Review - The Sting of The Scorpio by Monique Domovitch

The Sting of The Scorpio by Monique Domovitch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

ebook, 328 pages

Published (first published August 16th 2011)

Source: Author for Review

Synopsis:
'In Scorpio Rising, Monique Domovitch presented a compelling tale filled with colorful characters and the manipulation of power, ambition, and greed. Now she gives us its spellbinding sequel, The Sting of the Scorpio, where Alexander Ivanov returns to New York with his new bride, Brigitte.

The real estate industry is ripe with opportunity. Blessed with irresistible charm, ambition, and the single-minded obsession to succeed, Alex plots and manipulates his way to almost mystical success. Everything he touches turns to gold, but it’s never enough. When a hostile takeover bid leaves him struggling to save his beloved company, he suspects those closest to him of plotting his downfall.

Brigitte, the beautiful redhead who abandoned her country and her career to become his wife, feels alone. In return, Alex has betrayed her time and again, each indiscretion cutting deeper into her soul.

Brigitte’s son, David yearns to be an artist, but Alex’s plans leave no room for such frivolous goals. He grooms a reluctant David to become the heir apparent until a devastating tragedy attracts the attention of another young man.

The Sting of the Scorpio is a rich tale of a man at the mercy of his own greed and a woman bound by her need for love.'
My Thoughts:
Well, where do I start with this book. While reading this book I literally felt like I was taken into a world similar to the old Dynasty series that used to be on television where everyone wants to be better than everyone else and will step on whoever they can and team up with whoever they can to get what they want.

The Sting of The Scorpio centres around Alex and Brigitte who are now man and wife and starting out their new life together in New York. It's starts out with Alex struggling to get work so Brigitte starts painting and selling her artwork again to help out their situation. But, being the power hungry man he is this does not suit Alex and he forces Brigitte to give up her work when he starts to become successful so that he can have the satisfaction of being the main money earner. The story then continues along with Alex building a bigger and bigger empire and the trials and tribulations that follow as a result of his insatiable ambition.

Alex Ivanov is a character that I just could not get any sort of appreciation for at all. He's a strong and relentless character who doesn't let anyone get in his way or stop him from achieving his dreams, no matter the consequences. To me he's an arrogant man who needed to take a step back and see what he actually had in life now and then instead of always just wanting more and more. Alex becomes notorious for all of the affairs he has with other women all while he has a wife at home who adores him and wants to do nothing else but please him. I could not find any qualities in Alex that I could warm to at all and I'm pretty sure that this is how the author wants everyone to feel.

Brigitte, his wife is the complete opposite of Alex. While she was such an independent and strong individual in the first novel, in this one she becomes a shell of her former self and gives up practically everything just to try and keep Alex happy. I have to admit that this disappointed me a little bit as I expected more from Brigitte after what she went through in Scorpio Rising. How you could be so unaware of the actions and intentions of your husband as Brigitte apparently was in this book totally bewilders me. If my husband was showing even half of the signs or acting in any way, shape or form like Alex was then needless to say we would not have lasted five minutes.

I definitely found this book so much more engaging than the first and even though I was totally disgusted by most of the events that occurred I have to say that is a good thing because it's not often that I read a book that really sticks in my mind as much as this one has for days after I've finished reading it. This book is so raw and thought provoking that you just can't help but be intrigued as to what it really would be like to be in such a position of power and in a world where social standing and money means everything.

One thing that I thought was a bit overwhelming is how fast time seems to go in this book. You literally skim through about 30 years in the space of a couple of hundred pages and thinking back over it still makes my head spin a little.

If you're into books that are based around money, power, sex and relentless ambition then you will definitely enjoy this book.

See my review for the first book in the series, Scorpio Rising and my interview with author Monique Domovitch here.

Links:
Amazon
The Book Depository