Customer Reviews

Last Lover

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

 

 

It's always a treat to see a truly deserving authour celebrated in the New York Times Book Review. As a fan of Ms. Van Wormer since Riverside Drive, I thought the Times' stamp of her status as "master of romantic suspense" for The Last Lover came way overdue.

Sally Harington of Expose is back, but now the reporter's starchy New England values meet the casual sociopathy of Hollywood players. With her usual ability to light up characters in a few vivid strokes, Van Wormer paints one as physically off-putting for "the air of heavy handed money, the promise of, if all else fails, I'll pay you". Let's just say that nothing Sally learned at Castleford High prepared her for the viciousness of her welcome to the big leagues.

But what I've long admired in this author reflects what she doesn't do. While delivering her patented wall-to wall suspenseful tour through the world of bicoastal superachievers, she resists the cheap shot and instead puts real flesh and blood on even the most driven and sometimes despicable.

Van Wormer writes about the celebrity slice of society as a more forgiving Tom Wolfe, taking care to illuminate the motives of those who constantly measure the distance to perfection. That's why putting yourself in her capable hands never fails to satisfy.

PS - if you have a chance to see Ms Van Wormer read/speak in person, as I have, drop other plans to do it. In the warmest, one-on-one way, she will give you the lowdown on the world she writes about with tingling insight.

Connecticut reporter Sally Harrington accompanies her lover Spencer Hawes across the continent to attend a Hollywood party where they meet rising movie superstar Lilliana Martin. The actress makes a play for both Sally and Spencer. However, an angry Sally rejects the notion of a threesome and blames her lover for encouraging it. Sally ends her relationship with Spencer and flies home the next day.

Not too long after that Lilliana's boy friend, union president Cliff Yorlin arrives demanding to know where his beloved is. Sally has no idea, but believes she is probably with Spencer who allegedly is in Hawaii. However, Cliff quickly returns to the West Coast where someone kills him. With Lilliana and Spencer still missing and now Cliff dead, law enforcement officials turn their attention to the last known person to see the trio alive, Sally, as the prime suspect.

THE LAST LOVER is an exciting romantic suspense novel that takes the audience on a coast to coast ride that looks inside the glitz and garish glamour of today's media. The story line is fast-paced, but truly belongs to the strong cast of characters. In a return engagement (see EXPOSE), Sally remains a great protagonist seeking to find love even as her needs and desires confuse her. The support ensemble augment the tale with vigor and a two-coastal insight that shows Laura Van Wormer is a wonderful author who makes reading fun.

Harriet Klausner

the last we see of Sally Harrington.
I really enjoy these books.
Fast and furious dialog. Plenty of action.
I LOVE the whole behind the scenes looks of television news and reporting. That is always a standout element of Van Wormer's.
I found the characters in this and the other Sally Harrington novels to be well fleshed out. A plethora of wonderful characters with diverse backgrounds.
This story takes us from Conneticut to NYC to LA and back again.
The mystery works well, I think. You never know who the good guys and bad guys are. Not entirely, anyway, until the denouement.
Throw in the mafia, actors, producers, the feds and primetime news. Stir in one explicit sex scene, which isn't gratuitous in the plotting of the story and you have an engaging read.
Sally's love life is a plot in itself. Poor girl is painfully confused about the men in her life. I like how it is explored.
Through it all you will root for Sally Harrington and her friends and colleagues to catch the bad guys and get the story on the air.

This was the first book I read by this author, and I thought this to be extremely boring until around page 200. The content of the book had almost nothing to do with the title. Not a very well written book, characters were very one dimensional with the exception of Lilliana Martin - the author may want to consider writing a book about her. While I am a Connecticut native and appreciated and could relate to town and state descriptions, most were too detailed and unnecessary to the plot. I've heard other books by this author were better.

The book was good, it held my attention to the end, but I want to know WHO in the world edited the book? I found more gramatical errors and "runon" words in this book than I did when my son was in fourth grade. I originally thought this was one of those "writer" things! Then I realized that could not be. The MOST blatant example is on page 290. If a book is good - it's good, but I'll tell you - I'd have been FIRED if I EVER produced a product with so many mistakes. Perhaps the author should think about another publishing house.