Chapter 17, Abe the Bugger Summary and Analysis

In Chapter Seventeen, Xaviera is introduced to a man she calls Abe the Bugger by Robin Moore, one of the coauthors of The Happy Hooker. She allows Abe to install listening devices in her apartment at Robin's suggestion, supposedly to record dialogue to be used in the book. Abe repeatedly deceives her, installing extra recording devices that she cannot turn off and even video recorders without informing her. After Abe is threatened by the FBI for accidentally broadcasting a group sex scene that occurred at Xaviera's, he admits that he has often sold information to the FBI and other crime-investigating organizations. He then convinces her to participate in an escalating amount of monetary payoffs in order to protect her business and to keep from being deported. Xaviera also agrees to cooperate with a committee called...