Master of the game

Sidney Sheldon’s books can be read, morning, noon and night

I must guiltily confess to purchasing pirated books while waiting at traffic signals. Some years ago I remember buying Morning, Noon and Night by Sidney Sheldon, only to discover later that I’d been conned by the cover: pavement sellers had cleverly superimposed the best-selling author’s title on to another book that nobody bought, in order to lure customers. Such is the pull of Sheldon, who has just passed away.

Sheldon’s stories are intricately spun and devised to keep the reader on edge, so when you get to the end of a chapter you can’t help but reading one more. My favourite Sheldons were If Tomorrow Comes and Rage of Angels, both which have just the right mix of mystery, suspense, murder and romance. His female protagonists are always dazzlingly beautiful, independent, sensual, and manage to triumph against all odds. Yet, Sheldon escaped being labelled a “women’s writer”: his books are devoured by men and women alike. He penned over 18 of them in a career spanning almost four decades. His simple formula always worked and every book soon became a bestseller.

Critics may dismiss his plots as banal and sneer at his love for drama on the page: italics and big paragraph breaks are the hallmark of a Sheldon book. However, they grudgingly acknowledge his keen grasp of popular culture and great knack for story-telling. “I write for housewives, drivers and doctors, not for critics,” he insisted in an interview last year. Even today, at airport bookstores and railway trolleys, Sheldon’s work flies off the shelves. With him, you’re guaranteed at least a good read, if not a great one.

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Of late, however, even die-hard Sheldon fans will tell you that he seemed to have somewhat lost the plot. Are you afraid of the dark? and The Stars Shine Down were even more predictable than usual, or perhaps it is because readers are today exposed to many Sheldon-clones — writers like John Grisham and Mary Higgins Clarke are amply gifted in creating rivetting page-turners. A workaholic till the very end, Sheldon dictated up to 50 pages a day to a secretary and spent a year rewriting every novel. Known to cry when his characters were faced with a terrible situation, and a stickler for authentic descriptions, Sheldon travelled all over the world while writing his inter-continental pop fiction.

Even non-readers read Sheldon, and that perhaps is the greatest compliment that can be paid to him.