by Jackie Collins
St. Martin’s Press, $26.99, 516 pages
Jackie Collins is back with the latest installment in the Lucky Santangelo series. This time the focus is on her daughter Max and her impending eighteenth birthday bash at Lucky’s hotel in Las Vegas. This is classic Collins, with high rollers and low lifes, fast pacing and lots of action. Everyone is in attendance and up to their old tricks: Lucky’s best friend Venus and her parade of boy toys, her son Bobby and his new girlfriend and even the family patriarch, Gino. As always, Collins brings back the heroes and villains from previous installments and then, just to keep it even more interesting, adds a few new faces. This time it’s a sadistic Middle Eastern prince who has his sights set on owning Lucky’s hotel and doesn’t take disappointment well.
Whether you’re a fan of Collins or reading her for the first time this book won’t disappoint. Popular with readers worldwide, Collins knows they want to be immersed in a plot with love, lust, power and revenge and this book supplies them all. With the action building quickly and the authentic dialogue of the characters it’s easy to disappear into Lucky’s world and enjoy the escape.
Catherine Gilmore