Sydney Sheldon’s ‘If Tomorrow Comes’ showcases the metamorphosis of a naïve, lovestruck girl into a powerful, calculative woman, sparked by the lust for revenge. It highlights the art of the con without compromising on suspense. Sheldon does a great job of explaining vastly complicated scenarios in the easiest most direct manner. Although this fast-paced crime fiction novel may be great for a quick read, it lacks depth. Sheldon tends to jump from one scenario to the other without much elaboration. Just as things get interesting, they end, leaving you feeling somewhat unsatisfied.
The novel is segregated into three sections each depicting a separate chapter in the protagonist, Tracy Whitney’s life. Initially, Tracy is about to wed Charles Stanhope III, a member of high society, is pregnant with his child, and has a steady paying job at a bank in Philadelphia. Her life seems picture-perfect, almost boring. But the sudden suicide of her mother is only the start of Tracy’s perfect world crashing around her. Tracy’s new jaunt to find the man behind her mother’s suicide leads her to Joe Romano, a henchman to the mob boss Anthony Orsatti. Blinded by her emotions, Tracy finds herself threatening Romano with a revolver that she accidentally fires, injuring him.
Once a statement is made against Tracy and she pleads guilty, after being manipulated into doing so by the collective efforts of individuals in the New Orleans mafia, she is sent to Southern Louisiana Penitentiary for Women. After Tracy’s unrelenting time in prison where she is tutored in crime, she emerges with a newfound determination to execute her revenge on everyone that put her there in the first place. But when she decides to finally turn her life around, she is forced back into a life of crime. Except this time, she’s enjoying the thrill of the chase, the feeling of accomplishment and her commission from heists. While Tracy relishes in her glory from London to Madrid to France, love finds her along the way but so does a sleuthing detective. She lives her life on the edge always planning for ‘If Tomorrow Comes’.
Sheldon beautifully explores the themes of a failed justice system, the never-ending cycle of crime and the unpredictability of life through his strong female lead. He depicts the brutality of prison in a graphic yet contained manner and even elaborates on how prisoners are seen as numbers rather than human beings with names and a past. However, as a 21st-century teen, noticing that people of color were given blue-collar jobs whereas white people were given white-collar jobs disappointed me. Nevertheless, I do acknowledge the fact that this novel was written in the ’80s, a time where people were not as progressive and forward-thinking as we are today.
While Sheldon’s writing style is original and creative, he also uses the amalgamation of descriptive and narrative stylistic devices to bring his characters to life. He ensures that the protagonist is not just inherently good but rather an individual with complex emotions and flaws with an amazing character development. The use of exquisite vocabulary is prevalent thought the book, not so much so that you would have to sit with a dictionary beside you but enough for you to start incorporating them into your daily conversations. So, if you want to start broadening your vocabulary, reading a Sydney Sheldon book would be the way to go.
Sydney Sheldon is an extremely skilled author when it comes to plotting unattainable heists, leaving his audience intrigued. The plot thickens towards the end of the book leaving the reader on a cliffhanger with a fatal mistake and an opportunity of a lifetime.
Recommended age: 16+.
