Ransom

I was hesitant to pick up this DS book, because lately, her quality of writing and storylines have been lacking. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed Ransom, and couldn't put it down. The storyline was very different for DS, and I enjoyed the de-emphasis on romance. However, the repitition in novel after novel is becoming too much. How many times can you tell the reader that the main character is so wealthy, beautiful, powerfully built, etc. She also has a tendency to make her female leads seem pathetic. However, Ransom was a welcome change with engaging characters, a page-turning plot and suspense.

Steele threw in a little more action than usual. There were a lot of parts where I couldn't put the book down. The beginning was a little drawn out, especially when the guys get out of prison and are re-introduced to the real world, blah, blah, blah. The end was fairly predictable. My only Steele peeve is that she descbibes characters personalities over and over and over! Besides that I really liked Fernanda and all of the characters for that matter. If the average Seele read is a 5 this one is a 6.

As you're reading Ransom, you do get the feeling that yet again, D. Steel is trying to find some new magic to maintain her readership and capture their interest...give them reason to keep hanging on. Does she succeed? Not quite, but she doesn't fail entirely.Ransom is one of the first times that I can think of (after reading all 60 of her books) that she attempts a bit more of a calculated and complex storyline- merging 3 into one. She does ok at this, the central story line is about a family who's near poverty after the father lost his millions in the stock market and committed suicide-leaving the mother and her 3 children on their own. And with all of that to handle, the change from living as millionaires to saving every penny and selling off all of their belongings; now they have to handle the threat that someone is out to committ a crime against the family, testing them further. Of course, like any D. Steel book there's a bit of romance, but actually not too much compared to the suspense that she tries to create. She really does make an effort to make this book different from her others and she half-succeeds. Yes, I enjoyed the stories and the ending. I even liked the characters, but yet again, I just felt like something was missing. This book is not my favorite of hers, not up to par with her previous books Heartbeat, No Greater Love or Jewels. Perhaps in an effort to pump out a large number of books, she's sacraficed quality.

While I did enjoy "Ransom", I didn't feel that this was one of DS best books. I was happy to see that it wasn't the same old, same old as some of her previous books. I did not, however, like the mystery aspect of the book. I found the middle of the book to be dull and found myself skipping whole paragraphs at times. Mystery/thriller novels are not DS style. I did enjoy Ted and Fernanda's exchanges throughout the book, and Sam was my favorite character.

I have been a fan of this writer for a very long time and have enjoyed many of her novels but this one (i think), is my all-time favourite! I started reading it one night and didn't want to put it down...so i didn't, I just continued reading it until it was finished. I know you will love it as much. Give it a try!