Odalisque at the Spa

When having it all still leaves something to be desired, and when as good as it gets isn’t good enough - what then?

Two billionaire friends meet for a fortnight at the elegant five star Brenners Park Hotel and Spa in the resort town of Baden-Baden in Germany’s romantic Black Forest. Mason Bolt, dashing motivational leader of BAM (Bolt Action Movement), happily married father of four, embodies everything a man could possibly want. He is at the height of his powers, yet something vital is missing, and Mason longs for more. Iconoclastic financial guru Barry King, founder of KEG (King Exponential Growth), gentle giant, gambler on a perpetual winning streak, and serial sugar daddy to seven "honeys," fears he has been looking for nonexistent needles in nonexistent haystacks. Both men are at a crossroads in their lives.

From his ex-mistress Calista Masters, Mason hears about a clandestine organization of women called the Odalisques, which has been in existence since the dawn of time, who can initiate carefully chosen male candidates into the hidden secrets of ecstatic lovemaking. All such women have an identifying anatomical feature known as the Mark of Venus, called fosse, buttock indentations, or "dimples on her butt," attesting to their being uncommonly gifted in the erotic arts.

One magical night with an Odalisque changes a man’s life forever. In the initiation into ecstatic lovemaking, the Odalisque conveys subtle sexual secrets to her partner, including the `Mystic Seal of the Odalisque,' which evokes the Nine Spirits of Woman, a life-enhancing, awe inspiring, righteous, life-shaping and evolutionary experience. The Odalisque is unique in her capacity to provide this, with the tremendous initiatory power by which she can endow her male consort with a similar energy. The Odalisque initiation is a process that a man must apply and be approved for, and costs one million dollars, cash.

When Mason receives a long anticipated phone call from the elusive Odalisque Venetia Vissert'Hooft, announcing she will be arriving at the hotel in five days to consider him as an acolyte, the two men realize how Venetia’s visit to Baden-Baden can impact and determine the direction of both of their lives. The culmination of Venetia’s stay will be an exclusive reading from the "Odalisque Deck," a unique pack of cards which functions as a mirroring device, designed to reveal psychological and psycho-sexual conditions of the applicant.

The greatest adventure of Mason’s life is about to begin, as for three whole days and nights together, he and Venetia will spend rarefied hours enjoying Baden-Baden’s amenities and each other’s company. This magical woman with the endowments of a rare being, who reaches his spirit, heart and soul as no other woman has, holds the key to Mason’s life taking root in a new and dynamic way.

As the novel unfolds, the characters pursue the delights of the town of Baden-Baden and the legendary Brenners Park Hotel and Spa, gourmet foods, vintage wines, specialized spa and medical treatments, balloon flights and sights, Baden-Baden’s world famous casino and renowned opera house, theatres, museums, communal baths, castles, a concert by Barry’s idol, glamorous American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and much more.

Will Mason be accepted as an Odalisque acolyte and initiate? Will there be an odalisquian path for Barry as well? Odalisque at the Spa explores the unusual journey of two men’s search for meaning and authenticity, the human need for faith, no matter how unusual and offbeat, male bonding and friendship, and the never-ending human longing for "something more."