Private Scandals
By Nora Roberts 

     Nora Roberts does another fine job of weaving an intense story, making you wonder from page to page what will happen next. This is set in Chicago, with a woman who is the star of a popular TV talk show. It has definite undertones of Oprah.

     Angela Perkins is the star of the show. The first part of the book builds a close relationship between Angela and Deanna Reynolds, who works as a journalist and a newscaster. Deanna jumps every time Angela says "Jump" and she sacrifices a great deal of her own career to try to help Angela get ahead.

     Finn Riley, the network's sexiest journalist, has been a part of Angela's life in the past, and when he makes a dramatic return into her life on an airplane which is in danger of crashing, Angela is on hand to cover the landing-whether it ends in tragedy or success.

     By the end of the book, there have been murders, Angela has left for "the big time" in New York and Deanna has created a show that is threatening Angela's "big hit." I certainly did not see the end coming; it took me completely by surprise. I highly recommend it.

     The only downside of this book was that about half way through it, it sounded very familiar. I wasn't sure if it was just too predictable, but finally I looked at the copyright date and discovered that it was originally published in 1993. I then knew that I had read it before, and I have read many good books more than once, but I really wish when a publisher re-issues a book they would say so on the cover so a person knows that they might well have read it before.