June 1, 2018
Stacey McCreedy helped create The Benjamins, an interracial family dramedy, with legendary television producer Ann Dalloni. Ann is getting older?a major crime in Hollywood?and others are less willing to put up with her eccentricities when her younger, thinner, more even-keeled prot�g� is always willing to step in. Stacey knows Ann is jealous, and that she'll never give her the credit or the power to run her own show. When Ann hires actress Jenna Kuyt as an assistant, Stacey thinks Ann is grooming her replacement, and she hasn't taken Ann's abuse for years just to step aside for a younger model. Moritsugu (And Everything Nice, 2011) pulls no punches in this delightfully twisty tale. Ann is a narcissist desperately fighting a losing battle with control. Stacey is sociopathic in her ambition, and even Jenna, the most likable of the trio, is ruled by calculated self-interest. With no one to really root for, readers just have to sit back and watch Ann and Stacey try to outmaneuver each other with no regard for collateral damage. This Joan Collins-meets-Lauren Weisberger is a beach read no-brainer.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)