“Lara knew exactly what she wanted. The question was how she was going to get it.”
The Stars Shine Down, by Sidney Sheldon
William Morrow, 1992
corporate thriller
400 pages (hardcover)
Lara Cameron is young and beautiful. Rising from a past she seeks to repress, she achieves her wildest ambition, creating a much-envied business empire. Then, overnight, all that has gone before, her fortune, her achievements, and her marriage – everything – is at risk.
Paul Martin, a brilliant but mysterious lawyer who is captivated by Lara, finally is faced with her desire for independence and his own compulsion not to let her go.
Howard Keller, Lara’s longtime friend and mentor, is torn between loyalty to her and maintaining a terrifying secret, one that must never be revealed – especially to Lara.
It is Philip Adler who offers Lara an exciting new world, but at a devastating price that threatens to destroy them both.
As a thriller, The Stars Shine Down was pretty terrible. I don’t even know why it’s classified as such, since nothing suspenseful or thrilling happens until about three-quarters of the way through the book.
But…
It’s so compulsively readable. Sidney Sheldon takes a plot that should have had me bored to tears and somehow turns it into something I just can’t put down. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about the writing, and yet it must be ingenious, because it certainly wasn’t the plot keeping me going.
The book starts in a strange way. The opening leads into a flashback, which then leads into another flashback. I was starting to find it ridiculous and thinking I’d probably DNF, because this wasn’t at all the book I’d been expecting… but I was a hundred pages in before I finally put it down. And by then, somehow, I was hooked.
And it only got better from there. Once Lara is grown, she becomes an interesting heroine, a fascinating contradiction. At that point, I was definitely reading more for her than anything else. But that still doesn’t explain how I got through the introduction, all through her childhood, without giving up.
Even now, I can’t quite understand what this book did to me. All I know is that I definitely need to read more of Sidney Sheldon.
Does The Stars Shine Down sound like something you’d pick up? What was the last book you read that caught you completely off-guard?
Cheap Thrills 
I have a feeling I read this book in college, when my mom bought me a couple of Sidney Sheldon books to read, since she’d enjoyed them when she was younger. I remember liking this one, and Master of the Game as well. It’s been a long time, but yes, Sidney Sheldon is definitely a good writer. I don’t know what it is about how he writes, etc., but he captivates you and you just can’t put it down.
Master of the Game is next on my list, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I go through all of his books. That’s the kind of writing I love. There’s nothing fancy about it, but you can’t seem to stop reading.
I read this one ages ago and liked it. In fact, I am sort of fan of Sidney Sheldon’s work!
Try the other ones as well. They are all very captivating!
I actually hadn’t heard of him until my mom gave me this book (someone had given it to her, but she knew I was more likely to actually read it). But I’m definitely a fan now as well! Thanks for stopping by!
Haha post-book confusion: I liked it, but goddamn I don’t know why! I’ve never read any Sidney Sheldon – there was one in our bookcase when I was a kid but it got donated before I managed to get my little fingers on it.
It’s so weird! I’m used to not being able to tell, for example, what makes a book a 5-star favorite… I can tell you why I liked it, just not why I love it. But this… I feel like I shouldn’t have liked it at all! But I really did! So strange…
It’s funny how this can happen! I don’t think I’ve ever ended up with a 4-star rating after being tempted to DNF early on, but I definitely have had books pull me through them almost against my will — it’s a very strange feeling. I’m glad you ended liking this one, even if you can’t really figure out why!
I feel like it has happened to me before, but I couldn’t tell you what book. I just remember having this feeling of being so glad I gave it a chance. It’s definitely rare, though.
It probably isn’t something I would pick up, to be honest, haha! While it does sound intriguing, it doesn’t sound like something I would really enjoy. I might end up being more confused than you were! :P
Still, I enjoyed reading your review. :D
Thanks! It was definitely a strange feeling… getting to the end of the book and being like, “Wait, what just happened?”
I went through a Sidney Sheldon OBSESSION when I was in junior high. I probably shouldn’t have been reading his books, but a friend of my mom’s had this huge collection and I just kept borrowing them.
I never went through a phase of reading books that I wasn’t supposed to be… but we also didn’t have a ton of books lying around. My mom is a very light reader, and mostly she and her sisters would read a series together, passing the books on to the next person as they finished. And my dad isn’t a reader at all. It’s kind of a wonder I turned out the way I did.
LOL re sj’s comment above — I also read a bunch of Sidney Sheldon was I was probably too young for it to be appropriate, so maybe it was the *gasp* shocking content (to a tween) that hooked me… but I did absolutely obsess over The Other Side of Midnight, which was probably the most daring thing I’d ever read at that point in my life. (I’d still bet money that it’s un-put-downable even for an adult — but still a very trash book!) I’ve read a few other early Sidney Sheldon books. The man can pull you into a story, that’s for sure!
I guess he also worked in television, so I wonder if that played a part in his novel writing. Not that TV is inherently better at hooking people than books are, but just being able to draw from different sources and perspectives.
Oh, that’s right, I’d forgotten about his TV career. Did you know he worked on I Dream of Jeannie? So awesome. :)