Review for the abridged audiobook.

736 pages is a daunting size for a book, so it seemed like a good idea to listen to the abridged audiobook version - and it didn't leave me feeling that I wanted to go back and read the book to fill in all the detail, as I sometimes do for something I've really enjoyed. It was well read by Laura Brattan, but I did lose track of some of the many characters and it's hard to trace back to find who people are on a CD. From other reviewers, I realise that the book tends to swerve off into sub plots in the full version and I was more than happy to avoid these.

This was my second Vincenzi novel (after Sheer Abandon) and I think my main problem with her books is that I don't particularly like most of the characters. At the centre of the novel is the marriage of Tom and Octavia Flemming, which appears firm and is even the subject of magazine articles, but soon shows signs of cracking. Hardly surprising when they both work so hard that they only seem to interact when they need something from each other professionally. Then there's Octavia's father, a complete control freak who I really disliked, even before he showed his true colours; I couldn't imagine what his girlfriend, Marianne saw in him! And finally, Octavia's best friend (sorry, I can't recall her name), who plays a much more significant role towards the end of the book - I can't say more here! My favourite character would have to be Octavia's baby, Minty :)

The plot is pure soap opera, with the inevitable adultery and business disasters. Nothing earth shattering or particularly novel.
My conclusion is, that I was more than happy to have had the benefit of the abridgment and I would listen to further books in this format, but I think it is unlikely that I would read another Vincenzi novel in full.