2.5 stars
Facets is the twentieth stand-alone novel by American author, Barbara Delinsky. When journalist Hilary Cox learns, second-hand, that her erstwhile lover, John St George is getting engaged to a Boston society widow, she is hurt. When he tells her that he fully intends for their relationship to continue unchanged, she is livid. She decides to write a book about his life, but is won’t be a sanctioned biography. It will be a warts-and-all expose.

John St George is the heir to a gem miner, and he has established several successful jewellery stores under the Facets brand. But he has not trodden lightly to do so, and Hilary learns the truth about him from his half-sister, Pam St George, his ex-mine manager (and Pam’s lover), Cutter Reid and his step-mother and ex-lover, Patricia St George. Despite being warned not to publish, she continues to write..

This is an early Delinsky novel that drags on for about a hundred pages too many. While John is meant to be nasty, vindictive and unlikeable, Pam, Patricia and Hilary all needed to grow some spine, and Cutter managed to lose sight of what was important in life. The best character, despite his secrets, was the man Pam married. Delinsky’s later novels are much better.