Sex Crimes

by Jenefer Shute

When pristine lawyer Christine Chandler engages in a one-night stand with a younger man, which leads to more, she finds herself accused of an appalling and shocking crime, and she finds her control slipping as she slowly plunges into a obsessive world void of reality. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Modern, Contemporary

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not what it seems to be at first glance. A painful but honest portrait of complicated gender dynamics and the politics of sex. Very engaging and thought-provoking, not the lurid sex scandal beach read it would seem to be. Honestly a very disturbing but fascinating book.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific thriller by the author of another book I love, Life Size. Shute is brilliant at writing unreliable, unlikeable heroines whose stories spill out under pressure and compel you to read on.

[Lauren (strangled) · Rating 3 out of 5]

if Sex Crimes was a song, it'd be Push It by Garbage.

[Meghan Chambers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I would’ve read this all at once rather than waiting so long. This book was a rollercoaster of things I cannot explain without you having read the book. The main character, Christine, I have empathy for and think her extending her story in the way she did made me even more empathetic. Something I really enjoyed about this as well was the way it was written. I think if it was any other way I would not have enjoyed it. Overall: 3.5

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

compared to shrute's life size, this book was underweight (inappropriate play on life size's subject matter). i was ready to be thrown around by the same kind of language and imagery and themes that shrute uses to such phenomenal affect in life size but sex crimes fell flat in almost every way. for a story about the obsessive lust and love and violence between christine chandler and scott desalvo, the writing was remarkably beige. they meet. they have sex. they have more sex. they break up. more sex. break up. sex. jealousy. break up. a sour pair of lavender underwear found on floor of closet that's not hers. break up. get back together without knowing why. quasi rape, i think. and big crime on which christine is reflecting from the beginning of the story. some kind of self defense junk thrown in there. the end.

this story had lots of ripe fruit incorrectly, incompletely plucked and juiced by shrute. i didn't feel any sympathy for these characters. i didn't have a good sense of chandler's mindset. there was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. i wasn't turned on or off by their relationship. how can something like this be...blah?

i was somewhat entertained by the interstitals consisting of witness depositions, lawyer statements, newspaper articles, etc.

i wanted to be shredded and left for dead by this book and it wasn't even close.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this after Life-Size, and appreciated it as well. Dark and twisted, it was similar in some ways to another book I just read called The Order of Death by Hugh Fleetwood.
a look at a relationship that spirals out of control, this story was haunting and agian a real-life sort of feel to it. That might be weird to say, but I felt the same way about her book Life-Size. It just feels real and raw.

[Maria (Ri) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting writing style - it reads like a true crime story. This really gives a good look into the slightly warped mind of Christine Chandler. Overall, though, I wasn't all that concerned with what happened or why. It just seemed like a pretty f'd up relationship.

[Zachariah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
This book really didn't impress me. It was nice having a simply question, "Why?" launch you through the book but it fell dry for me. The mystery scenes were boring and all of the sex happened in cut scenes. It was simply boring.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading this book quite a number of years back. It was a real quick read, as it's a small book. I thought it was pretty hot with some real "twisted twiststs".

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a good story and a good read. Her writing style takes some geting used to, butonce past that it is a good book.

[Michele]

Sex Crimes by Jenefer Shute (1996)

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

clever and well written

[Patricia Geller · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book that takes place in Boston about sexual compulsion. The author never really gets into the mind of either character. Kept reading to see if she could but she couldn't. Yuck.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Shute's versatility in subject matter and her writing style, but was just not impressed with this book.

[Ursula Kibido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writing. Enjoyed the storyline a lot more than I thought I would 👌🏾