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First introduced by M.J. Rose in THE HALO EFFECT, the Butterfield Institute is devoted to the treatment of sexual problems across the range. Dr. Morgan Snow, one of its senior therapists, goes into uncharted territory when she is asked to counsel the Scarlet Society.
The Scarlet Society is a club of twelve sexually adventurous women. Its existence is unknown to the public at large and the identities of the members are a secret, even to one another. The mission of the Scarlet Society is the sexual and psychological domination of men; accordingly they have recruited, with extreme selectivity, a group of males whose primary qualification is that they will obey every desire of any member.
The secrecy of the Society and confidentiality of its members are abruptly threatened, however, when a series of photographs is delivered to a newspaper. They show the body of a man --- a recruit of the Scarlet Society --- on a table with the number '1' inked on the soul of his foot. While the public at large is puzzled, the Society members are horrified and frightened. They turn to Snow for grief counseling, with mixed results. But when a second set of photographs that feature another recruit of the Scarlet Society is delivered to the paper, it becomes obvious that the killings are just beginning and that the recruits of the Scarlet Society are being specifically targeted. Snow quickly realizes that any one of her twelve patients from the Society is a potential suspect, which puts her in an ethical dilemma and at professional loggerheads with Nina Butterfield, the titular head of the Butterfield Institute and Snow's mentor.
It also brings Snow into renewed --- and conflicted --- contact with New York Police Detective Noah Jordain. Snow cannot deny her magnetic attraction to Jordain --- which is more than equally reciprocated --- but she fears surrendering to it. Snow attempts to reconcile her personal feelings and professional responsibilities while slowly reaching the conclusion that the person who has been attacking the Scarlet Society at its core will strike again and that the culprit is indeed one of Snow's own patients --- all the while realizing that her adherence to her professional ethics may put her in terrible danger.
This is a highly erotic thriller through which sexuality runs like an exposed live wire. M.J. Rose, however, wisely and carefully balances the erotic with the emotional. Snow is a sympathetic character who, for all her knowledge, skills and professional talents, has her own difficulties that she is able to resolve with some limited success. Similarly, the novel's mystery element takes a number of nicely unexpected twists, so that even if astute readers guess part of the puzzle it is unlikely that they will uncover all of it.
THE DELILAH COMPLEX is a welcome addition to the Butterfield Institute series, whose only weakness heretofore has been the length of time between novels. This apparently has been remedied --- THE VENUS FIX, the next installment in the series, is scheduled for publication in July 2006 and is excerpted in THE DELILAH COMPLEX. That gives discriminating readers two reasons to welcome the new year.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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