This is a wild ride, this deep dive into sex addiction, and it’s not for everyone. The book is biographical, and follows the life of John Rittenhouse through an assorted tangle of sensual and erotic encounters, all in the pursuit of an answer to the question: is John a sex addict, or is he a virtuoso at seduction, simply doing what every man would like to do, if he could? The answer might just turn out to provoke an authentic moral dilemma, rather than uncover a psychological challenge.

Multiple unique episodes illustrating different aspects of eroticism and sexuality are examined in this work, episodes intended to raise the question of sexual addiction. We follow John as a teen, stumbling and fumbling his way toward understanding his sexuality, and on into adulthood where he finds folks showing hidden erotic sides and encounters aging porn stars struggling to find a measure of lasting self-worth. His many and varied sexual encounters consistently demonstrate the point where careful judgement is required to find the line beyond which addiction lies. Always dangling in the background, but easily within sight, is the question: Is it possible to straddle the line, to have your cake and eat it too?

Ultimately, at the heart of these forays into eroticism is a final conundrum: can sex be an unwelcome addiction, or is the behavior John exhibits only a measure of a powerful sex drive and a lifestyle rewarding promiscuity and successful seduction? From this, we can take away the following lesson: No two people are alike. Therefore, issues of promiscuity and addiction, male or female, ought to be assessed individually. As these vignettes demonstrate, there is no universal yardstick to accurately measure us all or the devils that hound us.