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Almost A Crime
 
 

Almost A Crime (Hardcover)

by Penny Vincenzi (Author) "The first time Octavia Fleming was asked if she and her husband would appear in a feature in a glossy magazine about power marriages she..." (more)
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 672 pages
  • Publisher: Orion (25 Aug 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0752814486
  • ISBN-13: 978-0752814483
  • Product Dimensions: 24 x 16 x 5.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 438,418 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #39 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > V > Vincenzi, Penny

Product Description

Review
Another blockbuster from a popular author whose creative imagination holds the reader spellbound. Octavia and Tom have the perfect marriage and three healthy, well-adjusted, children. But nothing remains perfect forever and when some of the bottom bricks shift in the most solid protecting wall, the whole edifice begins to crumble. This is a very complex novel, with a new twist on almost every page. A very, very good read. (Kirkus UK)

A London charity czarina and her fabulous lobbyist husband run aground over the shallows of marital infidelity in this latest from British novelist Vincenzi (No Angel, 2003, etc.).Octavia Fleming is the kind of fashionable, well-connected working mother who manages both to enrich her power marriage with social contacts and to return home intact to tuck in her school-age twins and her baby. "Combine and Rule" is how the glossies treat the Flemings' marriage, although Octavia finds her professional integrity in danger of compromise when public-affairs consultant Tom Fleming suggests she throw her sensitive charity know-how into helping a developer construct a community center. Meanwhile, Octavia's businessman father, Felix Miller, detests Tom for taking his only daughter away from him (her mother died in childbirth), but tosses the son-in-law business from time to time; aging Felix has a longtime society live-in girlfriend, Marianne, who has to shuffle two teenaged daughters, Romilly and Zoe, as well as appease her temperamental lover. There is a cast of thousands in this busy, tedious novel, and once Octavia finds evidence of Tom's affair, she reveals as much to her father. Plus, she has to deal with the news that the mother of her best friend from college, Louise, is sick with cancer, while Tom seems to be pounding away at easing a proposed merger of charming player Nico Cadogan's financial group. Even politicians make a timely cameo here, in the form of Gabriel Bingham, a Labour leader who is also extremely attracted to the bereft Octavia. Yet Octavia simply can't resist loving her sexy husband. As for the prospect of being a stay-at-home mom: It would have left the restless, questing, ambitious Octavia "bored, depressed, and therefore, and inevitably, a bad mother."Vincenzi's fatally bloated novel nods to the sweet daddy-daughter partnership, and neatly compartmentalizes the guilt working women feel for leaving their children at home with nannies. (Kirkus Reviews)

Product Description
Tom and Octavia Fleming have a power marriage - high-profile and mutually supportive, but when Octavia discovers that Tom is having an affair, and that it is by no means his first, every single aspect of her life threatens to disintegrate.

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First Sentence
The first time Octavia Fleming was asked if she and her husband would appear in a feature in a glossy magazine about power marriages she had laughed aloud; of course she and Tom weren't powerful, she said, they were just two rather overworked professional people and what was a power marriage anyway? Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Read, 23 Oct 2002
By Heather Marshall Negahdar "SUGAR-CANE" (Bridgetown, Barbados) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: Almost a Crime (Paperback)
This story is about this perfect couple, Octavia and Tom Flemming who have a marriage made in heaven. Society looks up to this attractive and golden couple; in fact everyone does. Well heeled they both are and in prominent positions to boot.But that's until the cookie crumbles and Tom begins to have a torrid and steamy affair, putting his wife through so much embarassment, sickness and paranoia, she can hardly bear to leave the house. And look who he is having the affair with? There is betrayal amongst friends and this obviously affects the couple's professional lives interferring with their wealthy status . This book is a stunner with its variety of characters.....especially the ladies....some plain though interesting all the same, while others are attractive and rather hoity toity. The big question however is will this marriaage between this golden couple survive? Another good one from Penny Vincenzi....go for it. You love it and won't be satisfied until you've found out whodunnit.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars a good plot but a slapdash end, 12 Feb 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Almost a Crime (Paperback)
The plot and the characters are really interesting but I was very disapointed by the end. I had the feeling the author wanted to be done with her book as she clearly not allowed her characters to explain themselves and resolve their issues (especially work/family time).
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down!, 8 Sep 2004
By Carol (Ireland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Almost a Crime (Paperback)
I have read a number of Penny Vincenzi novels before and have always enjoyed them, however "Almost a Crime" really surpasses the rest. From the first chapter you find yourself turning the pages almost compulsively, and it is so difficult to put down that I ended up bringing it everywhere with me, just to snatch a few minutes reading wherever I could! A truly gripping read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost a Crime
Love Penny Vicenzi so sent off for a load of them.Arrived very promptly and although used was in great condition. Thank you
Published 5 months ago by B. Adams

4.0 out of 5 stars A GOOD READ
i HAD NEVER READ ANY OF PENNY VINCENZI BOOKS BEFORE, IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO GET INTO THE STYLE OF WRITING AND THE STORY LINE BUT I PERSEVERED WITH IT AND i ENDED UP REALLY ENJOYING... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ms. S. De La Haye

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic unputtdownable experience!
This novel conveys the ultimate power marriage, its positive impact on the individuals' businesses and social life, and the intrusion into family quality time. Read more
Published on 23 Dec 2000 by robbiesmum

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling!
I found it absolutely impossible to put this book down. I am a devoute book worm, but this came everywhere with me. Read more
Published on 1 Nov 2000 by candida_j.styles@ntlworld.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, I couldn't put it down.
Since 'Another Woman', my first taste of Penny Vincenzi, I've been smitten and I have now read all her other books. Amost a Crime is absolutely gripping. Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for all ages. You will find so many people you know
I arrived on holiday book in hand. I spotted two women reading the same book. Together we represented 3 generations and all found it an excellent read. Read more
Published on 13 Jul 2000 by dp821596@aol.com

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book, again
Just to say how much I enjoyed this. It has a simple premise but she draws you into the characters lives and makes you care about them. Read more
Published on 23 April 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the wait
Well I honestly thought she had given up writing, thankfully not. Fantastic story as usual and also very hard to put down and carry on with the days chores. Read more
Published on 27 Oct 1999

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