cover image She's the One

She's the One

J.J. Murray, Kensington/Dafina, $15 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-7582-5895-3

Murray (The Real Thing) attempts to modernize The Taming of the Shrew in this lackluster tale. Film producer Vincenzo Lucentio takes a gamble on has-been actress Katharina Molina, an Oscar winner whose spoiled behavior led to her fall from grace. Lucentio has a plan so good that he's willing to pay the "shrew" $5 million for the chance to humiliate her on the big screen. The story takes a laughable nose-dive into mediocre reality TV territory as Katharina is sent to the wilderness to be secretly filmed "roughing it," though she believes she's playing the role of an escaped slave in 19th-century Canada. Sparse and predictable love scenes lead the way to a rote ending. Readers looking for romantic chemistry and tension would do better with Shakespeare's original works. (Mar.)