Helen Clarvoe lives alone in a shabby Hollywood residential hotel, keeping to herself with only her money for company. When an old school acquaintance calls her out of the blue, Helen finds herself drawn into a web she never saw coming. The call seems innocent enough at first, but it pulls the isolated woman away from the safety of her rooms and into a world where nothing is what it appears. Soon Helen discovers she has walked into a trap involving blackmail, dirty pictures, and people seeking revenge for old wounds. As the danger closes in around her, Helen realizes that someone wants her dead, and her comfortable, lonely life has become a fight for survival. What began as a simple phone call has become a deadly game where Helen must navigate between predators who see her as easy prey.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Hollywood, California
Period: 20th-century
Mass Market Paperback · Penguin
Content warnings: violence