Conundrum

When is a book about sex not about sex? In Tom Bleakley and Marcia Lange's novel, the puzzling question is asked: What is the real cause of AIDS? This question meets the very definition of "conundrum." Webster's Dictionary defines the word as "any puzzling question or problem." The reader will find out that there is no satisfactory answer as drug industry greed, a publicity-seeking scientist, and powerful government interests combine to shunt aside a competing claim for what causes this terrible malady. This conundrum is definitely not about sex. But it is about sex when the fame-seeking scientist exerts his dominance over a female subordinate as a means of keeping her quiet about the real cause of AIDS.