Pandora

Jilly Cooper readers can always count on her to deliver the goods in her larger-than-life novels: a host of colourfully drawn characters, outrageous situations (always kept just the right side of plausible), compulsive plotting and (of course) a healthy dose of unbuttoned eroticism. Pandora has all the Cooper fingerprints and is the kind of shameless wallow that the lively Ms Cooper always unfailingly provides.

Raymond Belvedon is a young subaltern in 1944, advancing with the troops across Normandy, when he encounters a burning château. Recently occupied by a Nazi commander, the château is now deserted, and on the wall Raymond sees a small painting of Pandora unleashing the seven deadly sins from her famous box. Thinking he's found a Raphael, Raymond takes it from the frame and escapes. Four decades pass and Raymond has now established himself as a top art dealer with his own prestigious gallery in Mayfair. The picture of Pandora is the pride of his impressive Cotswold home where his six children were born. But he has a surprise in store: another grown child makes an appearance with her seductive boyfriend, Zac. The latter has designs on Raymond's Raphael. Under cover of a firework party, the Raphael goes missing.

Cooper's breathless narrative whisks the reader from London to Vienna, Geneva, Paris and New York in the hunt for the missing painting, building towards a sharply handled court case and a tense sale at Sotheby's. Cooper's territory here is the international art world, which has all the pre-requisite angles for Cooper-style drama, with its duplicitous dealers, avaricious artists and casual morality. There are some strong new protagonists here, such as the selfish artist Sienna, and Cooper also includes some familiar characters (including her trademark beguiling animals). Raymond, too, is one of her most richly drawn creations. Cooper fans need not hesitate. --Barry Forshaw

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Steamy! - Rated
This is a marvellous work of erotica, with no shortage of romantic gratification. I won't give away the details of the intricate story line, but you can rest assured that Pandora 'opens her box' on more than one occasion.

Lose yourself in Jilly - Rated
I've grown up with Jilly throughout her "Rupert" novels - Riders being my favourite (read it aged 13, probably too young really), and Pandora is almost as good. I haven't been so engrossed in a book for ages. Her characters are lovely, including the animals, and I'd recommend this to anyone - better than Appassionata, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous and as good as Rivals. Buy it for the beach.

Open Pandora's box and indulge - Rated
What is particularly fantastic about this book, is the creation of brilliant characters. These characters are so entising and addictive, you won't be able to give them up. The books dark aspects appeal in a seductive way, whilst good will drives the reader to continue with the book in hope that all will be resolved. The book revokes so much emotion which mimics the myth of Pandora. If you want to feel passionately enchanted with a book, then pick up Pandora!

a welcome return to form! - Rated
I was surprised indeed to read that some people thought this book was weak. More surprised still at the people who thought it worse than Score! I loved this book, and for me it shows a welcome return to the form that brought us Riders and Polo. I thought Appassionata was a bit sub- par; it took me a few attempts to get into it. Then I thought that Score was weaker still, with the murder mystery simply not gelling and the characters unlikeable. It was with some trepidation that I picked this up.
I am SO pleased Jilly is back! The new characters, true to past stories, are either very endearing or wonderfully hateable. I wanted to strangle Anthea and hug Sophy, slap Emerald and invite Alizarin home for a square meal. As usual, the animals feature largely in the story and I admit to crying when one of the dogs died. There's a point in every Jilly book where an animal dies and I blub, actually!(Sailor, Tero, Mattie, Maggie, Visitor... I remember you all!) The new characters- the Belvedon family- are mostly well characterised and give us hopefully more fodder for future books, and the old favourites are still knocking about. What sort of book would it be without R C-B?!
If you haven't read Jilly before, you can either read this first then go back and see what (and who) all the characters were doing twenty- odd years ago, or start from the beginning with Riders. I wish I hadn't read any, so I could start at the very beginning all over again!

Average - Rated
I adore Jilly Cooper's books and i couldn't wait to read this one, only to be hugely disappointed. The story didn't really pull me in and i was halfway through before irealised i din't really care what happened to any of them. usually Jilly's books are unputdownable. You promise yourself you'll stop reading at the end of the chapter, then find you're still reading an hour later, utterly gripped by the story. Not this time.
The characters aren't a patch on her old Rutshire set. I completely agree with some of the other reviewers that Emerald and Sienna are weak copies of Perdita. Zak and Jonathan, the two supposed heart throbs are nothing compared to Rupert, Bas or Jake. Only the brief flashes of Rupert, especially young Rupert, kept me going. Anthea annoyed me. Sophy's family were the best part of her book, especially her mother. Why they didn't throw Emerald out years ago, i'll never know.
Why can't we have another classic Rutshire novel complete with all the old favourites? I'm sure that wih all the scandelous goings on at Penscombe there's hundreds of stories to tell.
When i reached the end of Pandora, i really didn't care what happened to the painting, only that Rupert kept his house and whether Jilly's next effort would be back on par with her best.