First Impressions
BY SUCHITRA BEHAL
On, Off; Colleen McCullough; HarperCollins; £ 6.99.
A BODY part shows up in the lab refrigerator of a prestigious research centre in Connecticut and the police are foxed. The Hug, as the rather swanky research centre is called, is suddenly in the news for all the wrong reasons.
As the cops discover, the staff are cooperative but each one seems a bit weird — making them prime suspects in the murder. When Lt. Delmoncio is assigned the case little does he realise the extent the murderers are willing to go to. Delmoncio discovers, accidentally, that similar murders have taken place throughout the state earlier. After much deliberation he closes in on the Ponsonby brother-sister duo, whom he has suspected since the beginning. But he cannot understand how the sister could be an accomplice when she is blind.
Even as Delmoncio cracks the case he does not learn the sordid truth. Satisfied that it is a closed and cold case he visits the blind sister after the execution of Charles Ponsonby. But Delmoncio cannot see as clearly as her unseeing eyes. Colleen McCullough at her best once again.
Read it; you won't regret it.
* * *
Stories We Could Tell; Tony Parsons; Harper Collins; £ 3.99
LONDON in the 1970s. Swinging, doing drugs and listening to music. When Elvis wasn't quite King and the Beatles were being nudged aside by a darker, more unfathomable, kind of sound.
Terry is fresh from his success after interviewing Dag Wood, a rock star stud. Stories about Wood abound: his drug deals, his women and his music... Terry adores him and cannot wait to introduce him to his girlfriend, Misty. But Wood wants Misty and Terry, for all his coke-consuming coolness, is a traditionalist at heart.
Then there's Ray struggling to keep his job down at the paper. His assignment is to find John Lennon and get an exclusive. Can Ray do it?
The night seems the longest when Ray, Terry and Leon, shot to the gills with sulphate, find themselves being chased by the meanest gang in town. Leon is their target: strange Leon whose life is spent in office corners churning out the most incredible music reviews. But Leon, for all his strangeness, meets the girl of his dreams except she belongs to the new world and is not like him. Will Leon, tortured by his affluent background, find peace? This is a superb book about friendship, betrayal and love; a raunchy, hard and a powerfully nostalgic book.
* * *
The Ravenscar Dynasty; Barbara Taylor Bradford; Harper Collins; £ 11.99.
EDWARD DERAVENEL has it all: Good looks, a great family and a great life at Oxford. But one night Edward is forced to grow up way beyond his 19 years.
With the sudden death of his father in a tragic fire in Italy, Edward and his cousin find themselves up against a stop-at-nothing adversary intent on taking over the family businesses. Even as Edward heeds his older and wiser cousin's advice, he knows he has to avenge his father's death .
This is a novel set in Victorian England where legacies and aristocracies rule the roost. Barbara Taylor Bradford, known for her epic writing, has pulled out all the stops in this 594-page book.
There are plots and subplots; wives and mistresses, but Edward remains impervious to the charms of women his age.
Even though he finally marries and settles down to produce a long line of children, it's older women whom he lusts for. So even as business acquisitions are the backbone of his life, it's the amorous liasions that keep it moving. If you have the time for soap operas, pick this one up. Otherwise it's best left alone on the shelf.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Literary Review
