Rich Again

October 12, 2009
Popular Brit Maxted (Running in Heels
) rewrites Cinderella
for a meaner, more cynical age in a biting saga of a filthy-rich family brought to rack and ruin by a soulless psycho intent on settling an old score. Part social commentary, part thriller, Maxted's novel charts the complicated history of rags-to-riches-times-two Jack Kent, a hotel baron who loses a first wife to an early death, watches an adopted daughter nearly marry her own father, stands by as a wastrel biological daughter squanders her life and love, and is saved by a bitchy and deliciously vindictive second wife. It's a rip-roaring tale with a creepy villain bent on wrecking the family: “I have spent all of my life thinking, plotting, imagining brilliant, twisted ways to make all of you suffer the same unimaginable hell that I did,” he seethes, “and the annoying thing is, you all have the presumption to think it coincidence!” Though the book could lose a good hundred pages and the hopscotching time line can be confusing, when Maxted finds her groove, the flow is smart, crisp and riveting.

November 15, 2009
Maxted abandons her usually thoughtful version of chick lit (A Tale of Two Sisters, 2006, etc.) for a train-wreck of a soap opera.

London-based globetrotters Jack and Innocence Kent own a chain of boutique hotels and have the multimillions to buy shoes for each new day (her) and a truckload of Prozac (him). Their obscenely overindulged 14-year-old daughter Emily has her sights set on Lord Timothy, eventual owner of a drafty Scottish castle. Bulimic, frigid and friendless Claudia is Jack's adopted daughter from his first marriage. Problems abound. Claudia is engaged to her biological father—good thing she's so messed up about sex they haven't consummated their relationship. Jack, involved in a financial scandal that nearly ruins him, is only saved by Innocence's duplicity; she swindles him out of his fortune by transferring all the property into her name. Then Emily, now 16, gets pregnant by Tim, they marry in Vegas and his father disinherits him. Emily has to start selling gossip about herself to the rags to keep herself in Manolos. Flashback 20 years to East London: Innocence is Sharon Marshall, a tough girl with big dreams. She trains as a lady's maid and works her way up (often on her knees) while Jack, a happier man, is married to Felicia, just beginning to build his empire, and father to sweet Claudia and the newly adopted Nathan. When Felicia suddenly dies, Nathan is sent back to the adoption agency and grows up to become a sociopathic killer, believing that Jack's rejection ruined his life. After killing his foster parents at four in an"accidental" fire, Nathan finds his biological mother (also dispatched, eyeballs retained as souvenirs) and then becomes a world-famous movie star, all so he can pick off members of the Kent family one by one.

Plot-packed silliness filled with laughable baddies whose deaths are only slightly mourned by the reader. No wonder Maxted published this nonsense under a pseudonym in Britain.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 15, 2009
Maxted makes a grand departure from her chick-lit tales ("Getting Over It; Running in Heels") with a twisted and sinister thriller that chronicles the dysfunctions and flaws of the Kent family. A psychotic villain intent on destroying their lives and fortunes secretly stalks Jack; his second wife, Innocence; their birth daughter, Emily; and their adopted daughter, Claudia. Through a convoluted and sometimes confusing chain of events spanning decades, Jack will be forced to realize that though he could afford everything, he has nothing of worth. The only redeeming character is Claudia, who is treated horrifically by her family and by the evil that haunts her. The writing is fast-paced and the plot engrossing but extremely implausible. VERDICT Maxted hits her writing groove in moments, but fans of her previous works should know this is not standard chick lit, as the content is sometimes crude and unpleasant. Fans of Jackie Collins may be intrigued; originally published in Britain under the title "Betrayal" by Sasha Blake.Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2010
The author of Getting Over It (2000) and A Tale of Two Sisters (2006) offers up an outlandish story of love and revenge not unlike the sudsers penned by Barbara Taylor Bradford or Jackie Collins. Former billionaire Jack Kent is too busy stewing over the theft of his fortune and business by his estranged second wife, Innocence, to pay attention to either of his daughters. The eldest, Claudia, who was adopted by Jack and his first wife, is trying to distance herself from her family by getting a job as a journalist and entering into a relationship with her handsome older boss. Her younger half-sister, Emily, has set her sights on a wealthy heir and seduced himwith unintended consequences. Unbeknownst to any of them, the family is being targeted by the sociopathic Nathan, who has a tenuous connection to them. With infidelity, incest, and murder in the mix, Rich Again may not be as introspective and thoughtful as Maxteds previous works, but readers will find themselves engrossed in the torrid tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)