review 1: I went into this book with some reservations as it is not my normal style. But I am glad I picked it up and read it. This book is not a fast paced one but I found myself drawn into the story as it meanders its way through the pages. The characters were well developed and very easy to believe. This book for me delivered on numerous levels. There was the thriller aspect of the mysterious packages and the news clippings of seemingly accidental death being shoved under our main characters door. Then there was the relationship angle of the book that helped drive the story along. As for the ending all I can say is it was a well formulated and executed shift in the narrative of the book. To sum it up I was glad I took a chance with this book as I was well rewarded by a refreshing... more and entertaining read. review 2: The book is a unique blend of chick-lit and thriller in an unusual setting and with an unusual theme at the centre - the concept of sacrificial and compensatory karma. The author revs up the tension with her main character, the singer and wannabe rock star, Valda, who speeds through life in a sequence of emotional car crashes until she washes up on Dubai's shores at the feet of the mysterious Sheikh, who, whilst pretending to be her patron, has his own needs to satisfy. And boy does Valda satisfy them until she realises, when in very deep, that she has predecessors with the same experience. The only problem is she can't consult them because they are all dead - in suspicious circumstances. So what does a resourceful girl do when she needs her fortune telling? She consults an astrologer. Enter Lara, who has a name to come in this book. There are little oases of stillness when the author takes us on leisurely tours of the City State's night spots and its haute cuisine; we rub shoulders with the beautiful and rich but we never travel far from that naqging question of destiny and the price you have to pay to change it. The work builds up to a tense and truly novel conclusion and, if I had a beef, it would be that she takes the ending by storm instead of allowing us to savour it a little more. All in all a cracking debut with some very good stuff going on in there. less
