Review by Booklist Review
Zara Pines never aspired to be a ghostwriter, but she's good at it, turning hours of focused interviews into a compelling memoir. Zara expects interviewing magnetic TV food personality Jane Bailey to take a couple of weeks. But Jane proves to be more than magnetic in person--irresistible, even. Zara extends her time in the Hamptons, reveling in the safe, secure, and luxurious haven Jane has created. But when the summer turns sinister, Zara realizes she doesn't know Jane at all. Huntley (Getting Clean with Stevie Green, 2022) contrasts the appeal of sun-drenched celebrity culture with the dark underbelly of life in the public eye, echoing Kiley Reid's Such A Fun Age (2020), Emma Cline's The Guest (2023), and Hank Phillippi Ryan's The House Guest (2023). The novel starts off like a celebrity profile, name-checking wardrobe choices and delicious recipes, before evolving into a psychological thriller in which violence takes center stage. With dramatic aplomb, Huntley exposes the lengths some will go to maintain a facade and the strength it takes for others to rise above.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ghostwriter Zara Pines falls under her client's spell in this deliciously disquieting outing from Huntley (Getting Clean with Stevie Green). Though Zara has never heard of Jane Bailey, she accepts an assignment to write the television chef's memoir because she needs the money. Though she's loath to leave behind a promising new romance in California to live with Jane in the Hamptons, Zara quickly settles into the hedged and soundproofed house Jane inherited from her dead husband. The two women also discover a mutual sexual attraction, and Zara enjoys relinquishing control over her own life as she agrees to follow Jane's workout regimen and diet. In a strange development, Jane encourages Zara to wear matching outfits and get an identical haircut, and the women's surface-level similarity unnerves Bijou, Jane's beleaguered housekeeper. Ghostwriter and client begin an affair, but after Jane takes a surprising action that imperils her career as well as the book deal, Zara realizes her position in Jane's life is more tenuous than she thought. Huntley strikes a delicate tonal balance between seductive and serious as the living situation becomes dangerous for Zara. Readers who have ever wondered, "Do I want to be her or be with her?" will feel a chill up their spines. Agent: Nora Gonzalez, Gernert Co. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A ghostwriter hired by a charismatic food personality finds herself falling in love. The well-developed pair of characters at the center of Huntley's fourth novel are Zara Pines and Jane Bailey, brought together when the recently bereaved, broke, and emotionally drifting Zara is hired to write Jane's memoir, to be titled I Want You More. The title comes from a signature moment on 30 Bucks Tops, Jane's cooking show, when she considered the relative merits of two cucumbers--one of many small details of the character (an "edgy cowgirl" in ripped jeans, "like if Debbie Harry used leave-in conditioner") and her repertoire ("maple bacon carrot avocado toast") that smartly hit the mark. Zara is flown out to the Hamptons to stay at Jane's estate for the interviews, showing up with her best friend, Diego, part of Jane's significant gay-male fan base. Zara herself has never even watched the show and is distracted by her budding romance with a lovely woman named Andie that began right before she left California. This resistance won't last long, as the force that is Jane sucks Zara into her orbit, and certain details of Jane's background--she lost her parents in a murder-suicide, her first husband died from a fall in the bathroom--disturb Zara less than they do the reader. The thriller plot that unfolds is relatively predictable and familiar, but the window-dressing--the paparazzi and the fans, the married couple who take care of Jane and her estate, the social media, food, and exercise--is all just right. You'll speed through this one in an afternoon or two at the beach. Like cinnamon Red Hots, this of-the-moment domestic thriller keeps you sweetly sucking away till it delivers the punch. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
