cover image Maxxed Out

Maxxed Out

David Collins, . . Morrow, $24.99 (310pp) ISBN 978-0-06-145619-0

This overpoweringly gimmicky faux memoir/biography from Collins recounts a ghostwriter’s turbulent experience with a Donald Trumpesque celebrity real estate magnate. Robert Maxx, the Trump stand-in, is a salacious figure with plans to, among other things, buy Rockefeller Center and rename it after himself. Chronicling his dealings is David Collins, a failed novelist turned ghostwriter who gets an assignment to write a revelatory book that gets to the heart of Maxx. This, of course, is not so easy: the pay is low, and Maxx is a selfish bully who is roundly despised and, as one character remarks, “has no music” in his life. While Maxx’s dealings become increasingly sleazy, Collins finds himself sidetracked by his interest in several women, among them his own ex-wife, his editor and the billionaire’s vengeful ex-wife and his personal assistant. On the surface, this seems timely, but the sporadic references to the economic meltdown feel belatedly shoehorned in, while Maxx comes off as even more of a caricature than his real-life inspiration. However, there’s enough outrageous scandal and over-the-top shenanigans to make this a juicy diversion for fans of The Apprentice . (May)