Exposure: A Novel - Hardcover

Russell, Alan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312289243 ISBN 13: 9780312289249

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2002

Synopsis

In Exposure, award-winning writer Alan Russell delivers an intricate, ambitious thriller that unfolds at break-neck speed against a glamorous and absorbing background.

England's most beloved philanthropist and her football-star lover die in a crash caused by a mystery car. A papparazzo-Graham Wells, the driver of that mystery car-would do anything to keep his terrible secret from getting out. So when a CIA operative blackmails him into engineering the scandalous downfalls of several high-profile celebrities, he has no choice. Nothing he's done is illegal-and his targets are certainly guilty of the acts he's caught on film-but he doesn't understand the purpose of his actions and the whole arrangement leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

Then Graham, desperately trapped in the hidden motives of the CIA, stops a superstar actress who thought she was alone from committing suicide. Lanie Byrne, the beloved Miss L, is perhaps Hollywood's biggest celebrity, and although Graham is feeling desperate himself, he has trouble imagining what could possibly cause this beautiful actress to want to die. This charitable act ignites a chain-reaction of political intrigue and personal danger from which there might be no escape.

About this title

Review

Penzler Pick, April 2002: In this latest thriller from Alan Russell, the hero, or maybe I should say the antihero, is Graham Wells, a transplanted Englishman who is a successful paparazzo. He has learned all of the dirty tricks of his trade--the stakeouts, the subterfuge, the lying--anything and everything that will get him closer to his subject as he invades privacy in order to get the pictures which he sells for thousands of dollars to the tabloids. And, as Wells points out, who among us does not like looking at those pictures?

Then, in an instant, everything goes wrong for Wells. While stalking two high-profile celebrities in Paris, he accidentally causes their deaths during a high-speed car chase. If that sounds familiar, it is probably meant to. Wells panics, drives away from the scene, destroys the car he was driving, and makes his cowardly way back to the United States. But he is not in the clear.

Wells is approached by a CIA operative who tells him that what he has done is known, but will remain a secret if Wells agrees to do some work for the CIA. That work turns out to be destroying the reputations of certain celebrities. Wells has no idea why he's asked to do this and he doesn't care as long as his shameful secret is not revealed.

Wells is contacted by an acquaintance he met at a party. She tells him that Lanie Byrne, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, is going to be alone at her house for the weekend. The acquaintance works for Lanie and this is the second weekend in a row Lanie has given her staff the weekend off. The buzz is that Lanie is entertaining a high-profile lover and Wells's acquaintance wants a cut of any fee he gets for the photographs. Wells can't resist, and what he sees when he photographs Lanie Byrne will change his life.

He sees a woman in despair, intent on committing suicide as she drinks and pops pills. Wells saves her--an act that catapults him into a nightmare where losing his reputation is nothing compared to losing his life.

Because of the work he does, Graham Wells is a hard character to like, but it is impossible not to root for him as he battles unknown forces and begins to redeem himself, at least in the eyes of the reader. --Otto Penzler

About the Author

Alan Russell lives in Cardiff by the Sea, California. He's the author of seven novels, including the Anthony and Macavity finalist thriller Multiple Wounds.

Edition details

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312289243
• ISBN 13: 9780312289249
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336