Publisher's Weekly Review
The latest from veteran Roberts ( Genuine Lies ) is set in the glamorous world of television and concerns the rise of hot new talk-show host Deanna Reynolds. Deanna, a sincere and dedicated one-time local reporter in Chicago, has moved to New York, determined to be number one in the field. This pits her against her former mentor, the high strung and manipulative current talk-show queen, Angela Perkins. Angela doesn't take well to the competition and resorts to stealing guests, blackmail and crossing boundaries of good journalism in her effort to fight Deanna's increasing popularity. Deanna's romance with the handsome and much lauded reporter Finn Riley, Angela's former love interest, only increases the tension. But the novel's main question is who will do in Deanna first, the obsessed fan who seems to know her every move, or Angela, whose bitter vows for revenge are hastening her own downfall. Despite one weak plot device--the identity of the obsessed fan is too clear, too early--the novel is a fun read with a good pace and both thoroughly likable and thoroughly loathsome characters. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A scheming rival and an obsessive fan convince a TV star that she's a long way from Kansas--in more sudsy romantic suspense from Roberts (Honest Illusions, 1992). Deanna Reynolds and Angela Perkins are both smart, talented, attractive, and ambitious. The big difference between the two talk- show hosts is that Angela is an attention-hungry woman desperate to maintain her fading charms and worshipful audience at all costs, while Dee maintains her Midwestern values even as her Chicago-based show makes her a star and threatens Angela's in New York. Angela, who was once Dee's mentor, has never forgiven the younger woman for turning down her offer to come to New York with her. Even less forgivable is Dee's romance with Finn Riley, a footloose foreign correspondent and once Angela's lover. Finn, who coolly calls in exclusives from a crash-landing 747, shrugs off a bullet wound while he broadcasts live during a shootout, and indisputably earns the nickname ``Desert Hunk'' during the Gulf War, finds his match in the unbelievably beautiful, desirable, and sweet Deanna. While the two make seismic love on any available surface and Angela plots Dee's downfall in the ratings, a secret admirer (whose identity is more obvious than the author must have intended) writes her love notes. Then, one by one, he begins to kill off all the people who have hurt or betrayed her--and attempts to realize his insane dream of making Deanna entirely his own. A sexy hero whose no-nonsense presence cuts through the vapors and cattiness of the womenfolk and a convincing behind-the-scenes look at TV--both help make up for the weak humor, implausible plot, and trite glitz of this predictable novel.
Booklist Review
Roberts' latest combines behind-the-scenes cat fights between two female hosts of nationally syndicated talk shows with the evil deeds of a psychopathic kidnapper and murderer. The killer is infatuated with one angelic talk-show hostess, Deanna Reynolds. Deanna learned every trick she could from the arch-bitch Angela Perkins; when Angela suddenly leaves the Chicago network for New York, Reynolds pulls together her own crew and presents Angela's ex-producer (also her ex-husband) with an irresistible tape of a new show. While she is moving rapidly up the ladder of her career, Reynolds is falling in love with a tough foreign reporter named Finn Reilly (also Angela Perkins' ex-lover). When Angela is found dead in Deanna's studio, there are plenty of suspects. However, when several other deaths tie in with this one, it's obvious to Finn and the police that there is a psychopath working very close to Deanna. A fine romantic thriller whose author is sure to scare up interest on the talk-show circuit. (Reviewed May 15, 1993)0399138285Denise Perry Donavin
