This novel of triumph, romance and passion is set on a retreat facility. It concerns the people and events in, and surrounding, the Phoenix Experience For Marital Stability Among Maturing Couples. This organization deals with committed couples over fifty years of age who are “empty nesters”. These couples all have one thing in common. They are sexually out of balance. One party has desires, the other lacks them. It is a story written as a modified case study. It is set against a contemporary backdrop of important issues pertaining to the baby-boomer generation.

The Phoenix Experience begins where doctors and therapists end. It is not a sex club. The couples do not jump into a pairing and run off and live sexually ever after. What they do is to undergo a broad education redefining their lives. Some couples simply find ways to cope with the imbalances. Others find more creative solutions. The Phoenix Experience is run and directed by Darla Beck, her husband Ben Beck and her other husband Larry Destin. This is not the ménage a trois concept, but it is a wonderful answer for them. Larry and Ben are never in the same “bed”. In a nine-day session, the participants learn special skills in prioritizing and expanding their lives.

These events explore many problems facing an aging generation. This is a generation that did not exist in previous history. As this outrageous strategy for human sexuality progresses, there are several sub plots and convolutions. One plot that picks up at the ¾ mark starts slowly and ominously, running parallel to the main plot. This plot provides the dramatic ending of the book. In a twist that will tease the reader the book ends by cracking open a door on a crime structure that is worthy of being compared to the Bond Novels’ SPECTRE.