Master Of The Game by Sidney Sheldon-Review

A truely very interesting and spellbounding novel. To say the truth the title of the novel describes the author better, rather than the characters. Indeed it is Sidney Sheldon who is the real MASTER OF THE GAME. I've read many works of his like "Best Laid Plans", "Are You Afraid Of the Dark", "A Stranger in the Mirror" etc but this particular novel really had the plot very well built.
I feel that this is one novel you will not want to put down. Once you start reading , you are hooked into getting nothing else accomplished in your life except completing this amazing book. It can be well said that Sidney Sheldon is one writer who excells in capturing romance, twisting plots, greed, intrigue, and a furthering menu of exciting characters...

A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE STORY (source: bukisa.com)

KATE BLACKWELL matriarch of the family flashes back to her ancestors starting with Jamie and his unlikely union with her mother MARGARET VAN DER MERWE.....
The story begins in 1883 with JAMIE MCGREGOR leaving his homeland of Scotland in pursuit of a fortune in the diamond mines of South Africa...After a lot of struggle Jamie eventually becomes successful and rich, but not without consequences.... He goes through an unwanted marriage ,eventually has a daughter named KATE who takes over the business her father had started..... Kate marries into the company and makes running it the primary focus of her life. However her son, TONY BLACKWELL is less enchanted with the business world and wishes to be a painter.... which dissappoints Kate enormously....
Kate is in desperate need for someone to take over the business before she dies. Tony married ,has twin daughters, Eve and Alexandra. The two look exactly the same, but are actually as different as night and day. ...Kate has the enormous task of testing the two before coming to any decision....
The story spans over a few generations..the underlying theme of struggling to survive/get ahead despite shady folks with shady deals is what makes the story interesting...
I feel that this is one novel you will not want to put down. Once the you start reading , you are hooked into getting nothing else accomplished in your life except completing this amazing book..
It is known that Sheldon likes to write stories about strong women. ..no doubt that many of the female characters in this story are strong, but most of them don't fare particularly well...
Kate is a strong woman no doubt, always knowing what she wanted and would stop at practically nothing to get it, but she is also ruthless and not too concerned with what the others might want of their life. Margaret is a doormat, who allows Jamie to treat her in a shabby manner... Alexandra is naive.... and Eve simply isn't human at all...No doubt that the writer needs to sketch different personalities, and not everybody cares too much about these minor flaws...
But somewhere at the end , I think Kate realizes that no matter how much money and recognition one gets, it can't buy you everything in life....namely Happiness..
However the book takes the reader through an amazing saga from the roots of severe poverty to the height of wealth. Sheldon takes us on an amazing journey with the twists and turns of each character and how one is connected to the other by improbable forces ......creates a book that is not only entertaining but spellbinding.