The Sex Club

Meanwhile, a mother of one of the teens is convinced that God has told her to bomb the clinic. Later, she takes action to make sure that no more of the girls in the Teen Talk club can meet with Kera. The Ativan-addicted mom has grown convinced that Kera's mission is to warp the girls, turn them from God's path, and encourage them to be sexually active. The truth, of course, couldn't be farther from this woman's reality.

It is up to Detective Jackson to unravel these threads and put the pieces together. Jackson is likeable and amiable; when he begins to experience chest pain, the reader worries about him. He's a concerned dad, not as clueless as many we see in fiction, but not perfect, either. He's a good balance, and it's nice to see him considering another line of work so that he can be around more for his daughter. If he will make the jump or not remains to be seen as the series unfolds; on the one hand, it would be a good move for him. Yet he's the rare cop who can keep his eye on what's important and stay out of the political game he winds up caught in the middle of. The force would miss him.

Sellers' characterization is strong. From the head of the clinic to the supporting cast of girls in the Teen Talk club, each character is clearly drawn. While Kera might have stolen the show from Jackson in this novel, there's certainly enough empathy for Jackson that he'll be able to draw a following. Whether he and Kera become romantically entwined down the road remains to be seen; Kera's life heads in an intriguing new direction that is separate from the main storyline.

The only deviation from this strength of character is our deranged clinic bomber. We see very little of her that's sympathetic until closer to the end. Sadly, by this point, we're hoping that her latest pipe bomb will go off while still in the woman's hands. When her come-uppance arrives at novel's end, we feel more relief for the victim than we feel pity for the bomber herself. Sellers would have done better to show the bomber's domestic, softer side earlier in the book, although it may not have done much toward creating empathy for her.

The bomber is extremely fun to hate, and having empathy for the bad guy can sometimes be overrated. While there are those who will cry foul at Sellers' portrayal of devoutly religious people, others will acknowledge that they know people who are similar in many ways to our mad bomber.

Overall, this is one of those debuts that shouldn't be dismissed or overlooked. There are times when things are told, not shown; there are sentences that clunk; and we really don't need to know which program the characters use to log onto the Internet, but Sellers' ability with plot and characterization makes all of that something that readers can write off as rookie enthusiasm. As a reader, I've seen the sex club story before. Yet Sellers takes it into fresh new directions, giving us more than one killer, more than one person with secrets, and more on the line than a simple pact of silence.