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Rating: 
Summary: delightfully interesting....
Review: I really admire the way in which the author combined some facts of computer history with a romantic story. It gave the book a more educational value.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting plot, inconsistent characterisation, awful cover
Review: Set in the mid-1950s, Frances Bollinger (Francie), a new graudate determined to make her way in the world of business, finds her path blocked by hidebound, sexist traditions which assert that women have no place in the business world. She manages to get a job at the Magnum Corporation, a company she's admired all her life, but finds that she's paid less than male entrants and given insufficient responsibility. Doing some research, she comes up with an idea to apply the new science of computers to the company's European division, and persuades Jack Magnus, son of the Machiavellian owner, to support her scheme.Along the way, she and Jack fall in love and plan to marry... until, just before her computerisation project is about to go online, Francie is sacked and Jack marries the woman his father selected as his bride long before. Jilted and betrayed, she starts her own company and sets out to get revenge on the Magnum Corporation, and Jack and Anton Magnum in particular. I did find the business and computer plots interesting, much more so than I'd anticipated; this aspect of the book is well-written and there are some likeable secondary characters here too. The sub-plot of Anton Magnus's relationship with his family is also well-told, including the sad story of his daughter Juliet, whom Anton has been raping since she was six years old and whose one chance at happiness Anton destroyed. But I had problems with the characterisation of Jack and Francie. Jack, we were told at the start of the book (from the point of view of both Anton and Jack), did not want to take over the Magnus Corporation. He intended to quit and start his own business. Anton desperately wanted to bring him to heel and hand over the business to him. And yet, when Jack betrays Francie and marries Belinda, we're told that he did this because it was the only way his father would make him his heir. Huh? - he didn't *want* to take over the corporation! I could accept Jack being the villain of the piece; but Gage set that aspect of the plot up wrongly. We were given too little insight into Francie's motives and feelings once we got past her jilting by Jack. I suppose Gage wanted us to believe that she was trusting Jack again - though I certainly didn't. However, I did want to know how she felt about Sam - kind, considerate, brilliant Sam Carpenter, who - the way Gage wrote the story - was completely shut out of Francie's plans and thought processes. I could understand Sam forgiving Francie if I thought that she'd at least told him something of what was going on. I think the cover was a big mistake. Looking at the picture - a woman's legs, encased in stockings and suspenders, and with a cane in the woman's hand - readers are led to expect something overtly sexy, if not kinky, rather than the dramatic plot we actually get. Sure, there are sex scenes in the book, but not those implied by the cover - which actually cheapens the book. I found the title inappropriate too, and can't see why Gage didn't continue the chess metaphor. 'Master' certainly works in that context, but 'stroke' does not.
Rating: 
Summary: CHECKMATE
Review: The birth of the computer dominates this classic tale of passion and revenge in Elizabeth Gage's third outing. Her sexy heroine Francie Bollinger may be a genius in electronics but what a looser she is in romance. In fact, all of Gage's characters stink in love. And boy does she make them suffer for it. From incest to rape to murder, the novel screams of clichés, yet with her skillfull plot, characterization and prose Gage succeeds in making this a powerful experience. (SPOILER AHEAD) The bad guys may pay and the good guys may win in the end, but the path to there is one heck of a read.-----Martin Boucher
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