The Audacity

Chapman (Riots I Have Known) unspools a droll dramedy loosely based on the spectacular fall of fraudulent healthcare startup Theranos. Victoria Stevens purports to cure cancer with her company, PrevYou. She’s married to Guy, a lapsed composer who enjoys New York City’s “gala circuit” and the “sudden, stratospheric wealth” derived from Victoria’s business. As news about the fraud at the center of PrevYou is about to break, Victoria fakes her death. Guy, who’s “never had a real job,” is blindsided. In the aftermath, he decides to fly, in Victoria’s stead, to “the Quorum,” a Davos-like conference where billionaires gather on a private island to solve the world’s problems. Chapters from Victoria’s point of view find her holed up in Joshua Tree, where she pursues the “Zone of Utmost Throb” (her term for a metaphysical space of inspiration for the next venture), and reflects on her husband’s nature (“Guy was always supportive. Ever loyal. Deeply incurious. All the qualities one seeks in an ideal partner”). The jaunty tone and adroit prose carry the reader along, mostly making up for the plot’s lack of momentum. It’s a pithy send-up of one of Silicon Valley’s most intriguing crimes. Agent: Marya Spence, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Apr.)