Stolen Blessings

by Lawrence Sanders

Fame, fortune, and felony collide in the wake of a super-hot Hollywood vixen's private life and public scandal. Reissue.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Mystery Thriller

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1989

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

Lawrence Sanders was the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty mystery and suspense novels. The Anderson Tapes, completed when he was fifty years old, received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for best first novel. His prodigious oeuvre encompasses the Edward X. Delaney, Archy McNally, and Timothy Cone series, along with his acclaimed Commandment books. Stand-alone novels include Sullivan's Sting and Caper. Sanders remains one of America’s most popular novelists, with more than fifty million copies of his books in print. Also published as Mark Upton.

Reviews

[Abdottawab · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I saw from this book, the author is a master of suspense ; makes you wanting to flip the other page but you know you'll regret it because you'll finish a great book .The story in general reflects stars worshiping in the modern times . It shows you how media, the big and small screen business and the society pushes famous rich stars to feel like gods and act like ones, but the rest of the people ,like Ronald Yates for example, fall in mythical imaginary love with them ,or their figures to be exact, to ignore their sad realities and keep them going on their nine to fives ; this act dates way back to the Greek and Roman periods , when soldiers worshiped Aphrodite and then Venus the goddess of love and roses before battles.
This goddess happens to be Marilyn Taylor in this novel, a rich famous beloved young actress , having her moment in the business industry , and using every second of it ; and because all the lights are on her , it is normal to become a complete narcissistic person <<< spoiler alert: she had to marry a down hill man that didn't play her little fame game >>>.

Except for unnecessary added low street language that made the story loose a sort of beauty , a few pages talking about two old guys in Manhattan and a CIA agent correcting the grammar of an Arabic guy in Cairo that had nothing to do with the story, THIS IS A MUST-READ NOVEL of love scandal and organised crime with a hint of laws and logical reasoning .

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having been a long-time fan of Lawrence Sanders, especially his “Deadly Sin” police procedural series featuring Police Detective Edward X. Delaney, I eagerly picked up this stand-alone from the used book store I frequent. I should have read some of the reviews here first because, unfortunately there is very little to like about this one.

The plot involves the theft of the unfertilized eggs of one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, known as “the most beautiful girl in the world” and who also happens to be super rich, a super successful CEO of her own conglomerate, and a super bitch with a capital B. Presumably, there would be a market for her eggs, somewhere, and given the timeframe in which the book was written (late 1980’s) when in vitro fertilization was a little newer concept, perhaps a black market could develop…?

I couldn’t really tell if Sanders was trying to write a comedy or if this simply came off that way, as a sort of parody of 1980’s era thrillers. There are numerous single-dimensional characters, most of them cartoony, and all with some sort of skin in the game. None of them are likable, even the detective who is at first a no-nonsense investigator refusing to be swayed by the beautiful actress but then like all dumb shmucks, falls for her (and her for him) in one of the least believable romances ever. I have been generous in granting 2 stars because there are some nicely done and clever plot contrivances to move the story forward…but that’s all I am willing to concede.

So for those who have wanted to sample Lawrence Sander’s work and have chosen this one as your jumping off point…I am truly sorry. I recommend “The First Deadly Sin and its follow-ons instead.

[Marca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goofy, silly fun involving an interesting premise. A movie star known as the most beautiful woman in the world has her eggs harvested to be implanted in a long-time friend who can't have children. At the same time, the star has herself spayed, declaring she never wants children. Her harvested eggs are stolen from the clinic and held for ransom. The philosophical question of whether this is a kidnapping since the eggs were not fertilized is debated, but mostly the tale follows a bunch of doofuses who are trying to steal the eggs for themselves to ransom.

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 1 out of 5]

"'McBryde, you ever been around the world?'
'No,' he says seriously, 'but I've been to Europe twice.'
She giggles at such innocence."

Why so many people are interested in celebrities has always been a mystery to me. Why do people find events in the life of, say, a Kardashian more interesting than termite farts? So any book that satirizes the ubiquitous celebrity cult has my pre-approval. In addition, I have a soft spot for Lawrence Sanders, mainly because of his Archy McNally series. I love the McNally novels because of the purposefully florid language and light, whimsical touch in handling sexual themes. Alas Stolen Blessings (1989) is an unmitigated failure. I kept reading, pretending that this is not just a very bad novel but a well executed parody of one.

Marilyn Taylor, also known as The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, a famous movie actress and the owner of Marilyn Taylor Enterprises, Inc. with offices, branches, and stores all over the country, arrives in New York to submit to a procedure in a fertility clinic. Her eggs will be retrieved for use in vitro to help a childless couple conceive.

But we know what happens to best-laid (my pun is of as stellar quality as the author's) plans... etc. Eggs may be subject to eggnapping. In fact, several teams of bad guys compete attempting to conclude the egghheist. But wait, not only bad guys are involved! Since Marilyn is a top-shelf celebrity CIA gets interested and the agency calls its involvement Operation Soufflé (wow, now that's a pun!) Middle East-based terrorist group, Arm of God, is also involved and some events in the plot take place in Cairo. Agents named Ptolemy, Ramses, and Tut are involved and the reader will be likely laughing louder here than in the passages which the author did intend as comedic.

The life of the entire country is paralyzed by the theft: journalists, academicians, church officials, government figures discuss the case. Everybody is watching the crisis on TV. Well, in fact, the entire world is following the case. After all, these are celebrity eggs. A detective from the New York Police Department - the same one who failed the urban dictionary test shown in the epigraph above - plays a major role in the plot and the denouement.

Hilarious last sentence is one of the funniest passages in the novel. But the best thing in this failure of a comedic parody of a thriller is the following passage:

"They move together, hands busy.
'You have beautiful dangling participles,' she murmurs.
'Thank you,' he says, 'and I love to split your infinitive.'"

Anyway, I will still be reaching for Lawrence Sanders' novels, looking for McNally quality of prose.

One-and-a-half stars.

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, you may say whatever you want, but I loved this one!
It takes you no more than a couple of pages to realize what you are dealing with: a pure comedy. The plot is thin enough, not to call it silly, as a lot of gangsters (from different mobs) are looking for a stolen recipient of frozen human eggs. Those eggs belong to "the most beautiful actress" in the world, and not only that she's pretty enough, she's a hell of a lady too.
So, genuine humor, lots and lots of mishaps, police and FBI involved but as silly as the mobsters, a little romance, some good jokes, a happy final (nobody dies, nobody goes to jail, only some unfortunate guys have some scars) , if you want a light read, this one is surely an exquisite choice!!!

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was on vacation and had run out of reading material the day before the flight home. I bought a frayed copy of this for a dollar in a used book store and it was exactly what I hoped it would be -- an entertaining read that keep me occupied throughout my flight.

In this era of plague and upheaval, Sanders offers escape, into a somewhat hokey world of celebrities and mobsters. Sign me up for more.

[Gordon Popular · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting plot but not that good of a read. Basically a big movie star decides to get her tubes tied but before she does she decides to freeze her eggs, then the story begins. The characters are flat and not the usual Sanders's characters. Not really one of the best of Sanders. Fifty-fifty on recommended.

[Şeyma Gürbüz · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give it a 0, I would give it a 0. Imagine a book that somehow manages to offend fat people, thin people, Turks, Armenians, Egyptians, Kurds, Muslims, Jewish people, women, men, actresses, police, FBI... I mean, I can continue counting. I can't believe I somehow got a hold of this book and, as if that's not enough, had to read it for a TikTok challenge. What a tragedy.

[Tiago Vinagre · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the first time I read Lawrence Sanders, and it was quite a delightful plot. Given that and the comments saying that this one is below the level he's shown in other books, I'll most definitely read more of his work!

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good.

[Shweta Dabgar · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF'ed

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1990. Sanders rips the lid off the private life and the public scandal of a Hollywood superstar.

[Joanne Bryant]

not great

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to imagine through

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, entertaining romp of a book.

[Sridhar Babu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author...
LAWRENCE SANDERS..
Characters..
Marilyn Tayler, McBryde, Ronald Yates, Mario Zucchi, Rocco Castellano, Nicholas Kazanian, Sam Davidson, Champ DuBois..
Location...
New York (Manhattan) ..and Los Angels..
Genre..
comedy // Thriller..

PLOT..
Marilyn Tayler , the Most Beautiful women, and a Hollywood superstar is having some of her eggs removed 9 to be exact, , to help out a dear friend( Eve Bannon) who is unable to have children. After eggs are retrieved from the donor they will be frozen for a week for fertilization, and the embryo to be implanted into Eve's uterus .

All of a sudden The unfertilized eggs, kept in a flask were stolen from the hospital , by Nicholas ( lab tech working at the hospital) and his thugs for a ransom of one million dollars. From him eggs were stolen by Ronald Yates ( a die hard fan of Marilyn ) from Ronald, stolen by another thief Champ DuBois and from him lifted by Chicago Mafia, Mario Zucchi closely followed by New York Mafia Rocco Castellano.

Since the stolen eggs of Marilyn becomes an international scandal, the New York PD, appoints lieutenant Jeffery McBryde for finding the thieves and recovering the eggs. After a long stupid chase he finds it and marries Marilyn.

MY COMMENT...
STOLEN BLESSINGS...STOLEN "TIME and ENERGY"

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

E eis que surge um livre de Lawrence Sanders que parodia os livros de Lawrence Sanders.
As personagens estão quase todas muito perto da idiotice.
Os óvulos da mulher mais bela do mundo são roubados várias vezes. Os tipos que os roubam da clínica de fertilização são roubados por um fã e este por um vigarista com um realizador falhado de filmes porno e estes por um actor falhado vestido de rabi, ao serviço da Mafia de Los Angeles. A Mafia de Nova Iorque também lhes quer deitar a mão. A polícia de Nova Iorque investiga mal. O FBI pede um parecer para saber se o roubo pode ser considerado um rapto. Só assim passarão a ser eles a investigar. O velho jurista a quem é feito o pedido, passa as noites com um velho padre bebendo conhaque e fumando charutos enquanto discutem se é rapto ou não.
O mais esperto, no meio disto tudo, é um informador egípcio da CIA , Youssef Khalidi, que recebeu dez mil dólares por convencer o agente da CIA, denominado Ptolomeu, de que os óvulos tinham sido roubados por um grupo terrorista árabe. A agência chegou a montar uma operação para os reaver.
O livro chega a ser hilariante, com as parvoíces a surgiram umas atrás das outras.
A narrativa é excelente.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy is a terrific writer with a great sense of humor. I was disappointed that this book was a "bit" raunchy!

Marilyn Taylor is having some of her eggs removed, 9 to be exact, after which she will have her tubes tied, to help out a dear friend who is unable to have children. No way SHE wants to stretch HER belly and deal with any brats. Marilyn, a very rich, take charge woman jets her way through life giving orders and expecting to be obeyed. What a surprise, to say the least, when her eggs are stolen for ransom. That would be so simple...but they keep getting stolen...from the previous thief!

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was truly disappointing to me as I have always been a big fan of Lawrence Sanders. Medically, there is a glaring flaw in the plot that completely spoiled the book for me, and I wondered if Sanders had been just too lazy to do even a little research - or if he thought people were just stupid enough to buy it. The entire premise is built on this flaw; without, there's no story. Even with it, there's no story. Definitely not the Sanders book to start (or finish) with. I simply cannot recommend it. I wouldn't even take another copy for free.

[John Lyman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was certainly my least favorite Sanders book to date. Stupid concept, stupid "chase", overall a really bad book. I am pretty surprised to learn that an author who I like a lot, has written such garbage. I seem to recall reading this book years ago and wonder if it is what turned me off to LS back then. He loves to incorporate the Hebrew words, too, which I generally have no clue as to their meaning.

[Daelith]

18 pages was enough for me to know this wasn't going to hold my attention.

[Deena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the one-and-only Sanders I've ever read; I read it a kzillion years ago, and although it's not a genre I ever read, I found it quite funny. Fluff, but funny.

[Wyomingbook Group]

[Jeremy Reppy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Funny at times, but over the top. More like an episode of the Three Stooges than a suspense novel.

[Joni · Rating 3 out of 5]

5

[Lisa Tollefson]

Excellent. I don't usually think of Sanders as comedic, but this was definitely comedy. A nicely orchestrated McGuffin caper. The stolen blessings? Eggs from a movie star, who first comes off as a single minded bitch but has a bit of a heart after all. A cop so upstanding he can barely bend his back to sit down. Mafia from both coasts and the middle of the country. And it all starts with a trio who don't know when to stop gambling and haven't a clue how to bring off a crime.

Lots of fun, somewhat dated in language and style, but still a good read.