The latest from the indefatigable Sheldon is full of manipulators, dirty dealers, and dastardly rascals, all snatching at power--political, financial, sexual, or all the above; in other words, business as usual in Sidney's World. The Best Laid Plans begins with the meeting and mating of Oliver Russell, a promising young attorney-cum-gubernatorial candidate, and Leslie Stewart, the beautiful go-getter who is running his public relations campaign. Just as the pair is about to be wed, Russell's mentor, Senator Todd Davis, offers him a deal he can't refuse: marry my daughter and I will make you president. Russell accepts and Stewart vows revenge. The lion's share of The Best Laid Plans revolves around the young pol's rise to power and Stewart's byzantine plotting to bring him to grief. Russell gives his phony wife plenty of opportunities because, like every fictional president (and some real ones), Russell has an unruly libido. Reading this book is like waiting for a train wreck, bracing for the inevitable collision; but to Sheldon's credit, the titanic scandal that ends the novel is not quite what you expect...
From Library Journal
A power-hungry Southern governor and his scorned lover collide in this latest from the ever-popular Sheldon.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Schlockmeister Sheldon (Morning, Noon and Night, 1995, etc.) outdoes himself with an overcharged (albeit eminently readable) tale about a randy American president and the vengeful newspaper heiress he done wrong. Leslie Stewart, a brainy and beauteous ad agency exec, falls hard for a handsome client, attorney Oliver Russell, whose campaign for the governorship of Kentucky began foundering when he lost the support of Senator Todd Davis after two-timing Davis's daughter Jan. The crafty, powerful lawmaker soon engineers a reconciliation between Jan and Oliver, who unhesitatingly sacrifices Leslie on the altar of his political ambition. In short order, the happy pair find themselves the Bluegrass State's first couple while embittered Leslie heads to Arizona, where she eventually becomes the trophy wife of wealthy businessman Henry Chambers. Henry obligingly dies two years later, freeing Leslie to expand his media holdings in aid of her obsessive desire to get even with the inconstant Oliver. Years later, as the Russells are moving into the White House, the vindictive publisher acquires influential newspaper/television outlets in D.C., which she uses to rake up old scandals that put her erstwhile lover in a bad light. Further disclosures of adultery, murder, and other high crimes have the embattled chief executive on the ropes. In a startling reversal of fortune, however, the true villain of the piece is exposed on live TV, leaving Leslie with egg and more on her lovely face, and allowing Oliver to pursue a semi-noble agenda calculated to bring peace to the Middle East. A twisty yarn with few real surprises: Sheldon continues to exploit his special talent for getting down and dirty with the high and mighty. (Literary Guild selection) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
The Best Laid Plans
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The Best Laid Plans" tells the explosive story of the beautiful and ambitious Leslie Stewart, who learns that for some men power is the greatest aphrodisiac, and of Oliver Russell, the handsome governor of a small southern state, who finds out why hell has no fury like a woman scorned. With the unexpected twists and turns that are the hallmarks of his novels, Sidney Sheldon spins a tale of two equally determined people headed on a collision course. Oliver has a strategy to win the White House; Leslie has a scheme to make him wish he'd never been born. They both should have known that even the best-laid plans can go dangerously astray...with deadly consequences. "The Best Laid Plans" takes readers inside two of America's most powerful and ruthless institutions: the world of politics with its scandals, corruption, and cover-ups; and that of newspaper publishing, where it is not unusual to use the power of the press to destroy lives - or bring down heads of state - in pursuit of a story or to settle a score.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Washington politics, a jilted woman's revenge and the war in Bosnia plague an idealistic but lecherous president in Sheldon's latest tale of beautiful people, money and deception. On his way up the ladder of success, Oliver Russell breaks his engagement to Leslie Stewart, a stylish, intelligent public relations executive who knows how to nurture a grudge. Leslie marries a rich old man, turns her husband's fortune into a news empire, waits to go after Oliver until he occupies the White House and then hits him with every scandal-ridden headline she can muster. Sheldon ("Morning, Noon, and Night", etc.) peoples his story with familiar yet colorful supporting characters: the old-style back-room politician, the go-getter young journalist, the self-serving spin-doctor. The plot twists will fool very few readers, yet they manage to keep the pages turning, while scenes like the first encounter between the journalist and the Bosnian orphan boy she takes into her care are touching despite their unoriginality. In short, Sheldon once again proves himself the master of the made-for-TV novel. The vindictive heroine, a cross between Katharine Graham and Farrah Fawcett, provides the one special element that sets this work apart from other easily read and easily forgotten fiction by this eternally bestselling writer. Literary Guild selection.
Library Journal
A power-hungry Southern governor and his scorned lover collide in this latest from the ever-popular Sheldon.
Variety
Gripping.
People
Venture too far into 'Plans', you'll probably be up late flipping pages.
New York Daily News
When you want a novel you simply cannot put down, go to Sheldon.Read all 6 "From The Critics" >
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