S ex ripples throughout this novel of murder, usually in an unhealthy guise. In the first major scene, on the set of a fashion shoot, nipples are artfully manipulated while there is excitement over photographing a large male member. This overt sexual posing reeks of decadence, and even the lead model's mother, who sold out her morals for her daughter's fame long ago, cannot ignore how much the director is playing up the sex angle. The mother is concerned about the appearance of pornography because porno can kill a model's career—such is the moral concern of an entertainment media mother. Of course it is porno; the text makes that clear.

The next round of sex in the novel continues among the shallow, joy-chasing, drugaddict characters of the fashion shoot, focusing on female-on-female sex. Sandford uses sex consistently to titillatein this book.

Among other things...