Customer Reviews

The Insiders

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book 8 years ago, and I am reading it again. It is so much better to read the second time. There is so much going on, and although the book is a little too sexual and some of the scenes are disturbing, I still enjoyed reading it. Some scenes may turn you on (a lot) and then turn you off. I enjoy reading sexual books. I wish Rosemary would write more like this. The only other book I know of that was a page turner and sexual was "The Crowded Pleasers." I will eventually read it again. If anyone knows any other book like these two, please tell me. It's definately worth reading. :)

I recently re-read this book; boy, have times changed! Although he may have been considered a hero at one time, Brant Newcomb is nothing more than a child molester, drug dealer, and rapist, and Eve is little more than a whore. I can understand why her boring boyfriend, David, found it hard to believe she had been raped--she slept with practically everyone she knew. Most of the women behaved as if they were victims of circumstance, with no will of their own. I didn't care what happened to any of the characters, except David's poor little sister, Lisa.

This book was very enjoyable, the only thing I didn't like was the abrupt ending. It left me feeling unfullfilled. After the way Eve carried on about her exboyfriend throughout most of the book, you would like the ending to really summarize her current realtionship with Brant. I just felt like the storyline was less about her relationship with him than with her ex. I did like the way Rosemary Roger's gave you the background information on the characters which helped you to understand why they acted the way they did. Over all, it was worth the time to read but I would recommend The Crowd Pleasers or Love Play if you want to read a modern novel by this author.

This was a puzzling book. Lots of characters, lots of sex, lots of group sex, some rape, weird incestuous vibes and a happy ever after with a cherry on top ending. I give this two stars because of the many memorable WTF scenes that still linger in my head a few days after finishing the book. I wish the author had expanded more on the end of the book when things are supposed to be working out because she did a thorough job showing how messed up the characters were and how they had so many issues and problems. But then it all works out and I'm still not sure why. It was way too quick. Still this is one of the more memorable WTF romances I've read.

The first mistake any traditional romance reader makes, when they pick up this book, is to expect a romantic novel. After all, it was written in the late 1970's during Rosemary Rogers' Harold Robbins/Jackie Collins/Jacqueline Susann phase, when she was trying to write contemporary sex novels. It's not a shining example of the best of Rosemary Rogers' writing by any means (Sweet Savage Love is that) but it's on a par with any of the aforementioned authors so if you like that kind of book, it's OK.

I wouldn't go so far as to say, as one reviewer did, that the Brant Newcomb character was a child molester (although yes, he does sleep with a 17 year old girl). I have to agree with the other reviewers who disgustedly point out Eve Mason's slavish dysfunctional devotion to her lousy boyfriend, but I don't find this as annoying as other readers have - just really sad. Frankly, Eve's behavior seems a fairly realistic depiction of how some women behave with their boyfriends, even today. Disturbing, but it's accurate.

Actually, THE INSIDERS has several disturbing storylines, and sometimes the characters' motivations are hard to understand, and yet at times it's also (at least to me) absolutely hilarious. For example, when the teenage girl Francie is, er, helping out the "hero" Brant and he says, "you need lessons, that's a delicate instrument down there, not a hot dog!" and she screams back at him: "You bastard! No guy ever complained about the way I give a (descriptive two words)before!" Or when the hotshot lawyer character David thinks about his secretary: "...since Stella had left to marry that old fart, George Coxe..." And when a husband comes home to find his wife naked on a couch with another woman (his sister, no less) he screams at her: "You! Dirty, cold, frigid les!" I laugh out loud at lines like these and this book is full of them.

Speaking as someone who's worked in law firms both large and small for a number of years (but I hasten to add, speaking only as a witness to certain less-than-stellar behavior), Ms. Rogers' depiction of the big San Francisco law firm, where the craven senior partner's buxom mistress is given an "administrative assistant" job as a cover; there's a hotshot young lawyer with a powerful sex drive, and a secretary who sleeps with her boss - these characters are all outrageous/funny to me (yet sadly not inaccurate).

All in all, I have to say I'm kind of fond of the book, having owned it for about 30 years. It's a good once-a-year, old-style-trashy, beach read.

I read this book years ago; probably when I wasn't supposed to...it is very sexual and NOT a romance novel...it is a sex book...but a good one.

I read this book when I was younger and just recently read it again. I found I liked the book and the way it explored the lives of all the secondary characters. The only problem I had was that the heroine, Eve, was obsessed with one of the men in the book, making you say "ENOUGH ALREADY"! I also would have liked more interactive scenes with the hero and the heroine toward the end of the book. But, all in all, a good book. It proves anyone can find love no matter what there past!