Exposure

by Lisabet Sarai

Book Review by Kathleen Bradean

Lisabet Sarai’s new erotic suspense novel, Exposure, is a snappy, fun, sexy read about politics and power in Pittsburg.

Stella Xanathakeos is a stripper at the Peacock Lounge. She says she strips for the fun of it, but she also gets off on the power she has over her audience. The guys can look, but they can’t touch, and that’s the way she likes it. She’s is a sharp, sassy character who won’t let anyone dictate the terms of her life, whether she’s stripping or trying to keep one step ahead of the bad guys.

When a frustratingly cool customer offers to hire Stella for a private dance, she agrees to go along since the money will help send her on a dream trip. She shows up at the hotel room and finds out that her client is the charismatic mayoral candidate, Anthony “Tony” Pinelli. She only came to dance for him but that leads to sex. Before the evening ends though, Tony and his assistant are dead of mutually inflicted gunshot wounds, leaving Stella, and a mysteriously empty camera, as the only witnesses.

Stella manages to get out of the hotel room before the police arrive, but she realizes that she’ll be identified soon, so she calls on an old friend who is a detective on the force and tells him everything she knows. Detective Jimmy Ostermann had a crush on Stella in high school. Now, the attraction is mutual. He agrees to keep her information confidential for the time being, but she wonders how trustworthy he is when Tony Pinelli’s widow, Francesca, shows up at her door.

Instead of playing the part of the angry widow, Francesca has an interesting proposition for Stella. Actually, she has two. One of an intimate nature, the other, a job offer. Stella takes Francesca up on the first one immediately, but it takes some convincing to get Stella to agree to help Francesca run for mayor. After all, Stella is a stripper, and she’s well aware of what people think of her. But Stella wants to find out why Tony Pinelli and his assistant died, and she thinks Francesca might know, so finally she agrees to take the job.

Tony Pinelli wasn’t running unopposed for the mayor’s office. His opponent, and now Francesca’s, is a man with a stellar public image. He gives money to charity and served on the city council. His private life is quite different. His daughter hates and fears him, and he’s possibly involved with the mob.

Stella is in a precarious position. She doesn’t trust the people around her, and they think she has that missing roll of film. Stella hopes it holds a clue to the double murder. The others want it for other reasons, and they’re willing to kill Stella to get it. As the stakes rise, Stella’s sex life gets more complicated. Francesca agrees that they shouldn’t be lovers during the campaign, but they end up in bed anyway. Stella wants to trust Jimmy, the detective, but every time they’re together, Stella finds new reasons to suspect he’s involved.

Pace is everything in a suspense novel, and Lisabet Sarai deftly keeps the tension building as the mystery unravels. Between the hot sex scenes and the action, you won’t want to put this one down.

Kathleen Bradean
April 2009

Exposure by Lisabet Sarai
(Phaze ebooks, February 2009)
Available at Phaze.com

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© 2009 Kathleen Bradean. All rights reserved.


About the Author: Who is Kathleen Bradean? Read her bio on the Erotica Readers & Writers Association website.

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