Book Review: The Santangelos by Jackie Collins

Blurb: A vicious hit, a vengeful enemy, a drug addled Colombian club owner and a sex crazed Italian family; the ever powerful Lucky Santangelo has to deal with them all. Meanwhile Max - her teenage daughter - is becoming the "It" girl in Europe's modeling world. And her Kennedyesque son, Bobby, is being set up for a murder he didn't commit. But Lucky can deal. Always strong and unpredictable, with her husband Lennie by her side, she lives up to the family motto - Never fuck with a Santangelo. 

Lucky rules the Santangelos always come out on top. 

The Santangelos is an epic family saga filled with love, lust, revenge and passion.

Review: Quite surprisingly, this is my first Jackie Collins' book and I think that when you read for the first time such a famous and acclaimed author, you kind of feel intimidated. Especially knowing that The Santangelos is the 10th (!) book about this family so most readers already know the characters inside out and feel part of the family. But when this stunning copy landed on my doorstep, I couldn't resist diving in and what I can assure you is that this can be perfectly read as a stand alone novel. Jackie Collins fills all the gaps easily (you don't feel like she's just feeding you information for the kick of it, it all flows perfectly) and soon you find yourself caring for this family as much as the most loyal fan.

I clearly saw why Jackie Collins has made such a big name for herself. Her opera soap-like style with so much drama, betrayals and revenge instantly captures you and the story moves at such a fast paced speed that you fly by the more than 500 pages of the story without even realising. Plus, the multiple points of view make you connect with the character a lot more and understand them and their actions a lot better.

I would say The Santangelos is a highly entertaining treat that takes you to a totally different world: Hollywood, Las Vegas, luxurious hotels and night clubs, and even drug lords and a middle east king! Certainly anything can happen! And with such volatile characters, Jackie managed to surprise me a couple of times with her clever twits. 

For a Jackie Collins' newbie, I found The Santangelos the perfect introduction to the family. I was really impressed with Lucky Santangelo as the main character and pillar of the family and knowing that she kicked even more asses in previous novels, I won't be able to resist picking some of her older books. But the cast of the novel certainly has something for everyone, difficult to choose a favourite (apart from Lucky) but quite easy to find someone to hate (that kind of character that you love hating).