This was published in 1981, and on the front it says “More Daring, More Shocking, More Deeply Erotic Than Anything Ever Written!” I was intrigued. What was shocking in 1981? Would it be like Anais Nin… shocking for the time, but not so much now?

No. This shit shocked me. But it was written purely for the shock value, I’m sure. The story didn’t really progress past sex scene after violent sex scene until midway through. Then it became about the greed and hedonism of the very rich. Which, frankly, has been told before. Plenty of times.

It worked though. The shock was there. Even for me, twenty-six years later. I wouldn’t have said that I was easily surprised by any sort of sex, but you know, rape by a step father in which the young girl suddenly starts screaming, “I’m your whore Papa! Slap my face!”… A turn I certainly wasn’t expecting.

The story was unimpressive, but the book still worked and did exactly what it said it was going to do.