Wow, I'm not sure what to make of this book. I have read The Irish Devil, The Southern Devil and The River Devil, so I thought I had this author pegged. Not so sure anymore, the writing style is almost unrecognizable. The amount of purple prose used was a surprise, TDSK read like the earlier books of Rosemary Rogers and Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. Which is not necessarily a bad thing unless Diane Whiteside can deliver a compelling story to rival Rogers and Woodiwiss in their heyday. IMO this book did not deliver, I have enjoyed DW other books more.
I was totally ecstatic when I discovered TDSK was set on several continents, the book starts in Arizona and swiftly moves to New York, Hanoi, London, Rhode Island and Cairo before settling down in Constantinople. That pretty much sums up what I liked about the book. Portia has been in love with Gareth since she was 12 and he was 20. Gareth is a family friend and a employee with her family's shipping business, he treats Portia like a little sister. After years of having her love for Gareth ignored she settles for a society wedding to an English Earl that has a taste for extreme rough sex similar to snuff sex without the death. Wisely the author only gives a brief glimpse into the dark side of Portia's marriage. Although Portia escapes her tortured marriage in a stunning way she is still drawn into her x-husband's scheme to overthrow the Sultan. It takes Gareth who is dealing with his own personal demons to save Portia. Characters from other books of DW make an appearance in this one which was nice.
I kept waiting for this book to take flight but it was stuck in an holding pattern. At times Portia was TSTL and Gareth had an intriguing history that should have been explored more. The Plot to overthrow the Sultan was weak and the cast of other characters did nothing to enhance the story. Except for the conversation between Portia's father with her Uncle and grandfather. I have enjoyed DW other books but was disappointed with TDSK. I can only imagine how this book would have read if Rogers or Woodiwiss had been the author.