First published 1998
Ben "Superman" Willis commands sold-out arenas as a seventies folk rock icon, but fame has become a prison. His marriage to a former Miss Southwest Louisiana crumbles while he finds his only escape piloting his Beechcraft Baron 9,000 feet above his troubles. During one flight, a storm and faulty compass send his plane crashing onto a tropical island where he encounters a woman who looks exactly like Marilyn Monroe. The island harbors other supposedly dead celebrities: an elderly female pilot who might be Amelia Earhart, her cross-dressing companion, Princess Annie, and a barbecue chef named Jimmy Hoffa. Superman discovers he has landed in the one place that could fulfill his deepest wish to vanish completely from his old existence. But his arrival disturbs the island's balance, triggering conflicts with a power-hungry local called El Mago and unleashing mystical forces involving armies of monkeys. As Superman gains magical abilities and navigates romance with the Monroe lookalike, he must confront what disappearing truly means and whether fame or love offers the real escape he seeks.
Genres: romance, adventure, fantasy, contemporary, magical-realism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, whimsical
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Beechcraft Baron, Tropical Island
Period: 1970s
480 pages · Paperback · ROBERT LAFFONT