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Madonna Complex
Billionaire financier Teddy Franklin is a force to be reckoned with, an internationally famous power broker whose high-stakes wheeling and dealing send economic tremors from Wall Street to Zurich. He buys and sells corporations at will, and holds the careers of powerful lawyers and politicians in the palm of his well-manicured hand. Nothing, absolutely nothing is beyond Teddy's reach . . . Until he meets her.Beautiful, tantalizing, mercurial, and perverse, Barbara captivates Teddy's imagination and carnal desire like no woman he has ever met. And the more she toys with his feverish attentions, driving him to excruciating heights of animal lust while withholding the darkest, deepest secrets of her heart, the more he craves to totally possess her, body and soul, until his desperate obsession with this one irresistibly sensual and seductive woman drives him to the brink of insanity--and worse.
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First published August 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 18, 2010
“Her memories of now-dead happy times crept through her mind like assassins. They killed the present, destroyed living time, shutting life into a closet of motionless air from which all oxygen had been used.”
“She was a woman who possessed a man. Her rampant sexuality combined with a sweetness and a directness were so formidable as to be irresistible. She was a woman beyond charm and mere enticement, she embodied the dark fantasy embedded in men. That her powers were devoid of subterfuge produced a spontaneity and endowed her with the enigma of a goddess.”
The book was written well, but I think these two paragraphs pretty much sum up the entire story.
Even though the author kept saying so, at great and annoying length, I never saw the incredibility of the female character. Which pretty much ruins the whole book, because if you don’t see her goddess-ness then the reasons men go crazy is unbelievable.
It seemed to me all the attraction was based on the fact that she’d had sex with another woman. Then she became all kinds of fucked up when that woman killed herself. Fine. I wish the emphasis wasn’t on the sex though, because surely, lots of people participate in same sex, or even group, sex and don’t come away as a sexual enigma to the opposite sex for the rest of their lives.
I thought it would be better. It had potential.
“She was a woman who possessed a man. Her rampant sexuality combined with a sweetness and a directness were so formidable as to be irresistible. She was a woman beyond charm and mere enticement, she embodied the dark fantasy embedded in men. That her powers were devoid of subterfuge produced a spontaneity and endowed her with the enigma of a goddess.”
The book was written well, but I think these two paragraphs pretty much sum up the entire story.
Even though the author kept saying so, at great and annoying length, I never saw the incredibility of the female character. Which pretty much ruins the whole book, because if you don’t see her goddess-ness then the reasons men go crazy is unbelievable.
It seemed to me all the attraction was based on the fact that she’d had sex with another woman. Then she became all kinds of fucked up when that woman killed herself. Fine. I wish the emphasis wasn’t on the sex though, because surely, lots of people participate in same sex, or even group, sex and don’t come away as a sexual enigma to the opposite sex for the rest of their lives.
I thought it would be better. It had potential.
February 5, 2025
This is a very ADULT book, both in subject and the way it is structured.
A wall street tycoon, meets and falls in love with Barbara,( the Madonna ) who is troubled by the death of her ex room mate. Teddy the tycoon agrees to give Barbra money for a therapist, but desperately wants to know what is being said about him at said therapist. He arranges a break in to steal the therapist notes, but a man next door dies of a heart attack when he confronts the burglars, adding tension to the story.
Barbara agrees to an engagement, then breaks the engagement and then regrets breaking the engagement. She does not know what she wants from life. She flirts and has sex with a number of men then regrets it when she thinks of Teddy. Teddy takes off when the police get involved with investigating the break in and winds up in Canada in the middle of nowhere, where he meets a woman who falls in love with him and agrees to go on the lamb with him. Barbara tracks Teddy down and flies to Teddy's side just as Teddy is involved with taking down a local hood to wants the money that Teddy brought with him to Canada. People die and Teddy and Barbara leave, leaving Teddy's new girlfriend pining for him somewhere in the middle of Canada.
The book leaves too many questions unanswered and only half the story told. It is almost as if Bogner the author was told to write only so many pages. This could have been a 450 page book easily, to explain a whole number of different untold endings. Instead it remains an interesting and unfinished work.
3.5 stars for THE MADONNA COMPLEX.
A wall street tycoon, meets and falls in love with Barbara,( the Madonna ) who is troubled by the death of her ex room mate. Teddy the tycoon agrees to give Barbra money for a therapist, but desperately wants to know what is being said about him at said therapist. He arranges a break in to steal the therapist notes, but a man next door dies of a heart attack when he confronts the burglars, adding tension to the story.
Barbara agrees to an engagement, then breaks the engagement and then regrets breaking the engagement. She does not know what she wants from life. She flirts and has sex with a number of men then regrets it when she thinks of Teddy. Teddy takes off when the police get involved with investigating the break in and winds up in Canada in the middle of nowhere, where he meets a woman who falls in love with him and agrees to go on the lamb with him. Barbara tracks Teddy down and flies to Teddy's side just as Teddy is involved with taking down a local hood to wants the money that Teddy brought with him to Canada. People die and Teddy and Barbara leave, leaving Teddy's new girlfriend pining for him somewhere in the middle of Canada.
The book leaves too many questions unanswered and only half the story told. It is almost as if Bogner the author was told to write only so many pages. This could have been a 450 page book easily, to explain a whole number of different untold endings. Instead it remains an interesting and unfinished work.
3.5 stars for THE MADONNA COMPLEX.
August 21, 2024
The book was interesting and it got better and better until the end. It was like the author had a brain fart and didn’t know how to finish a good book, great story line fumbled. What happened to Robbie, his fiance, did Teddy ever go back to New york to clear his name? So many questions unanswered and the best way they could end it was by a random ass indian girl’s uncle saving teddy’s life in the mountains from someone who wanted to rob him. Great book but the ending was shit. So i’ll say 2 stars because I actually liked the lesbian scene.
November 13, 2024
Pretty garbage book
Want to read
March 3, 2008Given the variety of reviews on this book, the cover, and the title, I have to at least TRY it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews