Long, Lean, and Lethal [Paperback]

Heather Graham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 2000

On the glittering set of a popular daytime drama, fantasy and reality are fatally intertwined--in a brand-new, red-hot trilogy that continues author Heather Graham's successful series of contemporary blockbusters....

Praise for Heather Graham:

"An incredible storyteller."--Los Angeles Daily News

"With the name Heather Graham on the cover, you are guaranteed a good read."--Literary Times

"Tremendous...places equal emphasis on the romance and the suspense without shortchanging either one...Appealing, fast-paced, terrific...a thrill a minute!"--Midwest Book Review"Heather Graham captivates her myriad of fans with her latest thriller...The non-stop storyline is filled with crackling action and the detail needed to propel the plot to its exciting climax."--Harriet Klausner

"Versatile Heather Graham cranks up the fear factor in her gripping new tale of romantic suspense. Drop Dead Gorgeous delivers passion and terror."--Romantic Times

"Graham knows what readers want."--Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Graham's latest romantic suspense novel is the first of a trilogy set in the fantasy-drenched world of TV soap operas. When Hollywood legend Abby Sawyer develops severe Parkinson's disease, her daughter, soap star Jennifer Connolly, moves into the historic but slightly creepy Granger House to be by her side. What Jennifer doesn't know is that Abby's stepson, actor Conar MarkhamAa longtime thorn in Jennifer's sideAis not only going to be starring opposite her on the soap but is living in Granger House as well. Abby has secretly contrived Conar's new role to make it possible for him to watch over Jennifer, whom Abby is convinced is in danger from a threatening stalker. Naturally, Conar and Jennifer's sudden togetherness generates both conflict and sexual tension. When the soap's producers stage a Hitchcockian shower scene that eerily mimics a rash of real serial killings, matters come to a head. Graham (Tall, Dark, and Deadly) cleverly brings together classic elements of B-movie suspense (from secret stairways to screams in the night) with an appealing, if not entirely accurate, look behind the Hollywood set. The mystery plot, however, lacks both cohesiveness and tensionAdespite Abby's oft-repeated worries, Jennifer is never directly in peril until very late in the bookAand there's little true conflict in the romance, leaving it rather flat as well. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Onyx; First Edition edition (June 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451409159
• ISBN-13: 978-0451409157
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham was born somewhere in Europe and kidnapped by gypsies when she was a small child. She went on to join the Romanian circus as a trapeze artist and lion tamer. When the circus came to South Florida, she stayed, discovering that she preferred to be a shark and gator trainer.

Not really.

Heather is the child of Scottish and Irish immigrants who met and married in Chicago, and moved to South Florida, where she has spent her life. (She has, at least, been to the Russian circus in Moscow, where she wished she was one of the incredibly talented and coordinated trapeze artists.) She majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over one hundred and fifty novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, horror, and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty-five languages, and has had over seventy-five million books in print. She has been honored with awards from Walden Books, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, the Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA and more. Heather has also become the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken Gulf region. She is also the founder of "The Slush Pile Players", presenting something that's almost like entertainment for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ugh!, July 2, 2000

By 

"kmkmtm" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Long, Lean, and Lethal (Paperback)

Jennifer is a 28-year-old soap opera actress. She is living with her ill mother, Abby, who has been hearing voices and talking to "people in the walls." Abby also believes that she has received letters threatening Jennifer's life, so Abby has called on her stepson, Conar, also an actor, to return to Hollywood to protect Jennifer. When young actresses start turning up dead "Hitchcockian style," everyone begins taking the "threats" against Jennifer seriously.

Jennifer is an idiot. When she's not having elementary school jealousies about her mother's affection for Conar, she's making a complete fool out of herself: Drinking until she throws up, tripping up stairs, making lustful sexual innuendoes when she REALLY only means to insult Conar, bumping into doors, "accidentally" flashing her breasts in public places ... And Conar, well, he just spends most of his time laughing at her. Oh, and let's not forget Abby telling Jennifer that Jennifer really should have sex more often; then she wouldn't be so cranky. Ooh, yeah! We've come along way, baby!

Early on in the book, Conar and Jennifer are told, and are given proof, that there are secret passages in their house. Both feel as if "they are being watched" most of the time. Do either of these characters experience natural, human curiosity and try to search out those passageways? Do either of them think that maybe someone could be hiding in those hidden passageways? Oh, no. They just sleep with baseball bats close to hand and inanely wonder if "a house could have eyes."

So much to gripe about ... so little space! Save yourselves! :-)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars snap, crackle and pop, June 12, 2000

By 

Xeneri - See all my reviews

This review is from: Long, Lean, and Lethal (Paperback)

Heather Graham's books snap, crackle and pop with energy and red-hot romance. Though fairly predictable, I really liked the intermingling of fantasy and reality of her latest book, LONG, LEAN and LETHAL. Set in the world daytime soaps, the fantasy of the show begins to entwine with the mundane (and sometimes deadly) world of reality. I immediately fell in love with the concept - not to mention the leading man. And I also enjoyed the strength and attitude of the heroine. Witty, charming and full of dramatic energy, it's a great escape book - watch it when you are in need for your "soap fix" for the day.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hideous heroine...silly storyline...dumb dialogue, July 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Long, Lean, and Lethal (Paperback)

I've never written an Amazon review before and normally wouldn't take the time to do so, but this book was so bad that I feel compelled to warn others not to spend the $ on it. The heroine was a whiny, immature brat that you could never quite like and there were so many characters that you couldn't warm to any of them. The storyline was hokey. The dialogue was so stilted and unrealistic that I nearly didn't finish to book--and now I wish I hadn't bothered. This book is so different in quality from her previous books that either she pounded it out in two days to meet her publisher's deadline or she was possessed by a "bad writer" demon during its creation. I guess we'll never know...