Krishna
One of the better books from the master of suspense of yesteryear, Sidney Sheldon. Ranks up there with Rage of Angels and The Master of the Game
Armand Gautier the famous director, Dr Israel Katz the famous neurosurgeon all go to see the trial of Noelle Page. Also Philippe Sorel an actor, Auguste Launchon a weasel of a man and William Fraser hating her guts.
The story shifts focus to the other lady in the story, Catherine Alexander, wanting to be a model from a young age, and wondering if she is beautiful enough. She is considered cold or a lesbian because she does not encourage men and she did not even realize it. She has her eyes on the football star in her college and he does not even seem to know that she exists.
Noelle Page was the daughter of the owner of a fishing company in Marseilles. Her parents were ordinary looking, ugly even, but she was an exquisite beauty – blond to boot. Daddy wants to set her up with a rich man as a mistress and is thrilled when he hears that she wants to be a model. He sets her up with Auguste Launchon , who owns a shop in Marseilles – as a shop assistant. Once she understands that she is to be a whore for him, she runs away to Paris, with money given by him to find an apartment in Marseilles and set herself up, ready for him whenever he needed her.
She meets Larry Douglas an American soldier fighting for Britain in World War II and falls in love with him heavily. She is led up the garden path until he suddenly disappears. Interesting how in all Sydney Sheldon novels the girls fall for a great man and are totally disappointed. (Remember the Rage of the Angels?). She falls sick and is taken to the hospital where she meets Dr Israel Katz. She discovers she is pregnant and waits until the last moment and kills the child with great pleasure through a quack and nearly gets killed in the process.
She then climbs the ladder through series of liaisons, first to Pierre, a talented but not handsome actor and then moves on to a famous director , Armand Gautier, sleeping her way to the top. Since she is in Paris, and the story unfolds in the forties, there is the Nazi occupation in the backdrop. She meets ‘the cockroach’ who is Israel Katz. After saving him and getting into trouble with the German commandant who admires her, she still decides to evade her followers and help him.
Catherine in the meanwhile has fallen for Bill Fraser, her employer in Washington DC but finds the sex disappointing. She meets Bill’s parents but finds herself not fully engaged. She meets the selfsame Larry and marries him!
Exhilarating scenes where Noelle uses the German general to smuggle Israel Katz right under the noses of the Nazis.
The Larry who comes back to Katherine after WW II is not the same man she married – temperamentally. Not interested in work, fighting all the time, a savage thrust whenever he wants to make love, Katherine is confused. Fraser stays a true friend through all this.
Larry goes into a jealous rage whenever Fraser is mentioned and loses his job due to an anger issue. He loses many jobs mysteriously but goes to Greece to work for Demetris. Noelle is the puppet master in all this. She keeps insulting him. He has completely forgotten her and she wonders why.
When she pushes him too far, he violently beds her and she falls in love all over again with him and hides her affair from the mighty Demetris. When Larry asks for divorce, Katherine says ‘never’ and so Larry and Noelle plot to kill her. Larry is now remorseful and wants to take her to an island for a “vacation”. After several attempts, Catherine tries to escape him and Noelle by boat and drowns. The police arrest both and Demetris hires the best lawyer in town to save Noelle if she promises to get back to him and she does. The trial is fantastic and the final twist is breathtaking.
Another of Sheldon’s great books!
This is one of the top 3 early books from Sidney Sheldon as we said in the beginning and I think it deserves a 8/10
– – Krishna (Oct 2018)