Lethal Seduction [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Jackie Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 11, 2000

ON THE HEELS OF HER SENSATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER DANGEROUS KISS, COMES ANOTHER TANTALIZING JACKIE COLLINS TREAT: LETHAL SEDUCTION.

Madison Castelli, the beautiful, street-smart heroine of Jackie Collins's L.A. Connections series, returns in Lethal Seduction, an edgy novel full of danger, passion and suspense.

Set between the high-powered world of New York and the manic excitement of Las Vegas, this deliciously uninhibited tale of cover-ups, deception and mob involvement finds Jackie Collins at the height of her creative powers as the diverse cast of characters in Lethal Seduction take an exhilarating walk on the wild side. In Lethal Seduction you will also meet:

JAMIE NOVA -- a breathtakingly beautiful interior designer, who catches her Wall Street husband cheating.

JAKE SICA -- a laid-back photographer not looking for a commitment.

ROSARITA FALCON -- an ambitious and sexy would-be New York socialite with a yen to murder her husband.

JOEL BLAINE -- the playboy son of a billionaire with an unquenchable taste for public sex.

CARRIE HANLON -- a top supermodel with a degree in egomania and bitchery.

DEXTER FALCON -- a handsome soap star with a romantic heart and an unbeatable body. And...

KIMM FLORIAN -- a Native American gay detective with a dry wit and a big heart.

Together these characters will take you on a sometimes funny, sometimes sad trip guaranteed to seduce you all the way.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The maven of guilty pleasures is back with a vengeance! Jackie Collins is at her prurient best in Lethal Seduction, creating a cast of characters as flawed as they can possibly be and still be likable. At the center of the whirlwind is stunning Madison Castelli, introduced previously in Collins's L.A. Connections series. Madison is a no-nonsense journalist who specializes in revealing interviews with the rich and famous. She discovers that her own life is not exactly as it seems when she hires private investigator Kimm Florian to uncover the secrets of her family's past. It turns out Maddy's beloved father didn't make his fortune in investments but rather as a mob hit man. And his targets may have included her two mothers: her real mother, who was murdered when Maddy was just an infant, and Stella, the beautiful, distant woman Maddy always believed to be her mother. Add in a pesky ex-lover who wants her back and a commitment-phobic new boyfriend in photographer Jake Sica, and Maddy's life is spinning out of control.

But she's hardly alone. When Madison's best friend, Grace Kelly look-alike Jamie Nova, finds out that her so-called perfect husband is cheating on her, she will do anything (and anyone) to get back at him. But the most captivating story line is that of bitch supreme Rosarita Falcon, unhappily married to a handsome but unsuccessful soap opera star whose real name is Dick Cockranger. Rosarita is perfectly willing to stoop to murder-for-hire (with her dear old dad pulling the trigger) to get rid of her husband so she can be with Joel Blaine, public sex fanatic and son of billionaire Leon Blaine.

The stories merge in a spectacular crescendo at a Las Vegas prizefight, when a mysterious stranger, Vincent Castle, appears to save Maddy and Jamie from an awkward situation. Fans of Jackie Collins will hope they haven't seen the last of Madison Castelli. --Alison Trinkle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Destined for bestsellerdom, Collins's latest is a typically steamy, fast-paced tale that skips from the glitz and excitement of New York's fast lane to the high-stakes, celebrity-rich world of Las Vegas. Magazine journalist Madison Castelli, first spotted in Collins's LA Connections series, is featured, disenchanted with men but still hopeful she'll find love one day. Her unhappy childhood is detailed after her mother is murdered, and she discovers unpleasant truths about her past, including that her "perfect" father is married to the mob. Meanwhile, Madison's best friend, Jamie Nova, an interior designer, suspects that her husband is having an affair. And New York soap opera star Dexter Falcon is trying to rekindle excitement in his marriage to Rosarita, the spoiled daughter of a construction business mogul. Unbeknownst to Dexter, Rosarita is sleeping with Joel Blaine, the son of a real estate billionaire, and scheming to end her marriage in hopes of hooking up with Blaine. The latter, typical of the perverse, two-dimensional characters in Collins's world, likes kinky sex in public and craves drop-dead gorgeous model Carrie Hanlon. Though her sex scenes border on sleaze, Collins injects plenty of glamour into this page-flipping tale by peopling her fictional world with real-life celebrities, outfitting her characters in the appropriate designer clothing and mentioning the hottest restaurants du jour. Agent, Morton Janklow. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection; major promo.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 784 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743204255
• ISBN-13: 978-0743204255
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,289,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jackie Collins has been called a "raunchy moralist" by the late director Louis Malle, "Hollywood's own Marcel Proust" by Vanity Fair magazine and "the Victor Hugo of our time" by Simon Doonan in the New York Observer. With over 400 million copies of her books sold in more than 40 countries, and with some twenty-two New York Times bestsellers to her credit, Jackie Collins is one of the world's top-selling novelists. She is known for giving her readers an unrivaled insiders knowledge of Hollywood and the glamorous lives and loves of the rich, famous, and sometimes bad! "I write about real people in disguise," she says. "If anything, my characters are toned down -- the truth is much more bizarre."
Jackie Collins started writing as a kid, making up steamy stories her schoolmates paid to devour. Her first book, The World Is Full of Married Men became a sensational bestseller because of its open sexuality and the way it dealt honestly with the double standard. After that came The Stud, Sinners, The Love Killers, The World is Full of Divorced Women, Lovers And Gamblers, Chances, and then the international sensation, Hollywood Wives -- a #1 New York Times bestseller, which was made into one of ABC's highest-rated miniseries starring Anthony Hopkins and Candice Bergen.

The Stud and The World is Full of Married Men were also filmed -- this time for the big screen. And Jackie wrote an original movie, Yesterday's Hero, starring Ian McShane and Suzanne Somers.

Reader's couldn't wait to race through Lucky, her next book -- a sequel to Chances -- and the story of incredibly beautiful, strong woman, another New York Times number one.

Then came the bad boys of Hollywood in the steamy Hollywood Husbands -- a novel which kept everyone guessing the identities of the true-to-life Hollywood characters.

Jackie then wrote Rock Star -- the story of three rock superstars and their rise to the top, followed by the long-waited sequel to Chances and Lucky -- Lady Boss -- tracking the further adventures of the wild and powerful Lucky Santangelo as she takes control of a Hollywood studio.

Both Lucky and Chances were written and adapted for NBC television by Jackie, who also executive produced the highly successful six-hour miniseries Lucky/Chances, starring Nicollette Sheridan and Sandra Bullock.

In 1992 she produced and wrote the four hour miniseries, Lady Boss, which became another huge ratings success for NBC. Lady Boss starred Kim Delaney. Next came American Star, a love story, which the Los Angeles Times described as "classic Collins."

And then the dangerously close to the truth Hollywood Kids -- a story of power, sex, danger and ambition among the grown offspring of major celebrities.

In 1996 Vendetta -- Lucky's Revenge was published -- and became an immediate New York Times bestseller.

And then in 1998, Thrill!, a psychological thriller for the nineties, in which Jackie created her signature mix of unputdownable characters.

In the summer of 1998, Jackie hosted her own daily television show, "Jackie Collins Hollywood." A combination of fun, style and interviews, Jackie talked to everyone from George Clooney to RuPaul!

After that she wrote L.A. Connections -- a four-part serial novel published one per month -- Power, Obsession, Murder and Revenge.

In 1999 came Dangerous Kiss -- the return of Lucky Santangelo in a bestselling novel about relationships, addiction, fear and lust.

In the year 2000, Lethal Seduction became the first bestseller for Jackie Collins in the new millennium. This tale of erotic suspense and glamorous intrigue featured Madison Castelli, a character first introduced in the L.A. Connections series.

Hollywood Wives -- The New Generation became a blockbuster bestseller in 2001, following in the footsteps of the original Hollywood Wives. Hollywood Wives -- The New Generation featured a brand new cast of characters and a totally fresh perspective on how women pursue power, love, sex and success in Tinseltown today.

In 2002, New York flash, L.A. trash and a Mafia don met head-on in Deadly Embrace, a sexy tale of dangerous passion and suspense featuring heroine Madison Castelli that was both a prequel and a sequel to her adventures in the bestselling Lethal Seduction.

2003 marks the return of Jackie Collins to prime-time television with a brand-new two-hour CBS TV movie Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives: The New Generation, starring Farrah Fawcett, Melissa Gilbert, Robin Givens and Jack Scalia and produced by Collins. And in December 2003, comes her twenty-third novel, HOLLYWOOD DIVORCES, a sizzling, glam-drenched novel of lust, infidelity and revenge featuring all-new characters navigating Hollywood's treacherous trail of divorce.

Ms. Collins lives in Los Angeles, California. Her hobbies are photography, soul music, and exploring exotic locations so she can write about them later.

There have been many imitators, but only Jackie Collins can tell you what really goes on in the fastest lane of all. From Beverly Hills bedrooms to a raunchy prowl along the streets of Hollywood; from glittering rock parties and concerts to stretch limos and the mansions of the power brokers -- Jackie Collins chronicles the real truth from the inside looking out.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a Collins Best, October 11, 2000

By 

Marcia L. Hopkins - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lethal Seduction (Hardcover)

Madison Castelli is one of the main female characters in the book.
She's no Lucky Santangelo that's for sure, but she's a good character.
She's beautiful, of course, so I couldn't understand why she was
hanging on to grief about her ex-lover having walked out on her for
another woman...two years ago.

Madison's best friend, Jamie Nova,
finds out that her perfect husband is cheating on her in the most
devious manner. Rosarita Falcon is the bitchiest character I've come
across in a long time. She is unhappily married to a handsome but
unsuccessful soap opera star, Dexter, whose real name is Dick
Cockranger can you believe it? too funny. Rosarita is having a torrid
affair with Joel Blaine, public sex fanatic and son of billionaire
Leon Blaine. Rosarita asks her father to kill her husband, Dexter,
since she believes her father is in the mob. We never do actually
learn if he is in the mob or not. ...

Not the best of Collins,
but a fun read nonetheless.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointed with this latest book, July 26, 2000

By 

Tara Colligan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lethal Seduction (Hardcover)

I had been waiting for a long time for the next Jackie book and I was very excited when this book came out. After reading it I was very disappointed, however because of the ending or lack there of. I felt like I had read this whole book and was expecting it to all tie together in the end or at least get some answers but I got neither! It seemed to me that all this book was is a format that layed the groundwork and storyline for her next book. I will think twice before I buy another one of her books. It is really too bad because I had read every one of her books and loved each and every one except this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Did she just get tired of writing?, August 1, 2000

By 

Beth Schmidt "BettaSmetta" (Tulsa, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lethal Seduction (Hardcover)

I'm at a loss. This book started out gang-busters, typical Collins ..... lots of raunchy sex, bitchy characters, the hooker with the heart of gold, the handsome underdog. With not a lot of character development, Collins weaves a fast-paced plot that keeps you turning the page. But all of a sudden, you start to feel like you're in one of those restaurants where the waiters try to rush you out the door so they can seat more customers. Detail and explanation are deemed unimportant ...... Collins rushes at breakneck pace to finish, and then just stops. Instead of telling the rest of the story -- and believe me, there's plenty left to tell -- she just ends it and gives you a few-sentence description of what happened to each character. I felt so cheated. I would rather invest my time in a well-developed story that actually has an evolved ending. Oh yeah, that's Nora Roberts! So long, Jackie.