2 Book Lovers Reviews

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 Suspense/Mysteries

​​I love a good thriller, and Pip Drysdale certainly knows how to write one. She has quickly become one of my favorite authors in this genre.

Zoe moved from London to Los Angeles with the dream of becoming an author. She had a bright future ahead of her, but when her love life takes a turn, and her debut thriller doesn’t do as well as anticipated, she finds herself working as a florist and trying to come up with her sophomore thriller that was already supposed to be submitted.

Zoe feels defeated. Her father wants her to move back home. Her creative juices have run dry. When she delivers a flower arrangement to a ritzy neighborhood, it ends up being the home of none other than Zach Hamilton, the action movie star and the man who ghosted her three years earlier. His life is shiny and impressive, his career has taken off, and he is at the top of his game. He also remembers her, and the sparks between them are still there. Not only is the chemistry between them sparking, but Zoe has also found her writing muse in Zach.

Zach is an “it man” in Hollywood. He has publicists, paparazzi, and fans circling him constantly.  When photos get leaked of Zoe and Zach together, this throws Zoe’s life for a dangerous loop. Someone is stalking Zoe and using scenes in her own debut novel against her.

I was on pins and needles trying to figure out who was stalking Zoe. Sure, Zach had a lot of fans, some who were probably not all that level-headed (to put it nicely), but for someone to reenact scenes from her very own debut novel against her? Why, that would be utterly frightening. I doubted everyone. I even doubted our protagonist. I’m sorry, but in a book of this genre, you can’t trust anyone. There were many times in which I found my own heart racing as Zoe was living through this nightmare. I kept thinking Get on the next plane out of LAX and get back to London. Of course, if she had just run away, where would the fun be in that.

The Close-Up was intriguing, exciting, and kept my suspicions on high alert. It was everything that I expected from a novel by this author. Did I manage to figure out what was going to happen? Not at all. I can honestly say that I didn’t see that ending coming. I love it when that happens.


*4.5 Stars

 

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