Sex, Lies and Celluloid [Paperback]

Chris Owen (Author), Jodi Payne (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 2008

Detective Shane Mullin is used to domestic investigations. So when Janet Brint hires him to tail her husband, City Councilor Daniel, he doesn't think much of it. Everyone has something to hide, and Janet thinks Daniel's problem is drugs. It's not drug abuse that has Daniel hiding out, though. As Shane follows Daniel about, he realizes the politician is having lots of sex. Gay sex at that. Shane is fascinated with Daniel's case, wondering just what Janet hopes to gain by exposing Daniel's secrets. Shane is also fascinated with Daniel the man, so much so that attraction blooms, and he and Daniel begin an online friendship. One thing leads to another, and Shane finds himself leading his own double life, seeing Daniel while continuing to investigate him. With no good way out of his deception, Shane has a decision to make about what to tell Daniel, and Daniel himself has some tough choices about his life and whether or not to go public with his sexuality. Can Shane and Daniel work their way through their web of lies?

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Torquere Press (September 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1603701931
• ISBN-13: 978-1603701938
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,623,274 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SEX, LIES & CELLULOID, April 14, 2008

By 

JenB99 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sex, Lies and Celluloid (Paperback)

Mrs. Brint hires private detective Shane Mullen to investigate her politician husband's strange behavior because she thinks he's on drugs. Shane soon figures out that Mr. Brint's secret has nothing to do with drugs--he's sneaking out to have sex...with men. Shane becomes fascinated with Mr. Brint and soon gets tangled up in a web of lies.

This is a fabulous book. I enjoyed every second of it. I avoid books about cheating husbands, and I rarely like a story based on deception. SEX, LIES & CELLULOID is the big exception to that rule. The authors treat both subjects (infidelity and lies) with great care, and the story takes some pleasantly unexpected turns.

I fell in love with the three main characters (Shane the investigator, Daniel the politician, and Celia the lesbian sidekick). I actually sympathized with all of them and found their characterizations extremely believable. The suspicious wife was fairly stereotypical, but not quite as exaggerated as you'd expect from a private investigator story.

The sex is *sizzling*. There's cyber sex (my least favorite thing to read about, but still done very well), some steamy phone conversations, voyeurism, and plenty of hot man-on-man action.

Though the story is based on a series of lies, the authors spend most of their time developing the relationship between Shane and Daniel and letting us get to know them, so I never got the "Uh-oh, where is this going?" feeling. I never doubted that the story would have a beautiful ending, and I was not disappointed. This is a romance, after all. :)

I truly loved everything about SEX, LIES & CELLULOID. I can't think of anything negative to say about it, other than the fact that I wish it were longer. I am very satisified with this book. I read this as an e-book, but I plan to buy the print version as soon as possible. Yes, it's good enough that I am willing to buy it twice.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sex and Lies, June 4, 2008

By 

Jessewave (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sex, Lies and Celluloid (Paperback)

Private Detective Shane Mullin has been hired by Councilor Daniel Brint's wife Janet to follow her husband to find out if he is buying drugs. At first Shane thinks this is easy money, after all how hard can it be to tail Daniel and take a few pictures of him doing illegal stuff? Then he finds out that the very married Councilor's double life does not involve buying drugs, he is having sex, lots of gay sex.

As he sees Daniel having indiscriminate hook-ups with numerous men Shane becomes more and more enamored of him and wishes that he is the one having sex with him. Then he does something no self-respecting private detective should ever do, he inserts himself into the action and starts an online relationship with his client's husband. Soon this is not enough as they move up to having phone sex then real sex. Shane and Daniel have a lot in common - neither can stop what he is doing, Daniel is obsessed with sex and Shane is obsessed with Daniel.

Shane's lesbian sidekick Celia is a terrific supporting character. The teasing exchanges between her and Shane are so, so funny; obviously they care about and look out for each other. At one point she tells him that she will train him to be a bitch in no time. The scene where she `does a Daniel' on Shane's desk with her latest love interest is incredibly comical, and when she walks in on him and Daniel in the same office in flagrante delicto, what can I say?

The story is told from Shane's POV so we don't get much insight into Daniel's feelings for Shane, or his motivations for staying with his wife despite being gay and making innumerable booty calls which could expose him to blackmail. Janet's motivations for hiring Shane are suspect since she appears to have nothing to gain by exposing Daniel and you get the sense that she may be hiding something as well. Shane has to extricate himself from his web of lies to both Daniel and Janet and there is no easy way to do this. Daniel, on the other hand, will have to come clean about his sexual orientation to both his wife and the public that elected him. What wonderful plot twists for the reader to unravel. How will these characters disentangle themselves?

There is so much sex going on in Daniel's life, with multiple partners sometimes in the same day that you wonder how he finds the time to do his job. Shane on the other hand is so in love with Daniel he has lost sight of the fact that Janet hired him to investigate her husband and that she is his client. The dialogue between these two horny characters in this very hot book is really steamy as they have numerous phone sex encounters.

Sex, Lies and Celluloid is definitely not a primer on how to have a loving relationship with your spouse but it will entertain you and make you laugh out loud, although it is not without pathos. Daniel's character is the most promiscuous one I have met to date and if you hate cheating spouses this book will curl your hair, but Daniel is so likeable despite all of his flaws I became a fan. Jodi Payne and Chris Owen have done it again, written a book that I couldn't put down, and in the process have created different types of heroes in Daniel and Shane. Daniel is depraved and decadent but he is engaging and very sweet. Shane on the other hand, although just as immoral as Daniel, is single and looking for love but in all the wrong places. Sex, Lies and Celluloid is a great read that will engage, enrage and amuse you with really cool dialogue, and you will reread it time and again because you can't help yourself.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sex, Lies and Celluloid by Jodi Payne & Chris Owen, November 28, 2007

By 

Elisa (Italy) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Sex, Lies and Celluloid (Paperback)

If there is a thing I hate is a cheating man and maybe this is the reason why I didn't read soon this book. In the blurb you read pretty clear that Daniel is a cheating husband who hooks up on internet for sex. So adds promiscuos to cheating. I should hate this man. And instead I was fascinated by him like Shane, the PI Daniel's wife has hired to tail her husband.

Jodi Payne and Chris Owen have the mastery to decipt a character that gains your sympathy instead of hating him (truly I should have remembered first that Chris Owen has made the same with another cheating character, Tor in Bareback).

So the story is pretty simple: Daniel is cheating on his wife with other men (have I said it enough time in my pretty short pill review? :-) ), Shane finds it but finds also himself falling in love for this man and having no courage to unmask him with his wife. But Daniel is also a politician, and being gay and at the same time married is something that can destroy his career. And then, even if Shane manages to get to know Daniel, how can he say him that he was been paid to tail him? How can Daniel trust him anymore?

Daniel is a strange character. I could say that he is pretty driven by his lust. He is not kinky or bad, he really is a good man, but he likes sex and tries to find it where he can. But even if he has always a onestand encounter, he manages to take intact his good image and this aura of nice guy.

Shane sells himself short. He is really a good guy, gentle and caring. He has also a conscience, he is not the typical cynical private investigator. He is also the type who go every sunday night to dinner with his mother. And blushes. He is so cute, not in a physical way, but for attitude. He is a guy who believes in love forever.

So both Daniel and Shane are characters who act badly, but who are also so nice that you can't not love them. And I have to say, if you have my same prejudices about cheating man or promiscuos sex, try to pass over and read this book: it will be a very nice discover.