by Jackie Collins
Jackie Collins has made an impressive living spinning her 16 best-selling novels, which usually explore Hollywood's dark and frequently flabby underbelly. But that can be pretty limited terrain, and it would take a writer more gifted than Joan's younger sister to offer readers something fresh every go-round.
In this one, fastidious movie actress Lara Ivory seemingly has it all—beauty, money and fame. And she's also one heck of a nice girl who wants only to shake off memories of her ghastly childhood and find true love. Ivory thinks she may have found it in a talented, if unknown, hunk—a champion mattress tester who gives up those wild ways for the sake of his Ivory girl. The only thing standing between them and a glorious, Technicolor ending is a tangled plot involving Ivory's film director ex-husband (now married to Lara's best friend) and a celebrity photographer who has taken to stalking her. Ho hum.
Collins's characterizations and plot turns are growing repetitive. Even Thrill's not inconsiderable seaminess has a same old, same old quality. (Simon & Schuster, $25)
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