Synopses & Reviews
From the critically acclaimed author of The Food Chain and Footsucker comes a sophisticated comedy about three people caught in the Hollywood machine.Following the death of his wife, Henry Cadwallader, an English doctor, insists on accompanying his aspiring actress daughter, Dorothy, on a trip to Hollywood. He fears she will fall prey to corruption and sleaze, but finds that it is actually he who is being corrupted at every turn.
On the flight to LA, they meet 'auteur of the future' Rick McCartney. Rick's trying to get the backing to make a costume drama set in seventeenth-century England about a man who owns what he fears is the last dodo on earth.
Dorothy Cadwallader's quest for fame begins badly and goes downhill from there. Meanwhile Henry becomes involved with a former actress turned estate agent. The lives of Henry and Dorothy once again intersect with that of Rick McCartney to dramatic effect as the characters find themselves drawn to the brink, where dreams die and extinction threatens.
Sharp humor and keen observation drive Geoff Nicholson's satisfyingly oblique look at America's obsession with stardom.
Review
"With carefully understated yet scathingly observant humor...one kaleidoscopic spoof of the entertainment industry, the medical establishment, and wacky Hollywood lifestyles, for a wickedly riotous read." Carol Haggas, Booklist
Review
"There are some novels that read as if they'd been written, painstakingly and gingerly, by hands in white gloves, every phrase weighed and polished and drained of any offending juice before it meets the writer's seal of approval. Geoff Nicholson is not that kind of writer, which is not to say he doesn't take care with his prose: His language is wicked, funny, elegant and precise. But his books feel alive....[They] are savory pleasures, as long as you come armed with a sufficiently dark sense of humor." Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com (read the entire Salon.com review)
Synopsis
From the critically acclaimed author of "Bleeding London" and "The Food Chain" comes a sophisticated black comedy that sends up Hollywood with a tale of three people caught in the cogs of the Tinseltown machine.