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Bloodline
by Sidney Sheldon
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (1988-11-15)
ISBN: 0446357448
EAN: 9780446357449
Dewey Decimal #: 813.54
Unknown Binding: 464 pages
SKU: 102
Condition: Very Good
Comments: Binding: Softcover. Condition: Very Good. Slightly creased binding.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The daughter of one of the world's richest men inherits her father's company and faces a plot to destroy the company. 2 cassettes.
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Customer Reviews
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A good formula at work.
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-10-22
Sidney Sheldon remains as one of the few writers who really know how to move a story, keep his readers absorbed and root for a protagonist. He was skillful at constructing a complicated plot, and had the main storyline intertwined with the numerous side stories. I also like how the author was comfortable with writing about any time, place, or setting. He adapted to them all very well, as any good writer would.
He also knew when to throw a twist at a reader. Sometimes it's comes as a pleasant surprise; sometimes you could hear yourself say "oh, this was totally unnecessary."
Sidney Sheldon's books are soap operas wrapped in the paperback (or hardcover). He adroitly strikes chords and rattles reader's nerves. His novels are what critics typically call an "absorbing, fast-paced page-turner." However, if you read more than one of his novels you will notice couple things.
First, he never bothered with complex descriptions of physical appearances. His characters are all good-looking, men have "arresting and sharp" glance and a "determined chin." Women are all with "soft", "silk", "sensual" bodies, "voluptuous", "provocative", "seductive" looks, "stunning" eyes and "shrewd" personalities. Sometimes, Sidney Sheldon got a tinge of inspiration and an "arresting look" became an "arresting intelligent look." But you get the point? Many writers label this "lazy writing". Lazy or not, Sidney Sheldon still sold his novels.
Second, frequently, his female characters have a bad first sexual experience. I don't know what the fascination Sidney Sheldon had with that, but their virginity was lost in "oh-how-I-wish-it-was-different" kind of way.
And, of course, here and there Sidney Sheldon gets carried away with complicating a story and inadvertently leaves some holes in the plot. But, hey, who doesn't?
So, what does all this have to do with "Bloodline"? Well, a lot. If everything I wrote above appeals to you, then it does not matter if I talk about this book or any other of his books. The review applies to them all. It's a formula.... the book, not this review ;-).
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Brilliant Writing
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-05-29
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Another fantastic, mind-gripping read, holding its audience from page one. Bloodline spins the tale of a family-run pharmaceutical conglomerate. Roffe and Sons has been passed down to the heirs of Samuel Roffe's family, Sam Roffe, the only male descendant and holder of the controlling interest of the company, Anna Roffe married to Walther Gassner, Ivo Palazzi, married to Simonetta Roffe, Charles Martel married to Helene Roffe and Sir Alec Nichols' mother had been a Roffe. Samuel Roffe, founder of the company, had decided from the beginning that his company never go public. His theory, "Never let a friendly fox into your hen house. One day he's going to get hungry." When Sam Roffe (an experienced climber) dies in a mysterious mountain climbing accident, Elizabeth inherits his controlling interest in the company. Suddenly, life-threatening events begin to happen to her as she holds onto her great-great grandfather's wishes after finding a book telling the story of Samuel Roffe's life and the tense, emotional and physical struggle he endured to build the company from the ground up. In her great-great grandfather's memory and approach, she is determined to keep the company private and uncover the person responsible for the evil doings within the upper echelon (that being one of four of her cousins) or possibly her father's right-hand man, Rhys Williams. Rhys, not being a member of the family, was brought into the company by Elizabeth's father, however, unless he married a Roffe, in this case, Elizabeth (since she was the only female left), would be unable to sit on the Board of Directors. Williams was always kind to Liz (is it merely business or personal?) who grew up without a father's presence in her life (just the comforts of his money). Liz felt, even though she harbored strong feelings for Rhys, she could not afford to trust him or anyone until she uncovered the person out to destroy all that Samuel Roffe had built. Each cousin has their own issues; Anna Roffe's husband is out to destroy their children, Ivo Palazzi is leading a double life with two families, Charles is being lead around by Helene as a boy toy, Sir Alec has married Vivian, a wild, crazy party girl and Rhys has worked long and hard his adult life for Sam without the benefit of even a share of stock in the multimillion dollar business. Each one has their own agenda for forcing first Sam and now Elizabeth to have the company go public and thereby attaining the financial means to destroy the "fly in the ointment" of their respective lives. I could not put this book down until the last page was turned. Sheldon is the "master of storytelling."
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Sidney's style of the movie "CRASH" is seen in BLOODLINE
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-07-11
The first book I ever read was "If Tomorrow Comes" and that will always be a landmark favorite in my favorites written by Sidney Sheldon. Having some time to recooperate this summer, I took upon myself to start reading - - that's when my mom offered "BLOODLINE." The book is written in such a fashion of the hit movie "CRASH" where he talks about every character and at the end, he brings them all together! I do agree with another reader that he took a long time talkin' about Elizabeth's roots within the family because she felt like she didn't belong or the plot took too long to develop the story in the beginning that would shy readers away. But now that I look back, ALL of that was necessary for the story to be the way that it was. Upon reading other reviews, I stumbled upon one that made sense: Sheldon never revealed to us who planted the microphone behind Samuel's picture in the office...Overall, I think this book was great...I found "If Tomorrow Comes" to beat it as far as quality. The book still had the page turners in the beginning telling the family history, but it wasn't until the very end that one twist after another comes rolling in, which is what Sheldon does best.
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COMPULSIVE!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-06-09
This is master storyteller SIDNEY SHELDON at his best! The plot is breath-taking. The characters are rich and well described. Unputdownable. Finished the book in 2 days
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Terrible prose
Rating  (1)
Date: 2005-12-14
0 out of 13 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was the first novel I've read by Sydney Sheldon. The character development, plot development and prose is drivel compared to books by Greg Iles, Joseph Finder, Nelson DeMille, Richard Crais, Michael Connelly, Sheldon Siegel, and Richard North Patterson. Its so bad, I'm throwing the book out so I won't make the mistake of rereading it. Raise your standards people!
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