Rating-2.8Bloodline is my first Sidney Sheldon read. Mystery and crime-thrillers are my favourite genre, so of course I enjoyed the book, it was like a action-mystery packed, fast roller coaster ride. It's a 20th century book still the plots, character, everything is no less than a modern contemporary novel.But I'm not fully satisfied with the book, there are enough negative points to justify my complaint.The book opens with the death of Sam Roffe--president of the "Roffe and sons". It seems like an horrible accident at first but later things turns out very interestingly, pointing out that it was a murder. Elizabeth Roffe is the daughter of Sam Roffe, she was very ignorant child at her childhood but turns out to be a very beautiful and intelligent woman later. Rhys Williams is one of the most trusted people in Sam Roffe's list, where only a few people resides, he is a good-looking, charming and ambitious personality. There are many more characters, like-Samuel Roffe(the great-grandfather of Elizabeth), Hélène Roffe, Alec, Anna, Charles, Vivian, detective Max and many others. The plot is well written, some characters are very precise and neat. Elizabeth Roffe is protagonist of the novel, after her father's death, she has to take over his position and responsibilities. She proves to be a good leader, and constantly faces problems. Her determination to run the company well leads her to the revealation that her father was murdered and she was also trapped in a death-maze. After the revealation the novel moves faster and un-covers few more interesting facts.Major part of the book consists of back-stories, flashbacks and lust. Most of the couple, most of the time, are so horny that it looks disgusting. The characters are so driven by lust and sexual tension that the whole novel seems to move on this very subject, and that's the part where the whole novel gets disgraced, I believe that there could have been a different and better subject to fill in the voids and make the story move.Despite of everything, up to the second last chapter I was still sure that the end is going to be awesome, but alas! high expectations always lead to disappointment. The ending was like pouring cold water on so brilliantly plotted story. The culprit was caught, the most awaited part--ending, unfolds like any Hollywood movie's climax. But the ending was so unsatisfactory, a trusted and compassionate person throughout the story turns out to be the murderer and he dies the instant, he was caught. At last, suddenly after a few lines' explanation of his an another crime the book ends. Readers are left in haze, no explanation about other things, like--what was going on between Hélène and Rhys? What later happened with "Roffe and sons"? why Rhys kept the report and Hélène's letter hidden in his desk? When reading any mystery-thriller, readers hope that their every question would be answered at last. But here we are, left an-answered. Clearly a bad ending.There are a few more minus points, Sheldon creates so many brilliant characters, and there was the most brilliant one--detective Max, but neither Max nor Elizabeth was able to smell the lose thread and find the killer, instead he keeps hiding and committing crimes under their nose. Overall I am not very much impressed by this book. I have read better crime-thrillers than this one.But I still recommend it to those who love suspense-thrillers and mystery books(if you could ignore the end part, it would be a nice read).
3.5 - very solid book and very enjoyable book, not necessarily what I was expecting, but good nonetheless. The story revolves around Elizabeth Roffe and the descendants of Samuel Roffe who created a global pharmaceutical company. Elizabeth is forced to take over after her father, a man she loved but had a distant relationship with. The first half of the book goes into the extensive background of the Roffe family, beginning with their ancestor Samuel who started the company, then going into detail about Elizabeth's life growing up. We also learn of Elizabeth's cousins and their spouses, and their individual troubles that give each of them incentive to want to take the company public so they can sell their stock and get the money. This also gives each of them a motive to want to murder Elizabeth when she stands against them and decides to run the company herself. Then their is the outsider Rhys, whom Elizabeth has always loved and was her Fathers right hand man. He too, may have reason to want to be rid of her.I think the author wove a good story with a solid backdrop that helps invest you in the family and the company. I liked how he gave the background on the man who started the company, which was more interesting than I would have expected. We get a good enough background on each main character to understand their motivations, however, and this can be said about the plot line in general, we never really get to understand the characters from an emotional standpoint. I felt there was a certain distance that was kept between the readers and the characters. I think it was the format of the story, which had little dialogue and quickly brushed through each scenario before moving on. This was both good and bad, in that it kept the story moving when it could have easily been bogged down in technical or side stories, Yet it also felt rushed in many places. Some instances, I really wanted to know more. I think the mystery was done pretty well, each character had legit motivation. I also appreciated that even though this was written in 1970s, with the exception towards the end when the detective is using computers for research, I didn't feel this book was dated. I could almost forget it was set decades ago. References to cell phones and the Internet was not missed, nor did it feel unnatural.I just wish we could have been in Rhys's mind more. He intrigued me as the outsider. I felt there was so much potential there in terms of his perspective on the company and the family, so much more we could have learned. I understand that he had to be kept a mystery, but I would have loved to hear from him, even if just in conversations with Elizabeth. I felt he was almost the constant of the plot, but we only get briefly inside his head when we get his background, but I wanted to know more of his motivations in the present time.As such, I was left very unsatisfied with he ending. What had been his suspicions, had he suspected more than he let on? How did he really feel about Elizabeth all along? About the company? I just felt there was potential to him that went unexplored. I also wanted more follow up after the climax/killer is revealed. Just glimpses into how everyone ended up was not satisfying. I have so many questions about Anna/Walther, their kids, Ivo and his families, where did Charles go? What happened to the company? Did they turn around the ship? I wish there had been an epilogue or something, I needed more.
What do You think about Bloodline (1994)?
Elizabeth, as the center character in this story, was just a "victim" of her "Roffe and Sons" kingdom. As the only one daughter of her father who died in a mysterious way, she became one of the richest woman and also, one of the most wanted to be murdered. her journey, goal and desire in uncovering her daddy's murder brings her to some unexpected realities. from someone who's invisible in the enterprise, she reborn to be someone who's adorable, smart, pointing out her brilliant, pride, value and smartness. because of the pressure and condition she is forced to take actions. she just revealed out to be someone who finally could control this giant industries, the thing she won't ever dare to dream before. standing in the middle of big question, who can be trusted? her family? her relatives? her husband? or just herself?
—Made Rahayu
i never thought that i would like any book of this type with all its buiseness elements which not makes use of every single of ure braincell to understand it well. But whoa it seems like the opposite is true for me ,I got through this book quite well. Sydney sheldon have an amazing style of writing which will make the book easy to understand for a teenager like me, although it's an adult book but one of my friend recommended his work so i gave it a try. It turned out good . I'm mostly into YA genre but this one is cool too his writng style made me even more interested to check out his other works.The novel is well written starting with the death of sam roffe who is buisness tycoon after that picking up all the details about his buisness background and members of his family who are into it.And then finally solving the mystery of who killed him and tried to kill his daughter who is running the company after his death.I read this novel a long back . I want to give it 5 stars but then I remembered the ending of the novel which is not so well plotted. And you know however good the story is if the ending is not good then the whole story is just another waste of time. At first the author told the story of every other character who is a part of roffe family and at last proceeded to elizabeth's character. He wrote this book in two parts the first half is about the introduction of these charecters and the next half is discovery about the mystery. But everyone in this story has committed some kind of crime although it's not about killing sam roffe but still but author only showed who is the killer and that's all , it ended . It felt like the story is still not complete he never told the readers about the background of other characters who committed crimes like beating their wife, or marrying someone other. That is sort of depressing for me. There should be a sequel to this book so that people can get about what happens next.
—Victoria Mayor
All of us dream of somehow inheriting a vast fortune, but for Elizabeth Roffe, this inheritance comes with an invisible enemy. Inheriting Roffe Industries after her father's mysterious death, things start happening that convinces Elizabeth that someone, or some people, are trying to take over her fortune - even if it means taking her life.If the above plot has not moved you yet, then you probably have problems. The first few pages of this book is strongly gripping, forcing you to turn the pages and read it in one sitting. The ugly duckling to graceful swan that is Elizabeth's life is magical and full of beautiful imagery, her relationship with her stoic father very realistic and sympathetic. Fast-paced and dripping with exciting dialogue, this book will lead you on a thrilling roller coaster ride, only to have the ride stop at the top of the highest loop, the operator telling you that the ride is over.What happened to Elizabeth's cousins? To the other characters? I can't believe that a book with so much promise could end so utterly disappointing. Yes, it did solve the mysteries but it just fell flat. The author has created such vivid characters that one would think they would each be given endings befitting their flamboyance. I would have thought that great character development + original plot + sharp dialogue + brilliant author = smashing novel. But I was wrong, glaringly, stupidly wrong. Without giving away a spoiler, I would have thought that the discovery of the bad guy would be more complicated than what happened. It's so disappointing to learn that while guessing whodunit, it turns out, it's not even worth knowing, as this book is hardly worth reading. Flat, flat, flat.Obviously, I am very bitter about the ending, hence the low rating. But bad ending aside, this book is a superb story of maturity, love, wisdom, dysfunctional families, coveted fortunes, and gruesome murders and attempted murders. The author's storytelling is excellent, letting the reader see for him/herself what happens in each chapter, letting the reader feel and not just know, each word's impact in this story. I tried to get past the throng of questions and unresolved issues I had with the ending and the characters, but I just can't. I felt that it ruined the whole book for me. If you can be satisfied with how this turned out, then I admire you. Maybe it's my 'impatient reader' attribute kicking in again.If you're planning to read this book, go ahead. As I say over and over again, preference is relative. What may be dull and flat for me may be the most exciting for another person. After all, I have seen a number of good reviews on this book, I just can't be swayed by other people's opinion. Maybe I'm just a stubborn ox.
—Nina
