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Sat 09 Sep 2010Cheap but not cheerful
FICTION:In for a Penny, In for a PoundBy Tim Waterstone Corvus Books 359pp, £16.99
IN THEORY it shouldn’t be too hard to write a blockbuster novel. There’s a formula, after all. Take several rich, powerful, glamorous people, add some big-business wheeling and dealing, throw in a few tawdry adulterous affairs and secret children and, voilà, you’ve got an outrageous and entertaining bestseller. Or, at least, you should. Unfortunately it isn’t quite as easy as that, as Tim Waterstone’s appalling new novel reminds us. In for a Penny, In for a Pound, the first novel in a decade from the founder of the Waterstone’s bookselling chain, contains all these ingredients yet manages to be almost impressively tedious.
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