Big Sound Temple

 One novel currently zipping up the bestseller charts is the excellent Luxury by Jessica Ruston. It's clearly aimed at the female side of the market - though is certainly not 'chick-lit' - and bears all the hallmarks of a bona fide blockbuster.

Just check out the publisher's description:

Sexy, smart New Yorker Logan Barnes knew how to take what he wanted to get where he wanted to be. But you can’t win the girl, make the money and live the high life without picking up enemies along the way...

There’s only one enemy who matters, and that’s the friend Logan betrayed years ago – Nicolo Flores. He got mad, but better still he got even, waitingin the wings to pull the plug on Logan and see his fortunes come crashing down.

Now Logan’s back, in London with a perfect wife, perfect family, and the perfect jewel to crown his rebuilt hotel empire: a stunning island getaway for the truly über-rich.Nicolo’s crazy to find a way to crush him again – but with gambling,addiction, sex and scandal all knocking on the Barnes’ family door, maybe they’ll destroy themselves before he even has a chance to...

Rather intriguing, eh?

I'm a few chapters in, but what with work, a 9-month-old baby etc somewhat eating into my reading time, I'm very tempted to save the rest for a forthcoming holiday. So far it's turning out to be that rare beast, containing as it does a rollicking good plot twinned with the sort of writing that rather reminded me - in more than several places - of John Steinbeck. Give me a tight plot over good writing any day (which is why books like White Teeth fall rather flat with me), but if I can get both together, which I find doesn't occur all that often, then even better.

Rumour has it that Jess has got another novel in the pipeline. I think we'll be hearing rather a lot about her in the very near future.