In his latest novel, author Gino Cox spins a complex tale that is as much an exploration of the psychological and sexual landscape of the almost famous and tragically hip of Los Angeles as it is a who-dun-it.
At the heart of this novel is the disappearance of Persephone “Percy” O’Rourke, an It Girl of the moment for fashion photographers and indie film makers and a young, thin blonde with a tragic past that has left her sexually incomplete and unable to untangle delusion from reality. This is particularly true when it comes to her stepfather, aging actor Finian O’Rourke, who raised her after her mother was killed in a car wreck.
Of course, in Greek mythology, Persephone is both the goddess of spring and queen of the underworld, kidnapped by Hades, god-king of the underworld, to be his wife. Like her namesake, Percy has one foot in hellish delusions of guilt and incest and the other in the comfortable luxury provided by her stepfather and her own lucrative career as a model and actress.
Her disappearance sets in motion two parallel hunts to find her -- the official one run by the cops and the unofficial ones run by her friends, including the cops’ prime suspect, Christian, the indie filmmaker with a seriously unresolved obsession with Percy.
Cox’s novel truly shines in his knowing descriptions of Percy’s friends and their world of fashion, modeling, photography and movies. This isn’t Hollywood, with blockbuster releases and A-list stars with their carefully manicured public personas. It’s a universe miles away from Sunset Boulevard and several levels below the A-list and Oscar-nominated films. But it’s still lucrative, stylish and driven by the same expectations of must-have clothes, cars and other accessories.
These characters aren’t caricatures of pretentiousness or hipster posing. They’re fully-formed and very human, with flaws, foibles and saving graces that attract rather than repel. Well, there is one exception -- an utterly despicable photographer with minimal talent behind the lens but maximum ability to attract clients drawn to his ‘edgy’ sado-masochistic images. Percy is drawn into his world and he is the prime suspect of her sleuthing friends.
Cox also spins out marvelous details about poker, high-end cameras, fashion merchandising and sex. But the great fun of this book is letting the author take you on a guided tour of a world he obviously knows well at a pace that drives the story briskly along and keeps you turning the pages. You wind up liking the friends of Percy and the ingenious ways they invent to track their prime suspect and find their girl.
This is a highly entertaining tale that lives up to its title. Call it a stylish read.
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