cover image Obey the Moon

Obey the Moon

Vicky Martin. St. Martin's Press, $17.95 (315pp) ISBN 978-0-312-02624-0

A double triangle, hanky-panky in the shipping business and a teenage romance help to buck up the limp prose of this new novel by the author of Tigers of the Night. Sexy former sailor Robert Stoner asks shipping magnate David Otterwood for a loan to buy tankers, while in the outer office Eliza Marland, Otterwood's secretary, feels the first flutterings of love. But she has reckoned without Celia, Otterwood's neglected wife, whose wistful loveliness attracts Robert. Women run second to ambition, and soon Robert is in Durban off-loading oil illegally and lucratively. In the meantime, Harry, Otterwood's teenage son, has fallen in love with Alice, Eliza's much younger sister, who was adopted under mysterious circumstances. Refusing to enter his father's business, Harry sets up an antique shop with Alice, amasses huge debts and drinks to compensate. Fast-paced and complex, the plot suffers from glibness at the end. The way there, though, is absorbing fun. (Jan.)