Book Review: Rogue

Author:Danielle Steel
Title: Rogue
Publisher: Dell
Publish Date: May 1988
Rating: 1 Stars
Book Blurb: Romance titan Steel doctors up a familiar formula with fresh results. Having had just about enough of the gadabout ways of dot-com millionaire and perpetual Peter Pan, Blake Williams, Maxine, 42, divorced him five years ago and is raising their three children (ages 13, 12 and six) while running a thriving psychiatric practice specializing in childhood trauma and adolescent suicide. Blake, meanwhile, is continent-hopping among houses in London, Morocco and New York, bedding nubile young things. Maxine and Blake have remained friends, but when a horrific teen suicide case leads Maxine to meet doctor and childless divorcé Charles West, she finally falls for the type of man she thinks she's always wanted: serious, responsible and a bit stuffy. A disaster makes Blake rethink his lifestyle, however, and Maxine suddenly has a choice to make. While Steel never locks in on her characters' emotions, she keeps the pages turning and offers a satisfying twist at book's end that most readers won't see coming.

Review: I finished this book and I deserve a cookie for doing so. The plot was cute, but the writing, OMG, how has Danielle Steel managed to keep her readers? In my creative writing class in high school, I was taught that characters were supposed to show you what was going on. The writer wasn't supposed to tell you, and that is what Steel does.

I actually thought maybe it was me and I did something I usually don't do when it comes to books, I went and read some reviews to see what other people though and guess what? I wasn't the only one.

The worst part about all this is that the book is titled Rogue, meaning you'd expect it to really be more about Blake, but it isn't. It is all about Maxine and her life after their divorce, which is really unbelievable.

How many women who divorce multi-millionaires only ask for child support? How many of these same women would be fine with their ex taking their children out with their new girlfriends that are half the age of the parent?

Then there was the new man in her life, Charles West. The guy was an ass (only word that fits him) from the minute he appeared in the story and he never got better. I can't figure out why Maxine wanted to marry him in the first place. He didn't like her kids or her life style.

Most of the time I wondered if she was telling herself she loved Charles to convince herself.

All of the characters were pretty two dimensional. You never really felt like you got to know any of of them, which doesn't make for a good book.

The blurb says the ending has a surprise twist, but it really isn't. Anyone with two brain cells could figure out the ending.

I gave this a one star, simply because I finished it and it would be hard to explain a 0 star review.