Lethal Seduction

July 3, 2000
Destined for bestsellerdom, Collins's latest is a typically steamy, fast-paced tale that skips from the glitz and excitement of New York's fast lane to the high-stakes, celebrity-rich world of Las Vegas. Magazine journalist Madison Castelli, first spotted in Collins's LA Connections series, is featured, disenchanted with men but still hopeful she'll find love one day. Her unhappy childhood is detailed after her mother is murdered, and she discovers unpleasant truths about her past, including that her "perfect" father is married to the mob. Meanwhile, Madison's best friend, Jamie Nova, an interior designer, suspects that her husband is having an affair. And New York soap opera star Dexter Falcon is trying to rekindle excitement in his marriage to Rosarita, the spoiled daughter of a construction business mogul. Unbeknownst to Dexter, Rosarita is sleeping with Joel Blaine, the son of a real estate billionaire, and scheming to end her marriage in hopes of hooking up with Blaine. The latter, typical of the perverse, two-dimensional characters in Collins's world, likes kinky sex in public and craves drop-dead gorgeous model Carrie Hanlon. Though her sex scenes border on sleaze, Collins injects plenty of glamour into this page-flipping tale by peopling her fictional world with real-life celebrities, outfitting her characters in the appropriate designer clothing and mentioning the hottest restaurants du jour. Agent, Morton Janklow. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection; major promo.

Madison Castelli writes biographical sketches for a fancy Manhattan magazine, Natalie anchors a California news program, and Jamie is unhappy in her romantic marriage. When Madison discovers her father has a secret past, she seeks to learn all, but everything goes wrong (with a lot of help from other extraneous characters). Carrington MacDuffie follows the lust-filled characters; he remains unfazed by the explicit, crude language that accompanies every sex scene. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

February 15, 2000
Things get sticky when fashion designer Jamie Nova celebrates her divorce in Las Vegas with two friends: the playboy they've all been flirting with turns up dead in Jamie's bed.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2000
Collins' latest titillating novel brings back Madison Castelli, who originally appeared in her L.A. Connections series. After years of uncovering other people's shocking secrets, the sophisticated and successful investigative reporter is suddenly confronted with horrifying truths about her own past. Her father's vague but lucrative career in "investments" turns out to be an artful job description for mob hit man. Stella, the woman she always believed to be her mother, turns out to be a woman her father married after her real mother's death. When Stella leaves her father for a younger man and is soon murdered execution-style, Madison begins to unearth the truth with the assistance of Kimm Florian--a Native American lesbian and top-notch private eye. Meanwhile, Madison's breathtakingly lovely friend Jamie discovers that her husband is being unfaithful: he's having an affair with another man. Set on revenge, Jamie winds up in bed with Joel Blaine, lewd exhibitionist and freeloading son of billionaire tycoon Leon Blaine. For his part, Joel has been entangled with Rosarita Falcon, a blue-blooded, cosmetically enhanced bitch who is plotting her husband Dexter's death by poison. Collins has all her lovely characters converge coincidentally in Las Vegas for a championship boxing match, and tempers and lusts go off like fireworks. This is a bawdy, profane, and frequently bizarre fairy tale that is decidedly not for the faint of heart but does offer vicarious thrills for those who are so inclined. ((Reviewed June 1 & 15, 2000))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2000, American Library Association.)