Though most well written books make it to the bestsellers list, only a handful achieve cult status. Fountainhead, Pride and Prejudice, Gone With the Wind are some of them. Sidney Sheldon’s If Tomorrow Comes belongs to this rare class of cult novels. The New York Daily News described the novel as “Compelling…Sidney sheldon is the perfect author for the 80s.” But I feel it is a benchmark for thrillers of any subsequent decade, the 90s, the 2000s.So, what makes it so timeless and irresistible?
On the face of it If Tomorrow Comes is a revenge drama. The success of a book depends thirty per cent on its plot and seventy per cent on the writer’s execution of the same. And converting a mundane story into an edge-of-the-seat thriller is Sidney’s forte. He has exploited this strength of his to the hilt in the novel.
The heroine of the story, Tracy Whitney is a happy twenty something bank employee in Philadelphia on the verge of marrying a scion of the royal family. But her world turns upside down when she receives a phone call from the New Orleans police that her mother has committed suicide. When she learns that the person responsible for this is Joe Romano, right hand man of Orsetti, the man who runs New Orleans she foolishly tries to get him to confess his guilt at gunpoint. This turns out to be a big mistake as Romano frames Tracy of armed robbery and the legal system, which is putty in Romano’s hand, sentences her to fifteen years in prison. Her fiancé ditches her in her hour of need and she loses her unborn baby. And to add to her misfortunes, the prison turns out to be living hell with all the crimes from beating, drug abuse, and rape happening right in front of the police.
But the prison days change her life forever. Tracy discovers that in order to deal with sharks you have to be a shark yourself. She sheds her naiveté and puts in her full effort to think like a criminal, though she makes sure to use her skill only against tjose who deserve to be punished, never against the innocent. She pledges, “No one will commit suicide because of me.”
From then on the novel is one big roller coaster ride with Tracy exacting revenge on each and every person who tried to ruin her. In the process, she becomes an expert conwoman and the subsequent robberies she carries out have to be read to be believed. Though at points Sidney tests the readers’ credibility by making his heroine carry out heists in an unbelievable manner, he manages to keep the drama and suspense intact with his imaginative writing. The robbery of the Italian actress Luadi’s jewels on the Orient Express, the theft of the Peurto from Madrid and the Lucullan diamond from Amsterdam are classics.
The strong point of the novel is the way Sheldon has interwoven romance into the plot without once wavering from the main theme. At no point has he made it mushy or sentimental. He has handled the love life of Tracy Whitney with just the right amount of sensitivity. And by making Tracy carry out her con acts in all parts of the world like Madrid, Amsterdam, London et al Sidney has also given us an insight into the tourist attractions, food habits and culture of those countries.
The book was made into a successful mini series in 1986 and it has sold millions of copies worldwide and still counting. It is a must-read for all book lovers. The Detroit Free Press has aptly sensed the readers’ pulse in its review of the book.
“A thrilling page turner….compelling…Sheldon’s fans will stay awake to discover If Tomorrow Comes for Tracy Whitney.”