The Delilah Complex

M.J. Rose is the sort of author success story one rarely hears about these days. Her first book, Lip Service, never found a publisher, so Rose did what many do: she self-published on the Web. But rather than watch her novel sink into the sea of websites, Rose relentlessly marketed her book, got plenty of sales, and ultimately found herself a traditional publisher. Ever since, she’s had no apparent difficulty in finding publishers for her erotic novels, both mysteries and straight fiction with a particularly velvet touch, and is now a staple in most bookstores.

Rose has been exploring some dark corners in the mystery field, venturing where most writers fear to tread in a field filled with cozies on the one hand and horrific serial show more killer thrillers on the other. Her mysteries are erotic – sometimes uncomfortably so, especially if you happen to be on public transportation when the words start firing up your libido. Rose’s three mysteries star Dr. Morgan Snow, a sex therapist employed by the Butterfield Institute. I started reading with the middle book, The Delilah Complex, but you can be assured that The Halo Effect, the first in the series, is winging its way to me via Amazon, and the third, to be published this August, I’ve already reserved. The Delilah Complex is delicious – sexy, with a good mystery and a charming, insightful and capable protagonist.

Dr. Morgan Snow is a savvy, principled character. She struggles with ethical problems, and always takes the hard way out, keeping true to her clients even when doing so places her own life in danger. She works hard to resolve questions that require weighing the confidences of her clients against their safety or the safety of others – not easy questions in the best of circumstances, and considerably more difficult when Dr. Snow’s boss and dear friend tries hard to always put a thumb on the scales in favor of confidentiality. She listens well and gives good advice, the kind of therapist anyone who had any sexual kinks to work out would want.

In The Delilah Complex, Dr. Snow is approached by a group of women who want her to treat them together, in group therapy, in enormous secrecy. In addition to her professional responsibility to keep silent about their confidences, these women also want her to sign a separate confidentiality agreement, a legal binding document whipped up by one of the women in the group who happens to be a lawyer. In fact, all of these women are fairly high-powered types – lawyers, doctors, businesswomen, all at the tops of their fields, and all having struggled through decades of sexual discrimination in order to get where they are. And their dirty secret? The Scarlet Society, a place where they can act out their favorite fantasy in real life, with no one the wiser.

The problem is that a man who is involved with the Society has disappeared, and is presumed dead – a presumption that arises from the delivery of several very erotic, violent and frightening pictures of his body are delivered to a newspaper reporter. Only one of those pictures appears on the front page of the paper: a photograph of the soles of his feet, with a bright number “1” on each foot. That “1” implies a “2”; is a new serial killer working in New York?

We learn much more about the Scarlet Society and its sexual purpose, as well as more about how it affects the individuals who participate, both men and women, and what it does to their relationships outside the Society. We learn about how power and sex interact, and what love has to do with it. And we find out what has happened to the hapless men whose pictures arrive regularly at the newspaper offices with numbers on the soles of their feet, whose bodies can’t be found, and whose disappearance is throwing the Scarlet Society into a panic.

The puzzle itself is fair, but this isn’t one of those books that requires a reader to unravel clues in order to enjoy it. The story is enjoyable on its own terms, with complex relationships between the characters (including Dr. Morgan’s own odd and compelling romance) spelled out in tense, engaging dialogue, and the erotic descriptions of the activities of the Scarlet Society are enough to make your toes curl. This mystery is unlike any other I’ve ever read for its willingness to explore normal sex along with the pathological sort, all the while pulling the reader along with a taut plot. M.J. Rose, please don’t stop! show less

Sex therapist Morgan Snow becomes involved in an apparent series of serial killings when a secret society of empowered women come forward for help dealing with their grief.

This was a zippy read and I can hardly believe I finished so quickly. The characters feel real and even the trope of the divorced woman with one teenaged daughter didn't bother me as it usually does. In fact, I really like Morgan Snow. References to sexuality are respectful and interesting. I don't know much about real therapy but details were presented with such confidence that I was happy to believe it all. There were plenty of red herrings and the final twist had me speechless. I'll happily read more in the series, and M.J. Rose has a new fan.

I won the chance to show more read her newest book with the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. I can't wait until it arrives. show less

Book 2 in the Butterfield Institution series, a group of women belonging to a secret society appeals to Dr Morgan Snow for therapy sessions when one of their members is apparently killed. But can she help them when there appears to be dissension within the group itself and where the members only share first names with each other? At the same time, someone appears to be kidnapping some of the members of this society and mailing photographs of their dead bodies to a reporter at a newspaper. But without the bodies actually being found, the police are stumped for clues as the body count rises.

What makes this novel more than passably interesting is the amount of psychological analysis and process that is described. It's a pretty sexually show more graphic book, but the sex is not gratuitous. The author does a wonderful job of keeping the suspense taut throughout. show less

The Scarlet Society is a private sex club, it's twist is that it's run by dominant women and they use men as toys. When one of their toys goes missing they start to worry and when pictures appear of his lifeless body they start to panic. A few of them decide to go to Dr Morgan Snow to try to deal with some of the issues that this brings up.

Then more pictures start appearing. The puzzle draws Morgan into another mystery and parallel to this it draws Detective Jordain, who has some unresolved issues with Morgan and she with him.

While sometimes it came across as a bit judgemental it did keep me reading and I was interested in what was going on. Some of the scenes I found quite titilating but others may not like them as they are quite show more graphic. Overall not a bad read but while I may read more in the series I have no deep impulse to do so. show less

This is an intriguing suspense story with an erotic edge. I enjoy M.J. Rose's writing style. She isn't overly descriptive, yet she manages to engage all the senses with her words. I love when an author can make me smell something or hear something as if I'm in the room with the characters.

Like some other reviewers have mentioned, I knew who the killer was early on, though it was disguised well. The downfall for me was the ending. I don't want to give spoilers, so I'll just say I found it difficult to believe Morgan Snow would make the decisions she did in those pages leading to the climax. It felt too contrived, too convenient for the author.

Despite my issue with the ending, I enjoyed the story. This is the type of read that keeps you show more turning pages.

** The Halo Effect is the first book in the Dr. Morgan Snow series. This one is the second, though it reads well as a stand-alone. ** show less

It has some pretty old-fashioned views on women being uber-feminine and not as interested in sex as men are, but I'm powering through those parts, because the plot's pretty intriguing.

From my blog

I have read Halo Effect, the first in the trilogy and gave it a 3 but no review, this one I enjoyed even more. There are story lines that continue from one to the other but both can be read as stand alone's.

It started off with a great bondage crime scene, what a way to capture your attention immediately.

I really enjoy stories with counseling sessions, to be a fly on the wall, so real and energised. Dr. Snow is a sex therapist which her daughter calls Dr. Sin as a cute joke between them. The fascination of this story is knowing some of the dark sex secrets from The Scarlet Society and how everyone is scared with the mystery of who is involved and how is edge of your seat entertaining. Missing men that of course the women from show more the SS realise, so they are feeling guilty, grieving, emotionally angry with each other and then you have the other men that realise they are at risk to be the next victim.

Every character and storyline are interesting and keep you glued to the pages waiting for the outcome. I loved the additions on breaking the case and thinking they were done then BAM what a great ending. And to understand the reason behind the serial killer, fascinating, such a great Dr. Snow storyline.

I recommend this trilogy, can't wait to read the next one. Sexy, addicting, thrilling with a great ending.

Favourite quotes

You don't ever stop missing someone you have loved, you simply learn how to make the longing for them a piece of you. You learn that missing them is the part of loving them that never leaves, but that doesn't mean that every once in a while it doesn't catch you unawares and shock you with its potency.

He inflicted the kiss on me. I accepted it as my sentence. I argued with my mouth. It had not been all my fault. He had not fought back. But he was fighting back now. show less