By Umika Sharma:
There are some books which are like a puzzle, once you pick it up, you can barely rest till it’s solved. Then there are those books which automatically fall into pieces. You can read them at a leisurely hour and continue doing so for a long time. One would naturally expect a suspense thriller to be of the former kind and this book is just that.
The prequel to ‘Sidney Sheldon’s Mistress of the Game‘, titled ‘Master of The Game’, was written by the master storyteller Sidney Sheldon. It was the story of the Blackwell family who were cursed by their own ambition and success. Now we are told the tale of the next generation of the family. This book has a lot of elements- a gripping plot, a family struck by tragedy, love, lust, hatred, betrayal and everything else one could think of.
The best part about this book is possibly the multi-layered, complex plot. You peel one layer there is another staring at you. The narrative flows like a gushing stream of water and slowly surrounds you from all sides.
The protagonist, Lexi Templeton, is a beautiful, strong headed and ambitious business woman but due to a childhood tragedy, she is deaf. This might be a thing to gather sympathy for any other person but not for her. Tilly Bagshawe has done complete justice to her female protagonist (a Sheldon signature style). She is independent, gorgeous and exhibits a lot of shades of grey. She can go to any extent to fulfil her desires.
The book makes for a gripping story with twists and turns on every single page. There are emotions, drama, tragedy, deception and a brilliant climax. Every single character is well constructed and has a multi-dimensional role. The main plot and all other sub plots intertwine in such a way that you simply cannot put the book away.
But this book also has some portions where it drifts into oblivion and then slowly comes back to the main plot. But then the mammoth task of competing with Sidney Sheldon is itself so evidently hard.
Overall, this book is a gripping read and is a good attempt at meeting Sheldon’s standards. But it should be borne in mind that Sheldon is, after all, Sheldon and comparing this book to his works won’t exactly make you happy.