BLOODLINE

by Sidney Sheldon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 5, 1977

Mr. Bestseller is back--and, somewhat at sea away from his show-biz backgrounds, he attaches his frighteningly readable style to characters and plots borrowed from anywhere and everywhere. From The Rothschilds, he cadges (doing quite a charming job of it) the early history of Roffe & Sons, a ghetto-born pharmaceutical empire with far-flung brothers founding international branches. From gothics he takes his contemporary heroine--Elizabeth Roffe, fat and lonely as a teenager but becoming beautiful just in time to inherit the controlling interest in Roffe & Sons when papa Sam dies (accidentally?) climbing an Alp. And the basic jet-setting plot is derived from. . . you name it: someone--it must be one of the stock-owning cousins (sweet-natured English Alec? Italian bigamist Ivo? French hellcat HÉlène? German hausfrau Anna?) or one of their spouses--is sabotaging the company, tampering with stubborn Elizabeth's car and elevator, trying to force her to let the company go public, which would free the cousins to sell stock and reap cash. Each of the suspects, of course, has molto motive for needing quick money (gambling debts, greedy mistress), and each also has a psychosexual kink to spice up the proceedings (the mystery villain enjoys filming the mid-copulation strangulation of loose-living ladies). And (remember Suspicion?) Elizabeth isn't even sure she can trust William Rhys, her late father's right-hand man, her all-time heart-throb, and now her husband. Believe it or not, Sheldon's mixmastering of all this isn't nearly as sleazy as it might be, which probably means that it won't be quite as big a bonanza as Midnight or Mirror--but even minor-league Sheldon is major-league business.

Pub Date: Feb. 5, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION