Hot Shot - Hardcover

Allman, Kevin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312168667 ISBN 13: 9780312168667

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 1998

Synopsis

Down on his luck, Kieran O'Connor is willing to take on any job, no matter how insignificant, and when the opportunity comes along to write the instant biography of a star who overdosed on a dangerous new drug called hot shot, he takes it, only to find he might be dealing with murder.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Kieran O'Connor (Tight Spot, 1995) calls himself a celebrity journalist, not a tabloid hack. But what you are, says Sloan Baker, is a hypocritea down-and-dirty sleaze merchant. Baker happens to be a hooker, but don't count her out of the debate. In truth, our boy doesn't in fact have much of a value system. From the time he accepts an offer to ghost a book for Felina Lopez, hooker emeritus, his choices become steadily less defensible. The bio is to be about Felina's lurid relationship with a famous TV star; their hope, of course, to strike it rich. But that's chancy, since the star has been dead a month thanks to a drug overdose. Which means, Who remembers? What's inescapable, though, is that the book may well do psychic damage to the star's six-year-old son. Kieran is undeterred. He's broke, you see. And when you're broke in Hollywood, he argues, value systems are expendable. Besides, it isn't Kieran's fault that the star fooled around. But then suddenly the stakes skyrocket when Felina's found dead. Was she murdered? Please, please, let it be soa prayer sent up by choristers of fast-buck agents, publishers, and similar parasitic types, a group that includes the protagonist. He makes politically correct noises from time to time, wriggles and squirms, rationalizes and defends, but it all has a hollow ring. When the bandwagon chugs home to collect its booty, there's Kieran still snugly ensconced. The pity is there's some good, sharp writing in this portrait of Tinseltown's bleak otherworld. If only Allman's sleuth himself were a more sympathetic, less unappealing type. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Hollywood reporter Kieran O'Connor makes a welcome return following the Edgar-nominated debut, Tight Shot (1996). The celebrity columnist is at a definite low, serving a three-month suspension from his L.A. newspaper and living in an apartment that, damaged by an earthquake, has been condemned. He's in no shape to turn down his agent's latest project: co-writing the memoirs of a hooker who had an affair with a dead and discredited TV star named Dick Mann. The situation is rife with satirical possibilities, and Allman scores frequently. There's Kieran's pushy agent, Jocelyn, whose hard-as-nails persona masks a genuine soft spot for Kieran; Kitty Keyes, who struck it rich with Scandal, Inc., which represents only notorious celebrities; and a private hospital?"the elective-surgery capital of Southern California"?that gives posh hotels a run for their money. Kieran manages to get through a first interview with Felina Lopez, the reformed and New Age-ish hooker, and a reading of her "manuscript." But, as innocuous as the material appears, someone seems determined to keep it from being published. Soon Kieran is on the run, dodging threats and deadlines and trying to figure out who has the most to hide.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0312168667
• ISBN 13: 9780312168667
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256