Power Play by Danielle Steel



Reviewed by Desere

Power! It is the one magic word in life that can make or break even the best of us. Everyone craves it but not everyone knows how to deal with it when they finally have it.

For most people it changes them to such drastic ends that they become people no one wants anything to do with. In this the new Danielle Steel read she shows the difference between learning to exert one's power and abusing it to the point where it all comes tumbling down.

The book focuses on the lives of two CEO's, both successful and playing the power card in their own way. For Fiona Carson she uses the rush of power to push harder each day in making a multibillion- dollar company reach new heights in the business industry. Yes she is lonely after a divorce but the time and energy it takes to run the company and take care of her children leaves little time to sulk over the past, and for her she accepts that isolation and constant pressure is all part of being successful in a man's world.

Then we have Marshall Weston, he basks in the glory of his success. He has a beautiful wife that goes all out to make sure clients are impressed at all times, she is the perfection of loving wife. But he has a secret so shocking that when voiced will not only destroy his perfect life, but the lives of his wife and children.

So you have Fiona that uses her power for good, well good towards others as let's face it keeping the employees of any firm happy and in good spirit is always a bonus, and then you have Marshall who uses his power to obtain the trust of others who are blinded by his power , and believe me this man has so such a large dose of power that it makes him a " the more power I have the more charm I have" character.

With both the lives of the characters being delved into by the author, it made for very interesting reading. I enjoyed seeing the differences being shown by the author in both characters and how power has a different outcome on both their lives.

The book had corporate spies and lies, destructive family secrets and a look into how different types of people both holding the cards to success and how they play the hand. A very enjoyable afternoon read that I personally felt would take me a while to get through , after the first few chapters started out a little slow, but soon became very interesting and got me hooked in wanting to find out the what, the who and the how, I ended up reading it in on sitting.

I am taking away a message of when we have power it all comes down to how we use it. If you abuse it, the band is for sure to come off the wagon at some stage, how you make it work then is up to you. And if you overuse it , then you are for darn sure going to drown yourself to the point where it does not feel like it's worth it at all anymore.

I recommend this read for fans of books that have realism and good strong emotion, with a little unexpected twist and turns here and there, that will as it did me shout out" What? No, that did not just happen!"

4 star review
" Power can be the downfall that no one sees coming" 

** Complimentary review copy received from Random House Struik, South Africa