Drop Dead Beautiful - Jackie Collins

As I have previously commented on one of the books in the collection of Santangelo novels by Jackie Collins, now comes the turn of Drop Dead Beautiful.

This is Jackie Collins' 25th novel and is just as steamy and action packed as the rest! I don't feel you need to catch-up with any of the other stories in the saga to understand what it going on.

----------------The Plot--------------------

Lucky is now in her 40s, and is currently in the midst of opening her own multi-billion dollar Hotel complex in Vegas - and surprise surprise someone is out to get her. This someone being an illegitimate son of Enzio Bonnati, who seems to have spawned more children than the lady who lives in a shoe! Will she or won't she survive seems to be the running theme of the book - as it has been for the previous stories featuring this character.

A side story in the book is that of Lucky's daughter - Max. Max is now 16 and "wildly beautiful", I think Jackie Collins has ran out of other ways to describe her female characters! Max runs off to meet with a man she met off the Internet, who turns out to be psychotic and obsessed with her Mother, Lucky. Once again we are thinking, will this be the end of Lucky Santangelo?

------------Main Characters-----------------

Lucky Santangelo - The daughter of ex Mafia Don, Gino "The Ram" Santangelo
Max Golden - The daughter of Lucky and Lennie
Lennie Golden - Husband of Lucky and movie star
Anthony Bonar - Illegitimate son of Enzio Bonnati, rival of the Santangelos.
Henry Whitfield-Simmons - Internet stalker

----------My Opinion-----------

Without trying to give too much away......

The book is an anti-climax. I am a little bored with the ongoing grudges that spring out of nowhere during each of these Santangelo novels. Illegitimate children spring up everywhere with killing on their mind.... how true to life is this!? I am aware that these are not real life novels and are meant to be an escapism from your own life etc, but this installment just proves to me that Jackie Collins is still trying to flog a character who in my opinion, is past her sell by date.

As mentioned in my previous Jackie Collins review, the same phrases still pop up all the time, "Gino the Ram", "wildly beautiful" etc, it gets a little tedious. I find it hard to stomach that Gino "The Ram" is now 95 and still very much The Ram! Talk about trying to flog a dead horse. Its almost as if Jackie Collins cannot bear to get rid of her much loved characters and appears to be running them to the ground.

Every part of the story is hyped up, gets you drawn in then you experience the anti-climax. Max's "kidnap" is made out to be terrifying and a deadly ordeal to try and suck us in to the story, then as it turns out, nothing actually happens? I felt like I was wasting my time continuing the story.

This book is lacking in the usual Jackie Collins oomph, it didn't get me excited as her previous novels have. I feel like she needs to lay the Santangelos down to rest now as they have been played ou t to death - how many more "surprises" can lie in one persons closet? There was no excitement or glamor of the previous novels.

Predictable ending!

It is available on Amazon for £7.82. I'm only glad mine was given to me by a relative!

1 star.