Rich as Sin

Lively and fast-paced if verging on melodrama, Anderson's ninth novel (after Busybodies ) follows the lives of Mickey and Jessica Ketchum, twins born to an unwed high school student and taken from her at birth. After enduring the miseries of an orphanage run by a malevolent matron, the girls are separated as teenagers, their lives spinning onto paths as different as their personalities: Jessica is bookish, timid and sweet; Mickey gutsy and shrewd. As Anderson recounts their experiences in parallel plot lines, Mickey joins the Drug Enforcement Agency and wages undercover war on drug cartels, meanwhile searching for her sister. Jessica marries Billy Nash, the youngest son of a troubled Texas millionaire family, whose other offspring include an insensitive lout and a brilliant but ruthless entrepreneur. Anderson rivals TV's Dallas in his depiction of the unlovely Nash clan, taking the reader through a labyrinth of deceptions, sexual perversions and murder. Events culminate in a suspenseful court trial and a tearjerking denouement. Although propelled by snappy dialogue, the narrative rarely rises above the level of soap opera. Those looking for a fast beach read, however, should find it entertaining. (Aug.)