Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6029 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Customer Reviews

80s style bonkbuster for the noughties
The Balcon sisters are beautiful, successful young women who have each carved their own niche in life. Serena is the spoilt actress, Camilla is the barrister and would-be MP, Venetia is a designer and Cate is a magazine editor. They share a penchant for complicated lives, blonde hair and a tyrant of a father called Oswald. But Oswald is dead and one of them possibly killed him...

This is pretty much how the novel opens, it then zips back a year and tells the story of what lead up to Oswald's death or murder. The story is peppered with plenty of romance and sex and intrigue with lots of outrageous twist and turns along he way.

The problem is I am torn between enjoying this novel and yet thinking at the same time that it could have been so much better.

Firstly in my opinion there are too many sisters, they could have easily lost one (probably Camilla who seems pretty redundant, apart from a revelation about a dark secret).

Secondly there were characters who I could have read more about, Maria Dante for instance the bitchy opera star, rather than have to read more goings on with the rather dull sisters (Serena and Cate kept me reading, Venetia bored me and Camilla may as well not have been in the book at all). Likewise Oswald Balcon himself.

Thirdly, all the dark secrets should have been hinted at much more throughout the novel, I wanted to be able to try and figure out the mystery and the secrets along the way with more history and maybe chapters set in the past, the lives of Oswald and the sisters' mother Margaret was far more intriguing than anything the sisters got up to!

Which brings me onto the forth point, the ending or rather the climax of the novel. It all just happened so fast and seemed added on as an incidental. Why wasn't this all interspersed throughout the novel to draw the reader in more and more?

Having said all that it was an enjoyable enough read and even though I would probably rather curl up with and escape into a Shirley Conran or a Judith Gould I wouldn't turn my nose up at reading another Tasmina Perry.

Great escapist read, light and fun
I agree with most of the comments here, it's not going to win any literary prizes but if it's a tonic you're after like I was after a few heavy books, this is perfect.

nicely done
I bought this book at the airport on my way on holiday. I am a huge Susan Lewis and Louise Bagshawe fan and can i definately say that it did not disappoint considering the high standards of the afore mentioned writers. Very enjoyable, with likable characters (except of course for daddy and perhaps Serena to begin with) and it keeps you guessing right up till the end. I shall certainly be taking a look at the next Tasmina Perry novel.