Rev. Curtis Black has finally changed his ways: no more close encounters with temptation, either of the flesh or of the wallet, just a simple existence running his new church and loving his young wife of two years, Charlotte, and their son, Matthew. But readers who relished Black's down-and-dirties in Roby's Casting the First Stone
and Too Much of a Good Thing
need not worry that the series will shy away from its deliciously trashy concerns. For Curtis has more than met his match in Charlotte, a babe 15 years his junior who didn't bargain on a solid middle-class existence when she married him—after all, he was a holy high-roller who knocked her up before she was 18. Charlotte fills the void she feels with spending sprees and wild sex with Curtis's best friend, Aaron. Of course, Curtis finds out, and Charlotte vows to be better. But Aaron, who has a history of mental illness, will stop at nothing to win Charlotte back—including sharing her entire sinful past (and Matthew's questionable paternity) with Curtis. Self-pitying, self-justifying Curtis figures that "nothing he'd ever done could compare to the sins Charlotte had committed," and so he promptly goes back on the prowl himself. The novel's utterly sleazy conclusion will leave readers shaking off the cooties—and eagerly awaiting the next scandalous installment. Agent, Elaine Koster. (Feb.)
