First published 2010
Jake Sterling stands in a Malibu mansion, watching his latest film crumble at the box office while studio executives circle like vultures. The veteran producer has survived three decades in Hollywood by reading the room and making the right enemies, but the industry has changed beneath his feet. Digital distribution threatens the old guard. Young directors with film school degrees challenge his instincts. His marriage to actress Miranda Vale hangs by a thread of shared ambition and fading glamour. When a scandal erupts around his biggest star, Jake must choose between protecting his empire and salvaging what remains of his integrity. The decision will cost him everything he has built or everything he still believes in. This is a story about power, compromise, and the price of staying relevant in a business that devours its own.
Genres: drama, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, power-dynamics
Setting: Malibu
Period: 21st-century
627 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster