cover image Flavor of the Month

Flavor of the Month

Olivia Goldsmith. Poseidon Press, $22.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-79449-1

Tell-all patter from a fictional gossip columnist spikes this deliciously juicy novel about Hollywood celebrities and secrets. In the beginning is Mary Jane Moran, a talented New York actress whose lumpish face and figure corral her in the small-time. Then she spends $67,000 on plastic surgery, becomes drop-dead beautiful and moves to L.A. where, reborn as Jahne Moore, she's instantly cast in a sizzling TV series. Co-starring are Lila Kyle, towering bitch-goddess daughter of an aging screen star, and corn-fed Texan Sharleen Smith, who's been on the lam since she and her half-brother Dean left their abusive father for dead. Goldsmith ( The First Wives Club ) spins out a dizzying whirl of subplots--Lila's crazy mother cooking up a comeback; Jahne's second chance at love with the director who broke her heart back when she was Mary Jane; an embittered comic who starts stalking Lila--and she enlivens each with a twist. While Goldsmith has little truck with realism, she perfectly conjures up the envy and insecurity, the toadying and backstabbing associated with the celebrity circuit. Raucous energy speeds the tale to a climax in which hitherto buried secrets (including one final lollapalooza) bring the stars crashing down. 100,000 first printing; BOMC main selection. (May)