Exposes Can Lead to Death

A manuscript for an anonymously penned expose of a media mogul's life, called The Accident, is delivered to an agent of a major publishing house, Isabel Reed. The major revelation is that the mogul, when an undergraduate in Ithaca, New York, became intoxicated, picked up a girl he tried to rape and, when she was able to escape from his car, ran her over and killed her. He and his friend, the author of the manuscript, then threw her body into a ravine and managed to cover up the incident for over twenty five years. This all becomes evident to us, the readers, within several pages. What we don't know is why people are being murdered once they become aware of the manuscript's existence or who, really, is behind the attempts to destroy all copies of it. The action takes place in New York, Zurich, Paris, London, on Long Island, in Beverly Hills and has as many twists and turns as any of the roads over which cars are driven at top speeds down the curving hills of the latter or those on the Italian coast. Although throughout the novel we know for certain who has written the book, some of the players do not and red herrings are thrown in their paths several times, slowing them down in their effort to find and eliminate him as well. The twist at the end is totally unexpected but leaves room for the possibility that Isabel and Hayden, the man who is primarily in charge of disposing of the irritating book and its author, may resurface in another installment of The Accident in the future. In addition to the main plot of the novel, the paths a promising manuscript can take through the publishing business is fascinating. It is a wonder any book gets published or that any author makes a living writing. But, the characters in this book who encounter the manuscript are fascinating and well developed, from assistants such as Allison to the fellow agent, Camilla, who travels to Beverly Hills and the casting couch with which she has resigned herself to occupy in order to convince a movie mogul to buy the rights to film the story that will destroy a very rich, very arrogant man who has moved on from hiding a murder in his youth to far more nefarious acts at the urging of the CIA. All in all a fascinating read about a hot, promising, money making manuscript and the people involved in bringing it to bookstores and movie screens and those involved in preventing that from happening. I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.