Product Description

Wellington, New Zealand. Gayle Sterling is vacationing with her daughter Dylan when they're in an accident with a drunk driver. They are quickly taken to hospital, Gayle with a fractured femur and all the bones in her right foot broken, Dylan with a punctured lung. Just before surgery, her doctor assures Gayle that both she and her daughter are going to be fine.

Long Beach, California. Psychiatrist Sanford (Sandy) Sterling is called away from a charity function to the site of the new Sterling Hotel. Gina Sealy, one of his patients is out on a fifteenth floor balcony of the newest hotel in the family hotel group, threatening to jump. She'd called the media, because she's in love with Sandy and she thinks he doesn't want her. Newsman Nick Nesbitt is on the ground with a news van, Gina is wired for sound and Sandy has to talk her out of jumping with the whole world listening in.

Newport Beach, California. Haley Harrison and Taylor Sterling are lounging around by the Sterling's pool when all of a sudden Taylor feels a sharp pain in her chest. "Dylan," she cries. She knows immediately her twin is in pain. She tries to get a hold of her father, Senator Stacy Sterling, who is running for the Presidency of the United States, but his cell phone is off. She calls his administrative aid in Washington and has him book tickets for herself and Haley on the next flight from L.A. to Auckland.

San Francisco, California. While his wife and daughter are in surgery in New Zealand, while his younger brother is trying to keep a desperate girl from jumping in Long Beach, and while his other daughter and her best friend are frantically worrying about Gayle and Dylan, Presidential Candidate Stacy Sterling is in the penthouse sweet of the San Francisco Sterling, making love to a teenage prostitute.

Wellington, New Zealand. Sandy, Taylor and Haley arrive in New Zealand just in time for Haley and Taylor to say goodbye to Dylan before she dies. The tragedy draws Haley and Taylor close, they become lovers and that alone would be enough to shake Stacy's campaign to it's roots, but Dylan kept a journal on her laptop that falls into the hands of Nick Nesbitt who desperately wants a story that will put him on the map. Plus there is that little matter of the little girls the candidate likes to sleep with.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #635873 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Released on: 2005-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 340 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. Jack Stewart writes adventure thrillers that take place on the sea—good guys and bad guys in sailboats. He sort of does for sailboating what Dick Francis does for race horses. So when they teamed up to write their second thriller together, naturally one would expect them to turn out something like their excellent DIAMOND SKY, a woman in peril thriller that includes lots of sailboat action, but not so this time out. This time we have a book 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.

And there you see our problem, how do we classify this book. Douglas and Stewart write thrillers, not love stories. Especially not this kind of love story. Tender and romance are not words usually associated with these men, and though there is tenderness and romance in this story, 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. Yes, that's it, we'll call TANGERINE DREAM a political thriller. We'll call it that and we at Bootleg Press sincerely hope that you enjoy it.

From the Author
I didn't know we had this kind of story in us, perhaps we wouldn't have, if not for two gorgeous and generous ladies who prefer to remain anonymous. They are the real Haley and Taylor. They sailed away and are living their dream and to them we own an enormous debt. If you've a mind to read a good and true story, then give TANGERINE DREAM a chance. I think you might enjoy it. —Jack Stewart

When Jack and I started this book, we started a woman in pearl thriller. We intended lots of action as our heroines, inexperienced sailors, Haley and Taylor were first threatened by, then chased by some really bad, ugly, lowlife pirate guys from island to island in the South Pacific. But somehow, I don't know how, we got sidetracked. We wanted a love interest and thought we had it with Gayle and Sandy, but the book rapidly turned into Haley and Taylor's story and we thought, why can't they fall in love with each other. A risky deal for us, because neither one of us has any experience along those lines. Fortunately we met two wonderful women who were sailing around the world together. We got to talking, they read our manuscript, then they put us right and now we have a book that we are proud of. —Ken Douglas

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!