The Secret

This one is more like Harold the Storyteller. Some of his more recent work has been as much about sex as it has been about character development-and some rather debased sex at that. Which was a shame-over his long career, Harold Robbins has created some of the most interesting and sympathetic characters I have ever encountered in fiction. Film industry pioneers. Union leaders. South American revolutionaries. Young prizefighters. Auto industry pioneers. You name it. This one is the sequel to "The Predators", the story of a lingerie industry magnate (??) and it's two novels in one-a father and his son. It switches back and forth between the two men in the way Evan Hunter's "Sons" did with three generations of American fighting men. There's one small flaw in this book which is more amusing than off-putting-in the early stages of father Jerry Cooper's setting up the undie company, he has to deal with some mob types, and I'm afraid Harold Robbins is no Mario Puzo there. You get a family with the name Boiardo and of course the head of the family is called "Chef". They have a cousin named Napolitano and everybody calls him "Ice Cream". Otherwise, this is a pretty decent book. Part of Cooper & Son's business dealings involve a subsidiary in Hong Kong around the time of the "Handover" to China (coincidently, I just finished a Stephen Coonts book set there at that time). Being that clothing is involved, the issue of sweat shop labor comes up. This is hardly a landmark book for Robbins, but it's more consistent with why I was one of his steady readers for decades. What a relief-I thought he was totally losing it. At least he goes out with something readable. Gonna miss ya, old timer.