Score! [Hardcover]

Jilly Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 20, 1999

Jilly Cooper's latest story is about loneliness in high places, and heroism and passionate love triumphing against the odds. Sir Robert Rannaldini has two ambitions: first, to seduce Tabitha and second to conduct Don Carlos, Verdi's darkest opera. Rannaldini is writing his memoirs, and from that moment his fate is sealed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Romance, glamour, seismic sex and delightful comedy...this book is a slice of heaven: pure, blissful escapism."--Kate Saunders, New Statesman

"Has all the usual Cooper ingredients, fantastically attractive male and female characters, lots of extra-marital affairs and dollops of good humour, but there is a difference in this novel as it is also a murder mystery."--Linda Roberts, Daily Mail

"I drew back in some alarm when told on its jacket that Score! was wildly funny, unashamedly romantic, terrifyingly creepy. I pressed bravely on nonetheless, and found with surprise that Score! is indeed all these things and even more"--John Bayley, The Spectator --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

Sir Roberto Rannaldini, the most successful but detested conductor in the world, had two ambitions: to seduce his ravishing nineteen-year-old stepdaughter, Tabitha Campbell-Black, and to put his mark on musical history by making the definitive film of Verdi's darkest opera, Don Carlos.

As Rannaldini, Tristan, his charismatic French director, a volatile cast and bolshy French crew gather at Rannaldini's haunted abbey for filming, it is inevitable that violent fewuds, abandoned bonking, temperamental screaming, and devious plotting will ensue. But although everyone wished Rannaldini dead, no one actually thought the Maestro would be murdered. Or that after the dreadful deed some very bizarre things would continue to occur.

SCORE! is Jilly Cooper's most thrilling novel to date. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 659 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Press (July 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0593042263
• ISBN-13: 978-0593042267
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,615,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not her best but still an excellent read, December 14, 1999

By 

Catherine (Gisborne, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Score! (Hardcover)

I am a big Jilly Cooper fan and was very excited to see a new book out. I found it to be a really good read and was pleased to see that Tabitha Campbell-Black was one of the main characters. It was a bit different to the others, as the second half was a murder mystery. While the killer was obvious to me pretty early on, I still found it quite scary near the end. The only thing that was disappointing was that so much time was spent on the exploits of the secondary characters and not enough on the romances between the main characters, Lucy, Tristan, Tabitha etc. However, it was still a great read. I hear her next book will be set in the art world and feature Rupert's brother. I hope it won't be too long before it's finished!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super!, September 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Score! (Hardcover)

I am (yet another) huge fan of Jilly Cooper's!! I absolutely adore her characters, she actually dares to make the heroes and heroines into basic humans in the sense that they can all be rather nasty! She obviously hates hypocrites and loves animals which makes her even better!! Score! is admittedly not her absolute best, but since several of her other "Rutshire-books" deserve at least a six stars, well..... The book is full of funny one-liners and passionate people. I read it really quickly at first, because I was curios to see how the whole thing ended, now I am re-reading it for the language and details! I do hope she will write more...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre, November 7, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Score (Paperback)

I am afraid I agree with the lady who said that this was rather silly, whilst I am a massive fan of Jilly Cooper and devoured the last five (Riders, Rivals, Polo, the Man who, and Appassionata)novels with relish, I was extremely disappointed at the ludicrosity of the plot.
It starts off reasonably well, what with the Marriage of TABITHA CAMPBELL BLACK to her the son of her father's long time rival jake, ISA LOVELL, and the author depicts the relations between these and others well. There are some old favourites, such as Rupert, Ranaldinni and Taggie and Flora Seymour, but the author introduces a whole new array of characters and quite frankly, there are far, far too many to be getting to know properly.

Once the sinister air of foul play starts creeping into the plot, this is when things start getting ridiculous. I see the author's point - to keep the readers guessing as to who the murderer is - but the climax, when we finally do find out, is so ridiculous and completely unbelievable that you are left wondering what the hell that was all about....??

The "love Story" part of this book is also completely unbelievable, there is absolutely no warmth or chemistry between the two characters involved, this book is nothing like the magic that she has written before but, nevertheless, if you're on holidays and there's nothing else around, then it does while away a couple of hours.

Come on Jilly, you can do much better than that.