Toothless thriller, written to old-fashioned glitz specifications: European settings, tons of silly sex, and scheming...
Emeralds to die for.
Who is the mysterious lady disguised in sunglasses and scarf who placed the gems for sale with a Parisian jeweler in the 1970s? She demanded that they be reset, in an apparent effort to conceal their provenance—that’s how Ramtame, the brooding Algerian boy who served as assistant to Jules Levant, remembers the fateful day. Ramtame grew up to be a brooding Algerian man who also remembers every ethnic slur ever hurled his way in the long-ago days of blatant political incorrectness. Yes, those who dismissed him once will pay for their evil ways. Back to the emeralds: Kitty Nguien Fleischman, sultry, boob-enhanced Eurasian mistress of a megamillionaire, wants at least one! She collects such baubles when not writhing around dramatically in orgasmic bliss. Her lover does his damnedest to get his hands on the ring that holds the most famous of all, the Princess Karima stone (named for the aging Arab beauty who now owns it), to no avail. What is the mysterious flaw within its green depths that makes it so very, very valuable? Lips are sealed. Don’t even ask! Segue to Allegra Sheridan, talented, beautiful, struggling jewelry designer. (Note to author: young, hip women in 2004 do not wear the garments described here as “slacks.”) She, too, spends a lot of time in the sack, with Todd, a man of insatiable sexual appetites and truckloads of money made in Manhattan real estate. Princess Karima is about the only one who sleeps alone, alas (flabby arms and wrinkly neck—apparently she doesn’t know the name of Kitty’s plastic surgeon). But it’s time for Ramtame, the brooding Algerian, to stop sulking and put his master plan for world domination through terrorism into action. Shadowy deals are struck in Arab alleys, and all these people skulk around trying to figure it out. Hey, who was the mysterious lady in sunglasses at the beginning? Let’s just say the English royal family still doesn’t think much of her.
Toothless thriller, written to old-fashioned glitz specifications: European settings, tons of silly sex, and scheming bitches by the score.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2004
ISBN: 0-451-21274-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: NAL/Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2004
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.
Another reboot of Jane Austen?!? Hadlow pulls it off in a smart, heartfelt novel devoted to bookish Mary, middle of the five sisters in Pride and Prejudice.
Part 1 recaps Pride and Prejudice through Mary’s eyes, climaxing with the humiliating moment when she sings poorly at a party and older sister Elizabeth goads their father to cut her off in front of everyone. The sisters’ friend Charlotte, who marries the unctuous Mr. Collins after Elizabeth rejects him, emerges as a pivotal character; her conversations with Mary are even tougher-minded here than those with Elizabeth depicted by Austen. In Part 2, two years later, Mary observes on a visit that Charlotte is deferential but remote with her husband; she forms an intellectual friendship with the neglected and surprisingly nice Mr. Collins that leads to Charlotte’s asking Mary to leave. In Part 3, Mary finds refuge in London with her kindly aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Mrs. Gardiner is the second motherly woman, after Longbourn housekeeper Mrs. Hill, to try to undo the psychic damage wrought by Mary’s actual mother, shallow, status-obsessed Mrs. Bennet, by building up her confidence and buying her some nice clothes (funded by guilt-ridden Lizzy). Sure enough, two suitors appear: Tom Hayward, a poetry-loving lawyer who relishes Mary’s intellect but urges her to also express her feelings; and William Ryder, charming but feckless inheritor of a large fortune, whom naturally Mrs. Bennet loudly favors. It takes some maneuvering to orchestrate the estrangement of Mary and Tom, so clearly right for each other, but debut novelist Hadlow manages it with aplomb in a bravura passage describing a walking tour of the Lake District rife with seething complications furthered by odious Caroline Bingley. Her comeuppance at Mary’s hands marks the welcome final step in our heroine’s transformation from a self-doubting wallflower to a vibrant, self-assured woman who deserves her happy ending. Hadlow traces that progression with sensitivity, emotional clarity, and a quiet edge of social criticism Austen would have relished.
Entertaining and thoroughly engrossing.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-12941-3
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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