Product Description

Everybody dreams about going to sea, but nobody every does. This is a story about three young women who did.

Tangerine Dream is a fast-paced, mainstream novel that reads like a thriller. It takes place in the South Pacific and Southern California. It's a different kind of love story, one full of sadness, betrayal, family secrets and a few surprises.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1287638 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From the Publisher
Sometimes it's hard to classify a book. Ken Douglas writes thrillers, usually about a woman in trouble--the walls are closing in on her, bad guys are coming fast and furious, she has nowhere to turn. But, TANGERINE DREAM is a mainstream novel that reads like a thriller, holds your attention like a thriller, quickens your pulse like a thriller, but it's not a thriller, not in the usual sense. There are no demented serial killers here, no ticking clock, no building full of innocents about to blow, no sailboat about to sink.

However, there is a fair amount of tense action in this well plotted mainstream title that focuses on two young women, Haley and Taylor, who have to grow up fast when Haley's best friend and Taylor's twin is killed by a drunk driver in Wellington, New Zealand, half a world away from their Newport Beach, California home. The girls fly to Wellington barely in time to say a tragic goodbye. They are devastated.

Taylor's father is running for president and on the surface he is every bit the loving husband and caring father she believes him to be. However he is hiding a dark secret and there are even darker secrets in the family closet. He wants to use his daughter's death to further his candidacy and he wants Taylor, the surviving twin, to come back to America and appear with him at campaign rallies to remind the voters of his loss. But in their grief Haley and Taylor discover they have feelings for each other, forbidden feelings if your father wants to be president.

This is a love story, but not like any you're familiar with. There is tenderness and romance in this story, but it's definitely not a romance novel. Maybe you could call it a political thriller, as the book drips with suspense and anticipation and rushes to a climax as we wonder if Taylor's father is going to ride a wave of emotion into the White House or if he's going to get what he has coming.

From the Author
My name is Ken Douglas and I've killed Jack Stewart. It was hard, he was a nice guy, but he had to go.

When my books first came out, I had a problem. I'd lived several years on a sailboat in the Caribbean, writing away. Too many books, it turns out, to be released at onetime under my own name. So I invented Jack Stewart and released two of my books (SCORPION and HURRICANE) under his name.

Jack is a character in one of my stories, still unpublished, but someday. The photo I used on line was of my good friend Dick MacPartland, who passed away at a very young fifty-four. Dick was a smuggler, pirate, real shoot 'em up outlaw, who smoked too many Camels. Using his photo was a way for me to kind of keep him around.

I wanted my name on TANGERINE DREAM, but I got caught up in the mystic of Jack Stewart, so I shard the billing with him as I did on one other book. I thought I'd be able to keep Jack going forever, but a couple readers put it together, so I figured it was time to come clean and do in Jack. So sadly, I've changed the cover, changed the name on the book and killed of my fictional pal. I'll miss him.

From the Inside Flap
"Oh, Lord!" Gayle jerks the wheel to the right, but too late. "Dylan," she cries as the oncoming car strikes them head on. Within minutes fire and rescue have her out of the car and on the way to surgery, but tragically her daughter Dylan dies in the hospital.

Dylan’s father can’t be located. He’s running for the Presidency of the United States and supposedly somewhere on the campaign trail, but actually he’s in the arms of a teenage prostitute.

Gayle decides to recover in New Zealand to avoid the media, but Nick Nesbitt, television newscaster, senses a story and will stop at nothing to get it.

Customer Reviews

Sexual Secrets of a Political/Business Dynasty Revealed
On the surface, the Sterling family is a model for all to aspire to . . . in keeping with the meaning of their name. Three brothers are leading successful, meaningful lives. Dr. Sanford Sterling is a caring psychiatrist. His brother, Senator Stacy Sterling, is a leading candidate for president. Stacy's wife, Gayle, is a well-regarded on-air newsperson in California. They have delightful twin daughters, Dylan and Taylor. The other brother, Simon, runs the family business which includes luxury hotels. Then tragedy rips the facade away from the family's respectability to reveal shocking sexual secrets. In the aftermath of the tragedy, each member of the family finds himself or herself shaken to the core . . . and fighting for survival. Some succeed while others do not. Their story unfolds against the drama of a presidential campaign, new-found love and tempests at sea.

The strength of Tangerine Dream is that the book's action is very fast. If you don't like one aspect of the story, you'll soon be on to another. The story line is very visual, and I could imagine each scene clearly in my mind. For those who are interested in love stories, Tangerine Dream provides a beautiful, touching look at how women may find love with one another.

I found the backdrop of sexual misbehavior by the Sterlings to be overdone. If there had been less of this aspect to the story, I would have rated the book higher. As a result, those who like a good titillating look at the perversions of the rich and powerful may rate the book higher than I did.

Although the action at sea was very exciting and interesting, I must admit that I don't know enough about sailing to really understand what was going on. If you know sailing, you will probably be very impressed by the graphic details.

My enjoyment of novels mostly relates to how sympathetic I feel towards the characters and how interesting I find their circumstances. In Tangerine Dream, I felt sympathy to those who were bereaved (as anyone would). Without that bereavement, I don't think I would have found the characters to be particularly sympathetic or interesting. As a result, I found myself detached from much of what happened in the book.

As I finished, I found myself thinking about the need to set a good example for my children. I hope I will succeed in accomplishing that important role for them.

A tangled web
This novel deals with contemporary social issues, e.g., inter-racial marriages, lesbian love affairs, corrupt politicians, investigative reporting, etc. The authors, in a way, act as advocates for tolerating other people's differences.

A wealthy owner of a hotel chain had two sons from a marriage, Stacy and Simon. When his wife dies young, he has an affair with a black housekeeper that produces a third son, Simon. The sons are raised together and each has a successful career. Simon takes over managing the hotels, Sandy becomes a successful psychiatrist, and Stacy becomes successful in business and then goes into politics. But Stacy is corrupted by the money and power.

As the story opens, Stacy's wife Gayle, and one of his twin daughters, Dylan, are on vacation in New Zealand when they are involved in a tragic traffic accident. When Dylan dies from complications, her secret journal is revealed, and family secrets start coming unraveled. There are some shocking relationships between family members, and a scandalous revelation about Senator Stacy Sterling that falls into the hands of investigative TV reporter Nick Nesbitt.

Some people don't survive, but some survivors make new lives for themselves as they find new directions. A significant part of the story is set in a hospital climate, but there is also a significant amount of sailing for those with a nautical interest.

I debated about my rating. I would give the novel an AO rating for adult only (there are some graphic sexual encounters), but it is a well written story with some unexpected relationships between the various characters.

This Book has it All.
"Tangerine Dream" opens with a nail-biting, breath-holding suicide attempt by a young woman, a non-hoper, but who eventually becomes the strongest character in the story. A large cast, all inter-related or inter-connected, fleshes out into real and memorable characters, while a seemingly non-stop series of convoluted occurrences and horrendous accidents keeps the reader's interest at boiling point. This book is one helluva ride, but it's not all tough going; a couple of heart-break tragedies, two (or is it three!) love stories, with hot, sexy scenes and tender interludes, unfold throughout its pages and at the end of the book there's a surprising twist in the tail. Read this book: you will remember it --- you'll even find yourself thinking about the characters in the book and wondering where they've got to now!