Betrayal

Betrayal

By Danielle Steel

Paperback, Large Print, 400 pages

Published on:  March 27th 2012

Publisher:  Random House Large Print 

ISBN: 9780593063118

Blurb: At thirty-nine, Tallie Jones is a Hollywood legend. Her work as a film director is her passion and the center of her life; one after another, her award-winning productions achieve the rare combination of critical and commercial success. With no interest in the perks of her profession or the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles, Tallie maintains close and loving relationships with her college-age daughter and her aging father, and has a happy collaboration with Hunter Lloyd, her respected producing partner, confidant, and live-in lover. Rounding out the circle and making it all work is Brigitte Parker, Tallie’s devoted personal assistant. Friends since film school, they are a study in contrasts, with Brigitte’s polished glamour balancing Tallie’s artless natural beauty, and her hard-driving, highly organized style a protective shield for Tallie’s casual, down-to-earth approach.
 
As Tallie is in the midst of directing the most ambitious film she has yet undertaken, small disturbances begin to ripple through her well-ordered world. An outside audit reveals troubling discrepancies in the financial records maintained by Victor Carson, Tallie’s longtime, trusted accountant. Mysterious receipts hint at activities of which she has no knowledge. Soon it becomes clear that someone close to Tallie has been steadily funneling away enormous amounts of her money. In the wake of an escalating series of shattering revelations, Tallie will find herself playing the most dangerous game of all—to trap a predator stalking her in plain sight.
 
In this riveting novel, Danielle Steel reveals the dark side of fame and fortune. At the same time, she brilliantly captures a woman’s will to navigate a minefield of hurt and loss—toward a new beginning

In Danielle Steel’s Betrayal, we come across our perfectionist protag- Tallie Jones. Having crossed several milestones in Hollywood, Tallie is one of the top most directors that Hollywood has. On her way of making yet another film, Tallie is completely engrossed in her work when an audit reveals a huge embezzlement done to her. One million dollars from her account have vanished- the account in which the money is purely for the business purpose. Who could it be? Hunter Lloyd- her boyfriend and producer for four years, or Bridgette- her sweetest chum and assistant for about two decades? Tallie has lost her trust in everybody when she hires a private investigating officer, Margaret, who reveals the ugliest of truths to Tallie with time.

The characters that Steel has created with Betrayal are lovable. Whether it is Tallie, her daughter Max, Hunter, Bridget, Victor, you have a perfect and specific image of them all in your eyes. They’re humans with their own rights and wrongs. And of course you sympathize and connect with Tallie the most. Lies, deceptions, death and heartaches are what make Tallie drop to the ground after soaring high, but we know Danielle Steel has to make her heroine survive. And she does!

We know that Danielle Steel is a wonderful and celebrated author out there who’s given us the best of books like Echoes, The Ring, The Gift and lately, Big Girl- which I absolutely loved, but sadly, this was the book that came with a lot of disappointment for me. Yes, the novel does have certain drawbacks.

The plot moved really very slow. This has been one of the most slowly progressing books that I have come across. In case you have read The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks and found that dawdling, then I would like to mention that this is even slower than that and would probably test your patience.

Also, there is an excess of repetition in the book. Steel kept repeating the same thing over and over again with different choice of words. The behavior of characters has been repeated so many times that I automatically by hearted them all by the time I finished the book.

The plot drags unreasonably. This was a three hundred thirty six paged book which could have easily been finished within a hundred pages had the writer had some mercy on the readers and avoided all the pointless repetition.

There is hardly any serious touch of romance to in the two thirds of the book; neither is there a nail biting mystery to it. There’s almost nothing in the plot that can keep you gripped to it.

Although I tried very hard to like the book, I couldn’t do it. This is certainly not Danielle Steel’s best.

It seems so wrong when I think of Danielle Steel’s name associated to the book, but yes, I won’t recommend Betrayal to anyone. Unless you’re a staunch lover of her and naturally fall in love with every word she writes, you may give it a try. If that is not so, you can grab a copy of Big Girl which is certainly a beautiful book.