cover image HEADHUNTERS

HEADHUNTERS

Jules Bass, . . Jove, $6.99 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-515-13133-8

Four middle-aged friends from New Jersey decide to spice up their lackluster lives by vacationing in Monte Carlo and posing as four of the wealthiest women in the world in this slight but stylish romantic caper. Darlene, Eleanor, Irene and Carla are hunting for wealthy bachelors and a little excitement. Decked out in rented designer costumes and borrowed jewels, they enter the stomping grounds of the rich and famous and are immediately accosted by a quartet of handsome, suave men bearing white caviar and expensive champagne. The setup is perfect, too perfect; the men, who claim to be filthy rich, are really imposters themselves. Love is inevitable between the duly-matched couples, but less predictable is what will happen when the truth is finally laid bare. Bass overstuffs his narrative with lavish descriptions of upper-crust living but leaves little room for character development or for credible relationships to bloom. And as if four romances weren't enough, Bass complicates matters further by weaving in two more romantic threads and a side story involving three attempted jewelry thefts. Although readers may be overwhelmed by the novel's feverish pace and dismayed by the author's tendency to draw his characters through exposition rather than action, this is an admirable and amusing first attempt. (June 5)

Forecast:Deborah Schindler, the producer for Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got her Groove Back, has already purchased the book's film rights for Fox 2000, and Academy Award–winning screenwriter Ron Bass ( My Best Friend's Wedding) will write the screenplay. Despite the novel's flaws, it will translate nicely into film and sell exceptionally well once the movie is released.