Imperfect Strangers

During a flight from London to New York, while watching Hitchcock's film Strangers on a Train, Sandy Kinsolving and a neighboring stranger commiserate with each other over their spousal headaches, a conversation that has deadly implications. 100,000 first printing. $150,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Though Woods's (Heat) latest caper provides all the credibility of a soap opera, the novel also offers some of the guilty pleasures attendant to that TV format. When wine merchant Sandy Kinsolving meets art dealer Peter Martindale on a flight from London to NYC (the novel's primary locations), they are inspired by watching Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train to hatch their own version of that classic plot-in which two strangers each agree to commit murder for the other. It seems that both men have "troublesome" wives, so why doesn't Sandy kill Peter's spouse and Peter return the favor? After one lady is duly offed, however, events careen out of control. In fact, so many subsequent episodes occur (many of them preposterous and too tidily handled) that the murder pact gets lost. As often happens in the world of soaps, a glossy veneer lends an air of sophistication-a corner suite at London's Connaught Hotel, a cashier's check for $28 million-and, also, of unreality. (Even the dialogue begins to smack of Noel Coward.) Enjoyable for a time, the tony tinsel is overtaken by a blandness that ultimately undercuts the novel's would-be dramatic and psychological aspects. BOMC, QPB alternates; Harper Audio.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A retake of the Alfred Hitchcock movie Strangers on a Train (1951), this would-be thriller by the author of Dead Eyes (HarperCollins, 1994) begins when Sandy Kinsolving and Peter Martindale make a bargain to kill their wives. Before Kinsolving can pull out, his wife is murdered; must he follow through as well? Unfortunately, the author blunts the suspense by allowing his wealthy characters to solve their problems with money rather than wits. Worse, he leaves major plot details unexplained (e.g., Who killed the woman in the gallery, and why? Why did Cara get into the limousine? What happened to the old doorman?) and falls back on a struggle-for-the-gun climax instead of resolution. The fun part of the story involves all the trappings of great wealth: limousines, caviar, chartered jets for cross-country flights, and stays in fancy hotels. For large collections only. [BOMC and Quality Paperback selections; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/94.]-Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Information Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal.
--Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Information Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Woods is a book-a-year man, a pace that has improved rather than eroded his skills. His thirteenth novel is a neat piece of work that combines a takeoff on Strangers on a Train with an homage to Patricia Highsmith and Alfred Hitchcock. Woods' "imperfect" strangers meet on an airplane. Sandy Kinsolving is an attractive, well-dressed man of means. He's flying from London to New York because his father-in-law, who's bankrolled his lucrative wine-selling business, has just had a stroke. Sandy and his wife are far from close, and he's concerned that his father-in-law's death will have unpleasant financial consequences. His seatmate, Peter Martindale, also a well-dressed man of means, is a gallery owner based in San Francisco. It seems that he and his wife are also on the outs, and he, too, stands to lose his livelihood. The two men drink scotch and watch, yes, you guessed it, Strangers on a Train. They have the sort of heart-to-heart strangers indulge in, and Peter proposes that they murder each other's wives. The trick here is to complicate matters, and Woods succeeds admirably. He also gives us the vicarious pleasure of reading about the very rich, who never have to wait for anything, even death. Donna Seaman