Review: Sin on Wheels

Sin on Wheels by Don Elliott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thoroughly enjoyed this sleazer, especially for its literary style and focus on character (which is not typical for this genre). Even the sex scenes benefited from the elevated quality of the writing. This Don Elliott book is not to be confused with that other novel with the same Sin on Wheels title, also by Robert Silverberg, although under the Loren Beauchamp pseudonym this time. Two completely different books. This one has protagonist Fred Bryan, newly discharged from the army and unemployed, taking a job as a driving instructor. He soon learns that his driving students are all rich and highly-sexed society women in need of another kind of service. Gigolo is part of the job description and he is well-laid and well-tipped. So one of the novel's arcs is Fred's rise and fall, as it were, down this gigolo path. What drives the story, however, is Fred's and Nina's romance. So really this is a love story. But let's not forget that this is a 1960 vintage sleaze novel by Nightstand Books! It's first date sex and they're off. Meanwhile, back at the driving school, Fred is earning his tips in the back seat. Yes, he's double dipping. This goes on energetically until Fred finds out Nina's pregnant. Plot twist - not his. Abortion time. But this is not going to be one of Orrie Hitt's $300 dollar back alley abortions, no, this is a $3,000, spend a week in a private hospital out in Westchester, abortion. I'll leave the rest of the plot to your imagination and future reading, the question, though, is how will things work out once Fred's driving instructor/gigolo arc intersects with the arc of his romance with Nina? Excellent book, one of the best written vintage sleaze novels I've read.

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