Synopsis
An unknown English actress named Jules becomes the understudy for starlet Lila Dune, whose fabulous success does not prevent her from stealing Jules' lover, an action that releases all of Jules' pent-up jealousy and rage
Reviews
The fifth novel by British author Moggach ( You Must Be Sisters ) is an exciting, deftly executed thriller with considerable psychological intrigue. Jules Sampson, 38, is an intelligent English actress who's never had a big break. Her would-be novelist boyfriend Trevor uses her for sex and her theater connections. Jules gets the thankless job of London film-shoot stand-in for American star Lila Dune. A product of the Hollywood star system, Lila is awed by Jules's superior education and acting ability, just as Jules is entranced by the aura of fame and power surrounding Lila. Following Lila to New York, Jules serves not just as stand-in but as the neurotic, insecure actress's drama coach and confidante; able to become the star in looks and manner, Jules constructs a dream life inside that glamorous image. Meanwhile Trev and Lila have begun an afair, with Trev keeping Lila ignorant of his involvement with Jules. As her career takes off, Jules's obsessive jealousy and rage drive her to act out her fantasies of revenge. In flashbacks, Jules tells her story with eerie insights and powerfully evoked emotions; passages describing the present subtly heighten suspense.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A bleak, blackly comic departure for Moggach, who's done some amusing satiric surgery on assorted contemporary British foibles, and who sympathetically investigated the matter of surrogate motherhood in To Have and to Hold (1987). Here, we have the raw- nerved, jumpy, zigzag, running-on-empty self-narrated chronicle of an English stand-in for a blond American movie star. Much pounding of the heart, grinding of teeth, along with some zaps at the Hollywood scene--all followed by murder and a neat ending twist. Julia Sampson (``Jules'') feels nothing in particular when she first sees Lila Dune--a star ``specializing in daffy, slightly tacky blondes''--filming in London. And nothing in particular is changing in her own acting career (at present she's a fairy godmother in an environmental kids' show) until her resemblance to Lila gets her a stand-in job. Casual conversation with Lila, who's the simple, self-absorbed, offhand kind, bruised by rotten relationships with men, is a one-way street; Lila doesn't take in much from the outside. But a kind of friendship happens, and in America the more intelligent, intellectual Jules begins to guide Lila's rocky boat. Back home, however, Julia had made a mistake in introducing Lila to her dynamite lover, Trevor, whose voltage could melt bones. In the US--New York and Hollywood--something else is cooking Jules's innards--namely an obsession with Lila (``the me I longed to see''). In crazy, secret masquerades, Jules begins to step into Lila's persona. Then guess who Lila's new man--and prospective husband--is.... Lila had said to Jules once, in admiration, ``I sure as hell wouldn't like you for an enemy.'' How true. Some ``severe schizoid'' creepy stuff, ranting and broadax satire, set on both sides of the Atlantic and a place called enigmatically ``Here.'' With a marvelous snap of a windup, an absorbing, inventive chiller, complete with undertones of a sour, wry humor. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Jules Sampson, a British actress long on talent but short on fame, is the protagonist of this smoothly written psychological thriller. When Jules is signed as a stand-in for her lookalike, vacuous American movie star Lila Dune, she finds her private life, as well as her screen role, merging with that of her alter ego. Obsessed with Lila's wealth and celebrity, Jules goes over the psychological brink when she discovers the star has stolen her lover, and she plans a gruesome revenge. After a slow beginning, the novel's plot moves to a breathless climax. Moggach, a veteran stage and screen writer, offers up challenges for the reader, and her subtle comic touch lightens an otherwise melodramatic ending. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/91.
- Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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