgivings. I'm not into overdone sex scenes, having got over curiosity about other peoples' bedroom practices decades ago. Still, I'd heard that the book was good, so I thought I'd try it.
The story was quite different than I expected, to the point that the book almost seems misnamed. It is, however, a good mystery with likeable characters and a well-knit plot.
The sex aspect is indeed shocking, but only because Ms. Sellers reveals what educators like me have known forever: the face that many teens show the world is not real. They hide actions that they think/know adults will disapprove with whatever it takes--smiles, platitudes, and outright lies--as they experiment, bond, and submit to peer pressure. The language is explicit, but again, I've seen the difference between the way some teens talk to adults and the way they communicate with each other.
I like a well-written mystery with a bit of human commentary, and THE SEX CLUB does both things well. I recommend it, but not if you want to keep thinking that your daughter/niece/granddaughter is completely innocent. After all, she's only thirteen. But so was Juliet.

My first Kindle download. It may have been worth the $0.99 I paid for it...I did read the whole thing. It could have been a good book; the plot had promise. But there was toooo much going on that wasn't well developed and distracted from the plot...within the last month (I don't think these are spoilers, as they are disclosed early on and are not related to the plot of the book) her son was killed in Iraq, her husband decided to leave to do...something....in Iraq and determined he wasn't coming home, and she has a letter that was sent after her son was killed that she hasn't opened...any of these could have been significant plot lines instead of side bits that distract from the story itself. That may be why the characters never seem to become real....we don't see deeply into how any of these things affect them, or how they really think or feel. And while I don't disagree with the politics in the book...the philosophy came on a little heavy.