I had a surprising experience recently when I received the following review on my book, Pure Lies: “False Deception – I thought it was historical fiction. It’s just a sex thriller. I stopped after the first chapter. No thank you!”

I actually had to go back and read the prologue (not the first chapter) to see what the reviewer meant.  Sex thriller?  Did I actually write a sex thriller?  For those of you unfamiliar with this mystery, it is about greed and depravity as underlying motivation for the Salem witch trials.  And, as in all my novels, it is unraveled by modern technology years or, in this case, centuries later.

The last two paragraphs of the prologue depict a church deacon and a young woman committing a “sin” but it is wholly in the context of the story and lays the foundation for one of the villains in the story to show their true character.  Or so I thought.

Pure Lies was the winner of the San Diego Book Awards for Best Published Mystery, Sisters in Crime in 2014 and has excellent reviews.  It is historical fiction on one hand, and modern crime-solving on the other.  Is it a cozy?  No.  But a sex thriller?

Naturally, every reader is entitled to their opinion. I’ve read “real” sex thrillers, and this review seemed far off the mark.  But then I’m biased.

As a writer, it reminds me how important those first few pages are . . . to each individual reader.  We need to consider our readers, but we have to be true to our writing.  Would this opening scene to my book have been better without the “sin?”  I think not.

Your ideas are welcome.