| From the inside of the cover of
first edition: 'Sleeping Beauty plunges Archer
into a fascinating and intricate case connected to a
disastrous oil spill on the coast of southern California.
It involves him with three generations of the imposing
Lennox family whose offshore platform has caused the
spill; whose young heiress, glimpsed for a haunting
moment on the beach - handsome, angry-eyed, clutching an
oil-drenched bird - has disappeared. On her trail, Archer finds himself journeying into a horrendous past, into the hidden lives of a family twisted by money, by power, by a ruthless, almost compulsive instinct for infidelity - infidelity between husbands and wives, parents and children, infidelity to friends, dependents, duty and, in a sense, to earth itself.As Archer moves along these people, among their lies and contradictions; as episodes distant in time are linked - a derelict stranger found dead, a ship destroyed by fire in World War II, a secret case of extortion, a childs long ago glimpse of violence; as the novel moves to its climactic and complex resolution, the reader is once more held fast by the unique art of Ross Macdonald; crackling suspense rooted in strong perception of reality.' |
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| Trivia: Some of the working titles for Sleeping Beauty was 'The Spill', 'The Forever Room', 'The Survivor', 'The Fugitive Daughter', 'The Unknown', 'The Sleep Walkers' and 'The Money Cart' When Crawford Woods, in New York Times Book Review said that Millar had become a victim of his own reputation, and also accused him of 'careless detail work' and 'literary pretension', Millar wrote a reply for the Times. It was the only time he publicly replied to a review. |
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