Dark Secret

Packed to bursting with steamy romantic intrigue, fatal illness, race and class strife, murder, kidnapping, rape and high-level politics, Bowman's (White Chocolate) hyperventilating contemporary drama gallops from one over-the-top showdown to the next as the protagonist, Camille Morgan, a 28-year-old mixed-race woman from Detroit, tries to ""pass"" as white and remake her life. After a painful childhood as the unwanted pale child in a dark-skinned family, Sharlene Bradley changes her name, goes to law school and lands Southern blueblood Jefferson Stone as a beau. Jeff's parents, Sen. Montgomery Stone and his wife, Millie, forbid his marriage to a Yankee until Camille fakes a pregnancy and takes up residence at White Pines, the family's Virginia plantation. Racist Senator Stone is caught up in a sexual harassment hearing and a bid for the presidential nomination, and Millie has her own secret hidden away in the attic, which diverts attention from Camille's past. Meanwhile, Camille's long-estranged sister, Karen, has learned their mother will die without a kidney transplant and is determined to track down Camille as a donor. Blackmailed by Karen, who takes a job as the senator's press secretary, and hunted by a reporter hot on her trail, Camille harbors secrets that are bound to be revealed, but by the time they are she'll be ready to escape her abusive husband's dysfunctional family. Bowman chops her novel up into 137 short chapters, giving each scene little depth. Her characters often speak in platitudes, such as ""She'll join this family when hell freezes over,"" while Senator Stone addresses every woman as ""sugar"" and Millie says little except ""gracious."" Bowman's premise is provocative, but her characters get lost in the scramble. Agent, Susan Crawford. (Aug.)