L. A. Times » (Reprint)

With several successful mystery series going at once -- the most popular featuring jet-setting cop-turned-lawyer Stone Barrington -- Stuart Woods more than manages to keep focused on a bestselling streak that shows no signs of slowing down.

After turning a film student's directorial debut into a hit movie, New York mobster and movie fanatic Vinnie Callabrese takes off for the bright lights of Hollywood, where he begins a new life as Michael Vincent, Producer. A natural born wheeler-dealer, he lands not only a major studio deal, but also a gorgeous actress girlfriend.

It isn't long before Michael Vincent is one of the most successful producers in town, given his knack for bringing in films under budget — not too difficult when you're willing to lie, seduce, intimidate, and even kill to get what you want. But some of the people from his past have long memories and a far reach, and now it's Michael's turn to watch his back. Because even in the land of make-believe certain enemies — and their bullets — are very real.

Kirkus Reviews

Woods—an off-again (Santa Fe Rules, etc.), on-again (New York Dead, etc.) writer—is very much on here, turning his big weakness—stagnant characters—into a strength. In this enjoyably high- sleaze potboiler about a mafioso who conquers Hollywood, there's no need for character growth: Every member of the cast is a blackhearted villain, and the great fun is watching them claw each other as the author spins out one unexpected twist, loop, and climax after another. "You have the single most important quality that a successful producer can possess...you are a complete sociopath." When his sexy assistant says that to Michael Vincent, she isn't kidding. Born Vincente Michaele Callabrese in N.Y.C., Michael is a mob- connected hustler who parlays his passion for movies into fame and fortune when he bankrolls a superior indie feature that lands him a producing deal at a top studio—and never mind that he has to kill two fellow mafiosi to get the funds for the film. In L.A., the comer wallows in the lavish life, investing his money with a loan- shark. When the rights-holder on the novel he plans to film next refuses to sell, Michael calls on his old mob-pal Tommy Pro for help, leading to the release of the rights—but only through a murder that leaves Michael's fingerprints at the scene. A nosy cop realizes that Michael's guilt, so the producer simply buys him out—and kills him after a second blackmail attempt. And so Michael leaps up the ladder—conning actors and writers, ruining lives, cuckolding and then killing his boss—but always making good films (and winning a Best Picture Oscar for one), until his greed gets him in trouble with Tommy Pro, who'snow a Mafia don—and who arranges the harsh yet poetically just fate that closes the book on Michael. With a villain as charismatically coldblooded as this one, who needs a hero? Not Woods—and not readers of this devilishly entertaining thriller. (First printing of 100,000)