DANGER ZONES

Bestselling romancer Beauman pushes all the right buttons in this thriller that reintroduces the two protagonists of Lovers and Liars (1994), albeit in supporting roles. A mysterious new drug called White Dove, and the evil figure who dispenses it—an equally mysterious young man known only as Star—are at the heart of this hypermodern novel set behind the closed doors of the glitterati all across Europe. Deeply involved in the intrigue are fashion designer and notorious recluse Maria Cazaräs and her constant companion (maybe lover) Jean Lazare, who is witnessed acquiring a large quantity of White Dove for his own, unexplained purposes. The Cazaräs collection is soon to be shown in Paris, and fashion editor Lindsay Drummond is headed for London to assume her front-row seat for the show. Handsome Rowland McGuire, however, the new features editor at her paper, has other ideas: He wants Lindsay, and her friend—top-notch reporter Gini Hunter (who, with her lover, photographer Pascal Lamartine, is a Lovers and Liars carry-over)—to get to the bottom of the Cazaräs/Lazare/White Dove connection, on which he has accumulated a fat file of clippings and questions. Two teenage girls disappear from a rave staged by Star in rural England. One later turns up dead, and the search for Mina, the other, last seen leaving the party with Star, becomes entangled with the sordid fringes of the fashion world; eventually, it is McGuire himself, with Gini as a partner, who undertakes an investigation that could rip the lid off the White Dove conspiracy. Sparks fly between McGuire and Gini as they hunt for Mina, Star, and the keys to all of the mysteries, but it takes the involvement of Lindsay's best friend, fashion photographer Steve Markov, to set the wheels of justice in motion. Certainly tawdry, undeniably silly at times, but, overall, a gem in the genre: enough sex, backstabbing, and underworld dealing to satisfy the most demanding fans.