Jennifer and Catherine-sisters who have inherited equal shares of power in Pegasus Satellite Services, one of the biggest communications empires in the world-could not be more different. While Catherine is an extraordinary beauty whose looks attract the most handsome and powerful men, her sister is a plain-Jane, no-nonsense gal who prefers running the company to walking the red carpet. But Jennifer's aversion to the spotlight becomes secondary after the successful launch of the Pegasus III satellite, her newest technological masterpiece. The company needs someone to explain the revolutionary communications tool to potential clients and Jennifer is forced to make the awkward transition from playing scientist in the laboratory to playing hostess at the most lavish party in Cannes. That's where she meets Padraig, a major film star with enough Irish charm and celebrity cache to make the move to power producer. But when he marries Jennifer, Catherine's protective instincts are triggered: is the playboy actor only after Jennifer's money and connections? When Jennifer is almost killed in a car accident on her honeymoon, Catherine feels she must intervene in her sister's relationship. But Jennifer begins to suspect that Catherine is jealous of the wallflower sister's new romance, and possibly of her power within the company. Was the accident Catherine's murderous attempt to win complete control of Pegasus? Suddenly, neither sister can trust the other in a game that has their love, fortune, and even their lives hanging in the balance. What begins as a rivalry between sisters becomes a chilling novel of psychological suspense in which one sister find herself alone on a yacht at sea, forced to defend herself from a terrifying killer in league with her sister. But which sister? Diamond's latest lacks the luster of The Babysitter [BKL My 15 01], but it maintains the author's high standard for suspense. Italicized interchapters expressing the psychotic ramblings of the "bad" sister intrude more than enlighten, and the characters, usually among Diamond's strong points, come across mainly as caricatures. That said, the action is definitely Diamond caliber. After their father's death, siblings Jennifer and Catherine Pegan take over his multibillion-dollar communications firm. The wealthy sisters are quite different: Jennifer is a plain-Jane athletic type, in contrast to Catherine, a glamorous celebrity. When handsome, down-on-his-luck Irish movie actor Padraig O'Connell falls for Jennifer, Catherine and Peter Barnes, a partner in the company, are instantly suspicious of his motives. After Jennifer is nearly killed in a car crash, their suspicions grow. Then Catherine is attacked, and it soon becomes obvious that one sister is out to get the other. Finding out which one will keep fans of Danielle Steele and Mary Higgins Clark turning pages. Jenny McLarin Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Diana Diamond is the pseudonym of a critically acclaimed mystery and thriller writer, author of The Trophy Wife and The Babysitter . Chapter One Why would I want to kill my own sister? I don't think it was because I hated her. Hatred is too strong a word. We fought a lot as children. Name-calling, nasty tricks, lies that would get each other in trouble. But if hatred means wanting the other person destroyed, then I don't think I hated her. So why would I want to kill her? Maybe just to get rid of a rival. Rivals would be a better description of our childhood: bitter rivals. We competed for everything. If we were drawing a picture with crayons, we'd race to see who would finish first, then run to our mother to see whose picture was best. Neither of us would settle for "They're both lovely." We had to have a winner, so we would demand to know who had the prettiest sky or whose tree looked best. And we weren't satisfied if one of us had the best sky and the other the best tree. All we'd do is change the argument to who had drawn the best barn. I remember staying awake a whole night because I was sure my sister was going to sneak into my room and tear up a picture I had drawn. We were still just little girls, my sister and I. No older than six or seven. She did a picture in school, and our mother oohed and ahhed as if it were a Picasso. So I did the same picture, only better. She was angry because I had copied her picture, and I just knew she would try to get rid of mine. So I hid it under my mattress, and then I stayed awake the whole night. She must have known I was waiting for her, because she never came. The sun was coming up, and I couldn't stay awake much longer, so I went to her room and found her picture right on top of her desk. I colored a little yellow over her blue sky so that it took on a green tint. I rubbed some black into her blue water. Nothing terrible. Just enough so that her picture looked a little silly. That way, no matter what she did to my picture, hers wouldn't be any better.