Muy bueno! Te engancha

DNF - just not getting pulled in. 2.0 audio.

Maybe it's unfair to count this book as read and rate it when I didn't come close to finishing it, but when I don't finish a book that means it's beyond bad. I finished Twilight. I couldn't keep reading The List.

I started reading the book because I thought it might be like a John Grisham book. Maybe Steve Martini is like him in one way, in that half his books are disgusting and the other half are brilliant, but I wouldn't give him the second chance to find out. It comes across as amateur when someone doesn't know when it's appropriate to swear. He's got everyone cussing every second word. It doesn't make it realistic, it makes you wonder what world this guy lives in.

I found it ironic how someone in the story was saying how the author (in the story) had such an insight into females, and Martini himself has none whatsoever. He has no business trying to write about women. I wonder if he gets his ideas from other books instead of real life. That would explain quite a bit.

I notice another reviewer who gave it a low rating acknowledging that they couldn't write a book as good as this one. I'm not even going to do that. I have no doubt I could write a better book.

I thought that the "heroine" protagonist was a simpering moron. She was unlikable from the beginning, and ridiculously naive. She's supposedly a "good looking woman" but she has no experience with men, and has only 1 close girlfriend who's also an idiot. But her girlfriend is a man hungry idiot, married to an abusive jerk. All really distasteful stuff.

So, the protagonist writes a book and knows it's really good. I mean, really really good!! Her friend has told her it's really really really good, too! BUT, despite the fact that she knows it's good, she believes that she needs a man's face/body persona as a nom de plume for the book if it's going to succeed. Because of course, no one buys women's books. Ugh what misogynistic BS.

She sets off to find Mr. Right, or rather Mr. Write. lol I'm laughing at my own joke! She gets a list of actors and travels to Hollywood to interview them. Long story short, she finds a guy and it complicates her life immensely. He saves her life repeatedly, and works out really well with the PR. But, despite being very attracted to the guy, and him to her, she doesn't know if she can trust him. So, she sleeps with him and STILL doesn't know if she can trust him. What a moron. The author throws a bunch of red herrings into the plot, and a bunch of murders happen. Well, we're talking $5 million for the book, so I guess that's worth killing for. There's a shady ex husband, a tenacious cop and other characters who populate this book.

The book starts with the end - and then goes back to the beginning. So, you kind of know the deal with her. I thought it started off with a bang then went to a simmering mess. The ultimate bad guy was exactly who I thought it would be, but his "skill set" was ridiculous for his profession. Where did he get those skills? Nowhere, that's where. For him to be the bad guy and for him to choose to do what he did is also ridiculous. He could've made loads of money at his chosen profession, if he'd actually worked at it and not these other stupid side gigs. It made no sense and annoyed me.

The ending also annoyed me. Suddenly, all is forgiven and she's living in paradise. I really liked the fake author and his friends, and family, much more than I liked the real author woman lawyer. I felt he was too good for her. But whatever.

1 star for writing a book. 0 stars for understand how women are. 1 star for having some action and interesting characters. -100 stars for who the bad guy is.

I've read Steve Martini books before, and they were good. He should stay in his lane as it were, and stick with writing courtroom dramas. (he's a former lawyer).

Sorry, I can't recommend this book.

For fans of Martini's character Paul Madriani, this book will be a bit of a disappointment. And if you're a writer, you may want to look for another vocation. It's an interesting premise, but it demands you suspend disbelief. And the ending occurs almost magically. Not up to his usual standards.

I’ve read other Martini books which were enjoyable. This just went from bad to worse. The basic plot wasn’t credible and then murder after murder for stupid reasons. I might need to be persuaded to read another.

I noticed that reviews either hated or loved this book = not much middle ground. For those who complained that they wanted total realism in the plot, I say it's FICTION. A definition of fiction is "imaginative - not restricted to fact = not real"!!! Therefore, I read it for what it was and enjoyed it immensely. Martini is one of my favorite authors, especially his courtroom drama series. This plot is different, but still compelling with plenty of twists and turns. It has action, romance, adventure, and a suspenseful climax with a major twist in the last sentence of the epilogue - so satisfying and a fist-pumping moment. It also gives the reader insights into book publishing, the politics of a highly successful book that makes the bestselling list, movie rights, and bestseller marketing.

Abby Chandlis is an attorney, closing in on her 40's, at Star, Hobbs and Carlton law offices. She's also a part-time author. She has written three published books that didn't do well. Now she has written an excellent novel but knows, that no matter how good it is, it will be turned down because of the three previous books. So, she submits it to a publisher under the unknown name of Gable Cooper. Abby is posing as his lawyer watching out for his rights. It's an ingenious plan to make a fresh start in her writing career. But the problem is that Gable Cooper doesn't exist and now her literary agent, Carla Owens, and book publisher, Alex Bertoli wants to meet him because six million dollars in book and movie rights have been offered. Oh, what to do? The plan is to travel to Hollywood with her best friend Terry Jenrico and find the perfect unknown actor to play handsome and charismatic Gable Cooper. Someone who will look fabulous on the dust jacket.

Abby is ready for the meeting and interview with Carla and Alex to present them with Jess Jermaine who will play the part of Gable. Abby becomes panicked when he doesn't show up; but in the nick of time, in walks his older brother Jack Jermaine who is more than perfect for the role. He's great at the interview because he has a desk drawer filled with rejected manuscripts that testify that he can't write! Abby immediately has her good friend and lawyer, Morgan Spencer, write up the legal copyright documents to protect herself and prove she wrote the novel.

Then Terry is murdered; Terry's abusing husband Joey Jenrico who, through mistaken identity, tries to weasel money out of a movie producer by saying he is Gable Cooper while at Abby's house trashing it is murdered; and Abby's ex-husband Charlie who is trying to cash in on Abby's upcoming fortune is also murdered. Abby/Gable has fled to a Caribbean Island to write a sequel for the publisher and movie producer. But Abby has her doubts about what Jack is after. After all, he has macho good looks and a shadowy past. Spencer hires a P.I. to look into Jack's military career. He finds out why Jack is a mercenary trained by the military and was forced to retire early. Abby begins to have misgivings about hiring Jack. He is now getting all the kudos, glory, and celebrity status for writing the now famous book - "she had created a mirage so alluring that it now threatened to consume its own maker".

Then success turns to terror when someone feeds her false thoughts and misdirection about Jack, and she begins to think that Jack is out to kill her. Why does Jack have a passport in the name of Kellen Raid? As her book hits #4 on the bestseller list, Jack calls and says the publisher is now clamoring for the outline of the sequel, but Abby won't give it up yet for fear Jack will use it to get what he wants. The reader gets a touch of the climax in the prologue when Abby finds herself on a cargo ship searching for the one person who can save her life while she thinks Jack is pursuing her to kill her. But did Jack really betray her?

Interesting dissection of cutthroat world of publishing, especially commercial book publishing and agents, editors, movie studios, etc. who are all more than eager to generate something related to the bestselling novel on the LIST! A line from the book "In every way commercial publishing was a game of chance, the right book at the right time with the right publisher and the right budget. Writing a novel was like pulling the handle on a slot machine. If you were lucky enough to line everything up at one time, you won. If not, you went to work on the next book". Highly recommended for the reader who can overlook minor flaws and questionable plot points.

This kept my interest well enough, but I felt like the plot was typical & predictable. I didn't care for the language & the author narrowed down the bad guy by killing off all those that looked guilty. Last man standing is it! I picked it up thinking it would be similar to a John Grisham. I probably won't read any more of this author.

Rarely do I have enough ambition to summarize the books I read, and I don’t like to give away the plot, but this time I’m making an exception. Why? Because this book sucked so bad! Do I need to give a disclaimer? Okay, I will. This is simply my opinion. Mr. Martini can certainly write a book better than me. Absolutely. No doubt. Okay?

I was given this book by someone. At the moment I cannot remember if I have read any other books by Steve Martini. This book certainly doesn't encourage me to try again. The plot was formulaic in many ways, the villian was obvious because no one else made sense. I kept turning the pages just to get the experience over with.

I liked this story, but for all the wrong reasons. The suspense portion was pretty weak. I just did not feel it to be very compelling. There wasn't enough fear build up to the end. The characters were not all that interesting. I did not have any sympathy for the villain. A good story at least gets you to feel something.

What I really liked were the book publishing insights. Why books are marketed the way that they are was interesting. I complain about too many books marketed as trilogies, but this makes me wonder if it was the author's idea or the publisher's. Is a good looking, unknown male author going to command a better contract than a woman? How are movie rights determined and who drives a good book character into a successful series. It make me rethink some of my past criticisms of book reviews I have previously made.

So, go have a Goodreads.

Abby is an author, she is also a lawyer, and working in a law firm that is downsizing. She confides in her close lawyer friend, that she has a firm offer for one of her books, but is going under the pen name of Gable Cooper,and is looking for
a actor to play the part of the author. The friend agrees to do all the legal paperwork.

She hires her "Gable Cooper" and her friend gets murder, also her friends ex-husband gets murdered, and then she is also almost murdered. Who dun it....when she finds her ex-husband murdered she runs, but sees her "Jack", aka Cooper threw the flames and believes he is the murderer. However, he is not.

She does win the day, but not without a lot of fleeing and excitement, and the book becomes a best seller and a movie.