audiobooks

Almost 30 years ago, I stumbled upon a book by the new to me author, Sidney Sheldon. The title of the book was The Other Side of Midnight and once I read it, the rest is history. History in the sense that from that day forward Sheldon became one of those authors I just had to read as soon as a new book was published. And while I fully acknowledge to others as well as myself that Sheldon never wrote highbrow literature, his books for the most part provided me with a fast paced escapist read. Unfortunately, this hasn't been the case now for several years. I became increasingly tired of Sheldon's books and while I continued to read most of them, some of that old fashioned pizazz was clearly missing. Whne I first saw The Sky is Falling, on the shelves, I seriously thought, for one minute, of not reading his latest book. And that would have been my mistake since this boosk is as intrigiung and page turning as Sheldons' other now vintage titles like If Tomorrow Comes, Rage of Angels, The Naked Face and The Other Side fo Midnight. Part political thriller, part mystery with a dash of irony mixed in The Sky is Falling is a book in the old time tradition of the Sheldon novels many of us have come to enjoy.

I typically love Sidney Sheldon -- for his consistently fast, compelling reads, but this one was not quite up to par. I admit, I had trouble putting it down to the very end, but it was more because I was hoping my hunches were wrong and that a twist would be thrown in somewhere. But, it was predictable, and the less then interesting characters (aside from Dana and Jeff who were interesting), were exactly what they seemed to be. If it were possible, I might have given this book 3.5 stars because it kept me hooked. An interesting factor was the underground city Dana uncovered in Russia -- especially because as far fetched as it seemed, it is somewhat reality. Dana Evans is a great character, and I would like to see Shelodn pick up with her again in his old style. He certainly left the ending open to do so. This is the story of a reporter who stops at nothing to get to the bottom of her hunch that a family of five high powered people who were all killed, were actually murdered. There are a lot of twists Dana must go through to get to the conclusion, but not a lot of turns, because the reader can see what is going to happen. However, it is Sheldon style in that you will not want to put it down until the end --

My fellow reviewers are brutal in their attacks on this, the 17th novel, that best-selling author Sidney Sheldon has offered to a more than accepting (judging by his book sales) public. Let's face it Sheldon isn't pretending to be Tolstoy here; the only reason that one of his earlier books, say "The Other Side of Midnight" or "The Master of the Game", seems more acceptable than "The Sky is Falling" is because it was written during the Harold Robbins/Jaqueline Suzanne blitz where such fictional characters clearly reflecting their wealthy Hollywood/Washington/Eurotrash/Captains-of-Industry prototypes in all their tinsely glory were considered fresh and honest representations of the ruthless moguls that ran the world and ate in the finest and trendiest restaurants. Such honesty had not been depicted in such a blatant fashion before . . . and readers loved it. Hunkering down with such a book on the subway, on the beach or in bed on a rainy day was akin to eating forbidden fruit. Mention of the sex scenes alone most likely turned the hair of the members of the Legion of Catholic Decency gray and for those of us who grew up during this time period, so much the better. This sinless bird's eye look into a world I was never going to see first-hand, began a whole new genre that has been cloned the world over. Sheldon hasn't become a tired writer, we, the readers, constantly barraged by this type of escapism, have become almost immune. But not quite . . .

I found the further adventures of Dana Evans, television journalist extraordinaire introduced in Sheldon's earlier novel, "The Best Laid Plans", entertaining, there is too much action in too many different world cities to be that predictable. But I wasn't expecting Tolstoy, I was expecting Sheldon. I purchased the book on tape to listen to while I exercised and I got what I paid for---a great campfire story that was easy to listen to and with enough excitement to extend my exercise time to yet another mile. Yes, some of novel's conclusions are reached by the reader before they are reached by the protagonist and some of the international scenes are unnecessary and are clearly set up to give the reader a second-hand look at the globe. But again, this is why a Sheldon novel is purchased: its quick, its fun and it doesn't take place on your grandmother's farm. The characters are drapped in Harry Winston and D&G, not last year's dungarees.

Bottom line: If you want a breeze of a read from a reknowned storyteller or need a great book on tape to get your mind off the pain of your long-distance run, this tale of investigative reporting intermingled with the realities of adopting a disabled child from war-torn Bosnia while dealing with a boyfriend's dedication to his ex-wife, just might fill the bill. Just don't expect Booker prize literature.