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Private Pleasures
Never before in print, Private Pleasures is the sizzling new shocker from Lawrence Sanders, the bestselling master of sinfully daring suspense.
A woman's love and a man's lust spark the ultimate chemical reaction...when a brilliant scientist taps into the animal urges that stir within us all.
The ingredients are sex and violence.
The combination is wildly explosive.
And when the secret falls into the wrong hands, the outrageous consequences are pure Lawrence Sanders!
A woman's love and a man's lust spark the ultimate chemical reaction...when a brilliant scientist taps into the animal urges that stir within us all.
The ingredients are sex and violence.
The combination is wildly explosive.
And when the secret falls into the wrong hands, the outrageous consequences are pure Lawrence Sanders!
325 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Lawrence Sanders
153 books340 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Lawrence Sanders was the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty mystery and suspense novels. The Anderson Tapes, completed when he was fifty years old, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best first novel. His prodigious oeuvre encompasses the Edward X. Delaney, Archy McNally, and Timothy Cone series, along with his acclaimed Commandment books. Stand-alone novels include Sullivan's Sting and Caper. Sanders remains one of America’s most popular novelists, with more than fifty million copies of his books in print. Also published as Mark Upton.
Lawrence Sanders was the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty mystery and suspense novels. The Anderson Tapes, completed when he was fifty years old, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best first novel. His prodigious oeuvre encompasses the Edward X. Delaney, Archy McNally, and Timothy Cone series, along with his acclaimed Commandment books. Stand-alone novels include Sullivan's Sting and Caper. Sanders remains one of America’s most popular novelists, with more than fifty million copies of his books in print. Also published as Mark Upton.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 30, 2018
"My first small success resulted from the addition of potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate to the solution of synthetic testosterone. I had clear evidence [...] that male mice injected with the altered testosterone show a small but discernible lessening of their desire to copulate."
The above quote shows one of the few sentences in Lawrence Sanders' Private Pleasures (1994) that do not sound idiotic or cliché. I am now inclined to suspect that "Lawrence Sanders" was not an actual person but a team of writers using a joint pseudonym. The team included accomplished writers, such as - for instance - the author of the Archy McNally series, and then also amateurish, incompetent writers such as the author of this appalling dud.
This "sizzling new shocker" by the "bestselling master of sinfully daring suspense" (as the back cover claims) is a complete failure in most conceivable aspects: totally implausible plot, caricature characters, pedestrian writing. The only redeeming feature is the proverbial "the book is so bad that it is fun to read." In this sense this is not as bad a book as The Fight Club - my standard of complete failure in literature - because Mr. Sanders, or whoever has written that "suspense novel," does not pretend to write literature (as Mr. Palahniuk does). That's also why I kept reading to the boring and predictable end.
Among the protagonists in this insipid story is a senior chemist in a research lab who works on a new and hush-hush project - developing a testosterone pill to improve battle performance of soldiers. Another main character is also a chemist working on developing a new perfume. Both researchers have marital problems: the former with his vapid, bored wife, the latter with her philandering husband. Totally implausible characters of an invalid Vietnam veteran and a psychotherapist falling in love with her patients round up the set of adults. We also have two children who play a role in the story. The two kids are characterized most plausibly of all the characters.
Speaking about plausibility: we have this research chemist in a leading industrial lab who develops a cutting-edge new cosmetic that uses a human hormone. The chemist does not know that the product has to be approved by FDA before it can be sold to people. Oh my God, what a surprise for the chemist: "All these months of work wasted!"
And what about wince-inducing writing like in:
One-and-a-quarter stars.
The above quote shows one of the few sentences in Lawrence Sanders' Private Pleasures (1994) that do not sound idiotic or cliché. I am now inclined to suspect that "Lawrence Sanders" was not an actual person but a team of writers using a joint pseudonym. The team included accomplished writers, such as - for instance - the author of the Archy McNally series, and then also amateurish, incompetent writers such as the author of this appalling dud.
This "sizzling new shocker" by the "bestselling master of sinfully daring suspense" (as the back cover claims) is a complete failure in most conceivable aspects: totally implausible plot, caricature characters, pedestrian writing. The only redeeming feature is the proverbial "the book is so bad that it is fun to read." In this sense this is not as bad a book as The Fight Club - my standard of complete failure in literature - because Mr. Sanders, or whoever has written that "suspense novel," does not pretend to write literature (as Mr. Palahniuk does). That's also why I kept reading to the boring and predictable end.
Among the protagonists in this insipid story is a senior chemist in a research lab who works on a new and hush-hush project - developing a testosterone pill to improve battle performance of soldiers. Another main character is also a chemist working on developing a new perfume. Both researchers have marital problems: the former with his vapid, bored wife, the latter with her philandering husband. Totally implausible characters of an invalid Vietnam veteran and a psychotherapist falling in love with her patients round up the set of adults. We also have two children who play a role in the story. The two kids are characterized most plausibly of all the characters.
Speaking about plausibility: we have this research chemist in a leading industrial lab who develops a cutting-edge new cosmetic that uses a human hormone. The chemist does not know that the product has to be approved by FDA before it can be sold to people. Oh my God, what a surprise for the chemist: "All these months of work wasted!"
And what about wince-inducing writing like in:
"He had lost his legs and would never regrow them. I had lost [...] part of myself as well. The loving part. I didn't want that gone. I wanted it to thrive."The author's power of observation of human inability to regrow extremities astounds me. I am asking again: who wrote this book? Can't be the Lawrence Sanders, the author of many interesting, well-written and often charming novels. Anyway, since it is a vastly better book than The Fight Club, it escapes the lowest possible rating.
One-and-a-quarter stars.
December 21, 2009
This book was told in chapters from the points of view of each of the characters who moved the story along. It was an interesting read pitting ethics against the market and personal gain against right and wrong.
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October 25, 2021Audio Abridged so no rating. The Army contracts scientists to create a ZAP pill to enhance soldier aggression. Sounds interesting but it didn't grab me. Full of swindlers, hookers and unhappy people.
November 14, 2018
It was pretty good, except the ending seemed a little too rushed.
September 26, 2020
Took me forever to read despite being a very easy read because I never got fully into it. Feels like it had potential, but it just missed the mark. Had to force myself to finish it honestly.
April 21, 2022
A bad effort (probably a very early one, hence the "first time in print" notice. I don't even know what the title had to do with it as there was no action, no suspense, no nothing.
May 3, 2022
It's possible this will be the last Sanders book I read. Too much rambling about sex and lousy plot/theme. I have several of his books on my shelf. They will probably go to Goodwill.
August 13, 2023
Tabloid-ish. But 'better-contructed' than any tabloid story you’ve ever read or heard tell of. Guilty Pleasures is this way also.
March 3, 2014
As a veteran reader of over 16 of Sanders works, over which my expectations have been continually raised and met by the author....in this case I do regret to say that if this book had been a movie... I would have walked out. The book fails on so many basic levels, it isn't worth the commentary, to the degree that I harbor doubts that it was in fact; ghostwritten....for those Sanders fans, (of which I still do remain) keep the faith, but do yourself the courtesy and bypass this grossly sub-standard effort.
March 10, 2014
I found this a very interesting book and an easy read. What I found particularly fascinating was the authors approach to telling the story from the perspective of every single person involved in it! Each chapter is told in a different voice. Many of the characters in the story are not particularly smart and it comes across in how they tell their part of the story.
There is quite a lot of humour in the story as in many respects it is a comedy of errors, but it also makes the reader consider carefully the ethics of certain scientific research and its application.
There is quite a lot of humour in the story as in many respects it is a comedy of errors, but it also makes the reader consider carefully the ethics of certain scientific research and its application.
September 5, 2014
This was a book I picked up for 50 cents at a yard sale. I'd never heard of Lawrence Sanders that I can recall, so I really didn't know what to expect, although the premise was intriguing. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, although this is certainly "light reading," it was masterfully arranged and written. Sanders has an ear for dialogue and a cheeky sense of humor. The characters are interesting and, for the most part, sympathetic, and the ending is a triumphant one. This is an older novel - mid 1990s, I believe - but if you ever have the chance to pick it up, do.
August 9, 2016
Since I'd read and enjoyed several books in both the Deadly Sin and Commandment series, Private Pleasures wasn't what I anticipated when I saw this one by Lawrence Sanders. Could it be that the author decided to have some fun, imagining this to be the novel Archie McNally jotted upon his return from enjoying an evening of cocktails at the country club where he'd been introduced to Robin Cook and Jackie Collins? We'll never know, but it makes me smile to think so.
July 23, 2011
c1994:FWFTB: Chemist, hormones, research, wife, animal. Sanders (1920 –1998) has always been one of my must-read authors. Perhaps not his very best but an interesting read nevertheless.
June 29, 2012
Sex and suspense that ends with twist. A fun read.
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September 1, 2013Read 12/99
February 6, 2017
Good book that was entertaining!
January 3, 2013
this was absolutely terrible.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews