I had never read a Jackie Collins novel until I was sent this one to review and was expecting a Jilly Cooperesque romp!
Instead whilst there was plenty of romping I was introduced to a colourful cast of characters headed by Lucky and Lennie Santangelo in a fast paced thriller. Lucky Santangelo is in charge of her life, things are going well – until her Father Gino is murdered execution style. Whilst in the past he has had his moments he had been happily settled with his younger wife Paige and so Lucky sets about discovering the culprit and taking her revenge! After all no-one messes with the Santangelos!
Meanwhile Max, her daughter, is busy becoming the new face of a famous fashion house despite being surrounded by a lecherous boss and photographer. Bobby her son has his own problems when in the process of opening his new club he finds himself accused of murder.
There are a whole host of supporting cast members with their own desires to extricate themselves from one another. Pablo want to escape Alejandro. Denver, Bobby’s girlfriend is trying to prosecute a notorious drug dealer and putting her job before him. Willow, just wants another moment in the spotlight and is being hassled by her money hungry mother. Billy, a famous film star who has the hots for anything that moves and Venus, Lucky’s friend.
There are plenty of others and the action moves swiftly. The first few chapters introduce us to the various character groups, useful for the uninitiated, and from there the stories start to weave together as the characters cross paths in their search for stardom, business deals and love. The settings are drawn well and the characters drive the plot along at a fast pace!
I wasn’t sure how the various characters would come together but as the story progresses they interweave and you find yourself going AHA. Lucky is the character holding it all together and even as she plans her Fathers funeral, tries to get her arrested son freed from prison and get his sister back from Europe in time for the funeral she has the sense that something isn’t right! Is she correct to have such foreboding and if so will she manage to solve the problem in time? I couldn’t possibly say. Perfect for fans of quick paced summer reading!
4/5
