The Chateau: An Erotic Thriller (Original Sinners) by Tiffany Reisz

Title: The Chateau: An Erotic Thriller

Series: An Original Sinners Standalone

Author: Tiffany Reisz

Genres: Erotica / Romantic Suspense

Release Date: June 5, 2018 (Worldwide)

As the Jack-of-All-Wicked Trades for a secretive French military intelligence agency, Kingsley Boissonneault has done it all—spied, lied, and killed under orders. But his latest assignment is quite out of the ordinary. His commanding officer’s nephew has disappeared inside a sex cult, where women reign and men are their willing slaves. Or are they? It’s Kingsley’s job to find out.

“It’s an erotic adventure,” author Tiffany Reisz says of The Chateau. “[Imagine] James Bond with blow jobs, BDSM, and an angst-ridden, bisexual hero.”

The Chateau is a standalone novel set in her multi-million copy selling Original Sinners universe. Although several fan-favorite characters make cameos or are eluded to, Reisz’s new thriller is also the perfect jumping-on point for new readers.

In the novel Story of O, the woman, O, is taken to a château, and the minute she’s inside the house, four men take turns ravishing her. Kingsley wondered if such a thing was about to happen to him now as he waited on his knees in the hotel room. Would he be grabbed, stripped, violated, raped? Myriad lurid scenarios ran through his mind. But it seemed the mysterious stranger had other ideas. He heard the door lock. He heard a woman’s prim footsteps, first on the hardwood floor and then on the rug. Then he sensed her standing directly behind him. He inhaled deeply and smelled lavender water, the kind his mother used to wear.

“Don’t speak,” the woman said. It was the voice from the phone, who’d ordered him to wait at the hotel. “Only speak when I ask you a direct question. I’ll speak in French. You answer in English. If someone is eavesdropping it’ll make it a little harder on them. Do you understand?”

Comprenez-vous?

“Yes,” Kingsley said, en anglais. He wondered how she knew he knew English. Had his American accent been that convincing?

“I’m going to touch you,” she said. “If you have an objection to that, then I don’t know why you’re here.”

Again, Kingsley did not speak. He had absolutely no objection to being touched. Not by her, anyway.

He waited, eyes closed, and felt a soft touch on his head, a stroke of fingers through his hair.

“You lied to me,” she said.

Kingsley tensed, but didn’t speak. He knew better than to say anything to that sort of accusation.

“You told me you were handsome. You aren’t,” she said. “You’re exquisite.”

Kingsley almost said something to that. Something like, “Will that be a problem?” But she’d only made a statement. Until she asked a question, he wasn’t allowed to speak.

“If I were a painter, you’d be my muse,” she said. “You belong in oils on canvas.”

Not being allowed to say “thank you” to a compliment of that magnitude was mild torture.

She stroked his hair again. His eyes were open, but he couldn’t see her as she stood beyond the farthest edge of his peripheral vision. That explained partly why the curtains had to be closed. Otherwise he could have seen her reflection in the window.

She touched his forehead and now Kingsley felt the silk of gloves against his skin. Her touch was gentle, soothing, and the second he relaxed into it, she put a knife to his throat.

Kingsley froze.

“I don’t want to kill you,” she said.

That made two of them.

“Very good,” she said. “Even with a knife at your throat you hold your tongue. Someone’s trained you very well.”

Kingsley still did not speak. He knew he could overpower her if he needed to, but would she make a fatal stab first? Better to wait it out, behave, play along.

“Someone sent you to me. Who was it and what did he tell you?” she asked. “If you tell me even one lie I will slit your throat. And yes, I will know if you lie.”

She’d asked him one direct question. Therefore he was allowed to speak.

“I’m employed by an intelligence agency without a name,” he said. “French military. Officially unofficial. Leon isn’t my friend. He’s my commanding officer’s nephew. They think you’re holding him against his will. They asked me to get him out. If he wants out.”

“Leon is your commanding officer’s nephew,” she repeated, sounding amused. “So that’s the game, is it?”

“I don’t care about the boy,” he said. Kingsley wasn’t sure what she meant by “the game.” He hoped he lived long enough to find out.

“Then why did you come here?”

“My own reasons.”

“You wish to serve, do you?”

Kingsley whispered, “Yes.”

The Chateau (The Original Sinners, #9) by Tiffany Reisz
Rosa’s rating: 5 of 5 iScream Cones

“Not all problems are meant to be solved. Some are meant to be endured.”

I’m always awed by the awesomeness that lives in the author’s mind. Where does she come up with this stuff? I never know what I’m getting into when I open one of her books, but I always love what I find inside. Her characters are so colorful, they never fail to entertain me with their kinks, humor, and sarcasm. And it goes without saying that she puts the heat in #HOT!

The Chateau can be read as a standalone, but it’s oh-so-good for those of us who already know who Kingsley is. This story gives us a glimpse of his younger self, at the age of 24. Seeing the Chateau through his eyes was a treat and the author did a beautiful job of making me feel like I was there. Not only did I get to take a virtual tour of the incredible mansion, I got attached to the residents and didn’t want to leave. The mystery surrounding the estate was very intriguing and I wanted to know Madame’s secrets.

As far as Kingsley being sent to investigate a sex cult; they couldn’t have found a more perfect person to check it out. It would take a lot to shock him, right? He’s like Mikey, he’ll try anything. I know, you are probably too young to know who Mikey is, but you still get the point that he’s adventurous and doesn’t shy away from new tastes. The author never runs out of ideas for unique sexcapades for her characters and every story is an adventure.

Kingsley finds much more than the missing nephew in the Chateau, he finds some of the missing pieces of himself that he wasn’t aware he’d lost. “All too often we learn more from living with a question than we ever would from the answer.” Madame is wicked and wise, tempting him to within an inch of his life and then raising the stakes. How much will he be willing to give up in order to accept what she offers? Nothing is free and everything must be earned.

I really enjoyed meeting this young adult version of Kingsley. Being inside his head at this time in his life is both sweet and sad as he fights his monster in his dreams. I felt his pain, both mentally and physically, as he struggled with the decision he needed to make. I totally get the whole love/hate thing when you can’t decide whether you want to hit someone or kiss them. I found myself virtually volunteering to take one for the team, and I couldn’t decide whether to punch or pucker. The line forms here…

“Compulsive, erotic, suspenseful. A must read!” — A Woman and Her Books

“Five stars.” — Reading Keeps Me Sane Blog

“I just can’t get enough of Tiffany Reisz.” — Caro, Collector of Book Boyfriends

“Kinky… [keeps] you on the edge till the end.” — Sweet & Spicy Reviews

“Feminists are once again making a stand in the world and the timing seems quite perfect as this novel is an intriguing look into the world of a strong, sadistic and mysterious woman.” — Kelsey’s Korner Blog

“[Will] satisfy the insatiable needs of The Original Sinners fans.” — Warhawke’s Vault Book Blog

WELCOME TO THE CHATEAU:
AN INTERVIEW WITH TIFFANY REISZ

The cult at the center of The Chateau regards Story of O—the infamous French erotic novel— as their “holy book.” When did you first read Story of O?

I was in my 20s. I’d heard about it but never read it. Then I read it while I was in seminary considering joining a religious order. I never joined the religious order, but I’m not sure if that was because of Story of O or not. We’ll leave that to my future biographers to decide.

Inside the cult’s château, women reign and men are their willing slaves. How did the idea for such a community come about?

Wishful thinking?

The French spy Kingsley Boissonneault—who Original Sinners fans may know better as Kingsley Edge—is 24 in this novel. What most surprised you about him at that age?

That Kingsley still has the teeniest, tiniest shard of innocence left in him even after all he’s been through at that age. He’s still a bit of a romantic before life turned him into the incredibly jaded (i.e. French) character we meet in later books. It’s fun that now, in the present day, when Kingsley finally has the love and family he craves, he’s turning back into that more playful, lessjaded person he is in The Chateau at age 24.

Madame is an interesting character. She’s described as “a woman of wisdom, power, and beauty.” Tell me more about her.

There is a very famous French dominatrix (Catherine Robbe-Grillet) who is in her 80s or 90s now and is still actively kinky. She’s an incredibly classy, elegant older woman with white hair and I find her fascinating. I think my Madame is how I imagine Robbe-Grillet at a younger age. The Vanity Fair profile of Catherine Robbe-Grillet begins with this line: “[She] makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like a Disney movie.” Madame makes Mistress Nora look like a Disney Princess.

“Through the looking glass” is a theme that comes up several times in The Chateau. What’s the significance of the looking glass?

The Chateau isn’t simply a story about a previously unexplored time in Kingsley’s life (when he was a spy in his 20s). It’s also an origin story of sorts about the kingdom Kingsley will later build
in New York for all his kinky friends. Kingsley and Nora both employ Alice in Wonderland and Through-the-Looking-Glass imagery in their kinky lives. This book shows where Kingsley first encountered the concept of living a kinky life as going “through the looking glass.”

You’ve written suspense before (your gothic suspense The Lucky Ones was recently published by Mira Books), but this is your first real thriller. How did your writing process differ on this book?

This book was much easier to write than The Lucky Ones. With Kingsley, all you have to do is conjure him up and drop him into a weird situation and you’ll have fun as a reader and a writer. The pitch was, “Kingsley goes on an erotic adventure inside a femme-domme cult.” The story pretty much wrote itself. It’s James Bond with blow jobs, BDSM, and an angst-ridden bisexual hero still in love with his ex-boyfriend.

Other Original Sinners characters show up or are eluded to, including a certain blond priest…

There’s so much Søren in this book, it’s silly. He’s all over the book from the first page to the last. That’s because you can’t have a Kingsley book without Søren. It would be like bread without butter, day without night, sadism without masochism. Kingsley cannot be understood as a person or a character without Søren. Søren is his creator. There would be no Kingsley as we know him if he’d never met Søren.

After eight books in the Original Sinners series, The Chateau is the first full-length standalone set in the Original Sinners universe. Why did you decide to step outside of the series format for this book?

I had conceived of the idea for The Chateau a long time ago as a spiritual sequel to Story of O, but Kingsley wasn’t a character in it. But the idea kept falling flat for me. When I threw Kingsley into the mix and made him my O who gets thrown into this weird kinky world, the book came to life.

What’s next for the Original Sinners?

In October, 8th Circle Press is releasing Picture Perfect Cowboy, which is an Original Sinners standalone novel (category-romance length). It stars Simone, Søren’s backup whipping girl who works at The 8th Circle, and a new character, Jason Waters, a retired rodeo champion who’s deeply conflicted between his kinky impulses and his incredibly conservative family and upbringing. Simone is the cure for what ails him! Søren and Mistress Nora both make big cameos in Picture Perfect Cowboy.

Tiffany Reisz is the USA Today bestselling author of the Original Sinners series for Mira Books and Mills & Boon, including the RT Book Reviews Best Erotic Romance 2012 winner The Siren and the LAMBDA Literary Award-winning The King. Her novel The Saint won the Romance Writers of America RITA® for best Erotic Romance in 2015.

Follow Tiffany on Social Media: Facebook • Twitter • Instagram

About 8th Circle Press

8th Circle Press is a Lexington, Kentucky-based publisher of literary friction. For more information, visit our website at www.8thCirclePress.com.