History Creator / SidneySheldon

While ''The Naked Face'' (1970) was well-received, it was 1973's ''The Other Side of Midnight'' that was his first blockbuster, setting the tone and style for his subsequent works. His novels were tales of treachery, passion, and love often set among TheBeautifulElite -- wealthy industrialists, entertainment icons, gangsters, even heads of state -- often spanning years of [[TheChessmaster chessmaster plots]] and power plays, be they political or corporate. AirportNovel fare all the way, they sold like gangbusters and his publisher came to proudly advertise him as "The World's Master Storyteller." Like those of his contemporaries Creator/HaroldRobbins, Creator/JackieCollins, and Creator/JudithKrantz, his books were hardly regarded as fine art -- they were {{Soap Opera}}s for the page.

By the time Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007) turned his talents to writing novels in 1970, had won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward (for ''Film/TheBachelorAndTheBobbySoxer'') and a Tony Award (for ''Redhead'') and helped create two hit [=TV=] shows in ''Series/ThePattyDukeShow'' and ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie''. Then his career ''really'' took off.

Writer Sidney Sheldon (February 11, 1917 – January 30, 2007), by the time he turned his talents to novels in 1970, had won an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward (for ''The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer'') and a Tony Award (for ''Redhead'') and helped create two hit [=TV=] shows in ''Series/ThePattyDukeShow'' and ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie''. Then his career ''really'' took off.

'''The novels of Sidney Sheldon are:'''

'''Sidney Sheldon filmography''':
* ''Film/TheBachelorAndTheBobbySoxer'' (1947)(writer)
* ''Film/EasterParade'' (1948)(writer)
* ''Film/DreamWife'' (1953)(writer, director)

* DecoyProtagonist: ''The Best Laid Plans'' initially follows Leslie Stewart and her quest to get revenge on Oliver Russell for jilting her for another woman, but eventually switches gears to also focus on reporter Dana Evans and her mission to uncover the White House-related coverup behind the deaths related to a girl's murder in a luxury hotel penthouse. The sequel ''The Stars Shine Down'' is solely about Dana's further adventures with this in mind.

* SerialSpouse: Helene Roffe-Martin in ''Bloodline''.

* {{Tontine}}: In ''Bloodline'', Roffe & Sons Pharmaceuticals is a company whose founder saw to it that his heirs wouldn't be allowed to sell their shares unless all shareholders agreed to it. Detective Max Hornung, who was investigating the murder of Sam Roffe, compares this with the tontine.

* UglyGuyHotWife: [[spoiler: Keith and Eve]] in ''Master of the Game'', and not by choice for the latter of that couple.

** Sam Roffe to Elizabeth, his daughter, in ''Bloodline''.

!!The novels of Sidney Sheldon include examples of:

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Often played straight. In ''The Other Side of Midnight'', Noelle choosing not to keep Larry's child, and how exactly she accomplishes it, establishes her now-evil nature. In ''Rage of Angels'' Jennifer almost goes through with this but changes her mind at the last moment. In ''If Tomorrow Comes'' Tracy considers keeping her child after being sent to prison, even if she has to give it up for adoption, but a beating takes the matter out of her hands. Initially averted in ''Nothing Lasts Forever'' with Kat, as her pregnancy as a teen was the result of being raped by her stepfather, but as an adult she is unwilling to do the same thing with her lover's baby. [[spoiler: He murders her as a result, and stages it to look like a botched abortion.]]

* GreenAesop: ''The Doomsday Conspiracy'' has one. It's [[spoiler: the aliens' message to humanity: If humans don't stop polluting Earth, the resultant global warming will lead to worldwide famine -- and from there a devastating nuclear war]].
* GreyAndGrayMorality: In ''The Best Laid Plans'', neither Leslie nor Oliver is exactly clean-cut. Leslie's desire to get revenge against Oliver for callously leaving her for another woman is sympathetic, but makes her become increasingly ruthless and obsessed with ruining him to the point of running an entirely false news story. Oliver is a shameless philanderer who ditches Leslie for a woman whose father will support his presidential campaign and has affairs even after getting married, but is genuine in his desires for political reform and stands up to his father-in-law in the end to secure a peace deal with the Arab nations and Israel.

* HeirClubForMen
** ''Bloodline'' has two cases. Ivo Palazzi didn't like it that his children by his wife were all girls and that all his sons were illegitimate because he wanted male heirs to carry on his name. For Sam Roffe, his child being a girl was more of a tragedy than her mother having died within thirty minutes after the child's birth.
** In ''Master of the Game'', Jamie [=MacGregor=] is only willing to marry the woman he impregnated when he realizes the child is male. That child is killed in a South African uprising, but by then he's also had a daughter, Kate, who successfully carries on the family business. She wants male heirs as well, and manipulates her son Tony's life so that he loses any desire ''not'' to follow in her footsteps. She also convinces his wife to go through with a potentially lethal pregnancy in hopes of a grandson. She gets twin granddaughters instead -- and yes, DeathByChildbirth results for the mother. [[spoiler: As the book ends, Kate sets her grooming sights on her great-grandson. Ironically, despite finally accepting that he wants nothing to do with the family business, she becomes just as driven to help him in his chosen career of music.]]

** In "Nothing Lasts Forever," Paige is on trial for the death of a patient with the D.A. arguing it was murder as the man left her his fortune. He calls her SadisticTeacher to the stand, Paige arguing the man is recovering from a recent stroke and shouldn't be allowed but the judge allows it. The D.A. starts to talk to him...and the doctor suddenly rips into how putting Paige on trial is a travesty, he only ran her down to make her stronger and deeply respects her. He adds that she had no idea the guy was leaving her the money and the death wasn't even her fault. Realizing his own witness has just destroyed his case, the D.A. tries to say the man is too ill but the judge dryly points out he can't use the same issue he just fought against and forces the man to drop the charges.

** In the same book, Ken Mallory murders his pregnant fiancée so as to ensure his marriage to a wealthy heiress. When he's arrested, he calls the other woman in order to procure him an attorney. Only for her father to declare, "We don't know any Dr. Mallory", obviously wanting nothing to do with a murderer.

* ImperiledInPregnancy: In ''Nothing Lasts Forever'', Kat's refusal to have an abortion seals her fate--her lover murders her so that he'll be free to marry an heiress.
* InfectiousInsanity: His story "Need to Know", which was adapted as an episode of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985''.

* IntimidatingRevenueService: "Bloodline": Max Hornung in Switzerland's version of the [=IRS=] was so competent several businessmen tried [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules and failed]] to bribe him. When one of them learned he desired to become a police detective, they pulled strings so he'd get the job. People cooperate with his investigations out of fear he'd find something on them. When he does have to find, he does find.

* IWantGrandkids:
** Kate in ''Master of the Game'', with horrific results -- the mother dies in childbirth, the father goes insane when he realizes the extent of Kate's manipulation, and one of the twin granddaughters is evil.
** In ''Bloodline'', before Anna Roffe met Walther Gassner, her father was sad by the prospect of not having grandkids. In spite of this, he still tries to [[BegoneBribe make Walther leave her]].

** ''Bloodline'' -- The British mafia are the reason Sir Alec Nichols needs to sell his shares of Roffe & Sons Pharmaceuticals.

** ''Bloodline'': The saboteur's schemes revolve around this trope -- a shipment of mislabeled drugs here, a factory explosion there...

** Donatella to Ivo Palazzi in ''Bloodline'' -- he has three sons with her and he's struggling to keep this a secret from his wife and three daughters.

* MrsHypothetical: In ''Bloodline'', Elizabeth Roffe imagined becoming "Mrs. Rhys Williams". [[spoiler:It becomes true.]]

* IHaveThisFriend: In ''Master of the Game'', George uses a variant of this trope when he's sent to a psychiatrist to be analyzed after he brutally attacks Eve. He "admits" that while ''he'' is not the sort who brutalizes others for pleasure, a friend of his is. Said psychiatrist sees through this immediately, but doesn't let on that he does. Walther Gassner tries this in ''Bloodline'' with regards to treating psychosis; as it turns out, [[spoiler: he really does have a friend -- it's Anna]].

** ''Master of the Game'': The [=MacGregors=], later Blackwells, are a family of dysfunctional socialites. Jamie, and later his daughter Kate, are desperate for a proper male heir. In the former's case, it's the ''only'' reason he marries the woman he got pregnant, because he originally did that to ruin her for her father's betrayal of him. Kate's son isn't interested in that position and desperately wants to become an artist, and then there's Eve's treachery...

* BittersweetEnding: In ''Rage of Angels'', [[spoiler: Jennifer survives and Adam becomes President of the United States, but the two can never be together again, and with their son dead, she's alone in the world]].
** In ''Nothing Lasts Forever'', Paige is cleared of murder charges stemming from her MercyKill of a patient thanks to [[spoiler: the testimony of her Sadistic Teacher turned mentor]] and marries her boyfriend. The rest of the good characters get happy endings too, while the villains are duly punished. It's as close to a happy ending as a Creator/SidneySheldon novel is likely to get -- [[spoiler: except that Kat, one of Paige's dearest friends, is dead. Even the fact that her killer got his just desserts doesn't take the sting of this away]].

* CharacterOverlap: It's mentioned in passing that Monroe Arms, the plot-relevant luxury hotel in ''The Best Laid Plans'', was built by Lara Cameron (the protagonist of ''The Stars Shine Down'').

** ''The Other Side of Midnight'': [[spoiler: The order of nuns, which the still-alive Catherine is secreted in at the end]].

** ''Memories of Midnight'': [[spoiler: The bomb shelter, which saves Catherine's life]].
* TheChessmaster - Common character type who may well be described with chess metaphors or even the phrase "chess master".

* DecoyProtagonist: ''The Best Laid Plans'' initially follows Leslie Stewart and her quest to get revenge on Oliver Russell for jilting her for another woman, but eventually switches gears to also focus on reporter Dana Evans and her mission to uncover the White House-related coverup behind the deaths related to a girl's murder in a luxury hotel penthouse.

* EnfantTerrible: Implied, and sometimes outright shown, that many of the evil characters were evil even as children--Eve from ''Master Of The Game'' tries to kill her twin sister on their fifth birthday and it just gets worse from there. In another book, a boy is so obsessed with his mother that he kills her after walking in on her and her lover, then lies through his teeth when the man is arrested, sending him to death row.

* GenerationalSaga: ''Master of the Game''.
* GoldDigger: Noelle Page (''The Other Side of Midnight'') and Eve Blackwell, once she's disinherited (''Master of the Game''). Walther Gassner (''Bloodline'') is suspected of being this, [[spoiler: but he isn't]].

* AndTheAdventureContinues: ''If Tomorrow Comes'' and ''The Sky Is Falling'' end this way.

* BegoneBribe: In ''Bloodline'', Anna Roffe's father offers her husband Walther Gassner money to make him leave her. Walther uses it to buy her a ring.