Twilight.

by Billy Dee Williams and Elizabeth Atkins Bowman Forge/Tom Doherty Associates, July 2002 $25.95, ISBN 0-312-87909-1

Twilight celebrates the blending of souls, cultures, and colors in a richly detailed story--pulsing with the passion we expect from the original ladies man himself, Billy Dee Williams. In his third novel, Williams teams up with best-selling romance novelist Elizabeth Atkins Bowman, author of Skin Deep, to deliver an intricate, suspenseful plot set in Brazil and celebrity-studded Los Angeles.

Blurring the lines between reality and fiction, Williams' reputation as a sex symbol is mirrored in character D. Anthony "Sweet Sonny" Whittaker, a legendary actor famous for his magnetic on-screen presence. Over his multidecade career. Now, however, the tables have turned, as Sonny defends himself against an ex-lover's slanderous book, even as he is embroiled in a bitter custody battle.

Twilight teems with classic romance novel fare--forbidden love, questionable parentage, a celebrity stalker and over-wrought dialogue. To support the novel's theme of unity, a framework of interracial situations emerges. Bowman, who is biracial, uses her novels (Twilight is her third) to examine issues surrounding interracial relationships and mixed-race individuals. Although interracial themes, including Simone's questions about her own racial identity, are prevalent throughout the story, Twilight never fully explores their impact on the characters.

Twilight reads like a screenplay, filled with expressive dialogue and visually rich description. Readers looking for a racy, entertaining romp full of plot twists, scandal and exposed secrets will not be disappointed.