From Publishers Weekly
Kilian ( By Order of the President ) immediately wins readers in this initially intriguing thriller, only to lose them when the plot takes a different direction. His hero is A. C. James, reporter turned social columnist for the New York City newspaper owned by his wife. After a fashion show, at which he is smitten by ravishing blonde model Camilla Santee, A.C. witnesses the shooting of model Molly Wickham by a passing motorcyclist. Black detective Ray Lanham is assigned to the investigation, during which A.C. meets Camilla, whose air of mystery excites him as much as her beauty. While A.C. searches for the truth about Camilla and her family, Lanham investigates the murder; the two plot lines converge as many of Camilla's acquaintances add to the body count. Kilian's story gets out of hand as the corpses pile up; Camilla lacks emotional credibility; and Lanham, more appealing than A.C., uncharacteristically throws police procedure out the window. Readers may wonder whether the resolution of all this justifies their patient efforts.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Chicago Tribune columnist and thriller writer Kilian ( Dance on a Sinking Ship , LJ 3/1/88) has penned this story of deceptive appearances. A.C. James, a 40-ish New York society columnist whose marriage seems headed for the rocks, falls helplessly in love with gorgeous blonde model Camilla, and then witnesses her beautiful black colleague shot dead in the street. Spurning the good advice that "with these ladies, what you see is seldom what you get," A.C., a gentleman and a romantic, casts himself in the role of chevalier to the obviously troubled Camilla. He is beaten up, shot at, and fired from his job as he follows her from New York to Bermuda, Washington, D.C., and finally to her native South Carolina. Ultimately, A.C. accepts that Camilla can only be a fantasy for him and that he must try to salvage his real life in New York. Fast-paced with undertones of Southern gothic.
-Patricia Y. Morton, State Lib. of Pennsylvania, HarrisburgCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
