best seller by Susan May

JEALOUSY IS A GREEN-EYED MONSTER AND HIS NAME IS WILLIAM BARNES

A girl with power over luck. An obsessed author consumed by envy. Two nemeses drawn down a path from which only one will return.

After witnessing her mother’s brutal murder, ten-year-old Nem’s life seems destined for tragedy. Then she discovers an old journal which holds an incredible secret. Nem now possesses the ability to control the fortunes of others. It is said luck is probability taken personally, and she’s about to get personal with her own brand of justice.

Decades later, the literary world hails William Barnes’ debut as a masterpiece. His best seller success, though, doesn’t survive his next two books. Readers abandon him, his publisher cancels his contract, and his agent isn’t returning his calls.

Meanwhile, his undeserving protégé, Orelia Mason, enjoys a meteoric rise in the charts, coinciding suspiciously with his fall. So William embarks on a plan to win back the life he’s certain she has stolen. If people die along the way, well, that’s their problem. He’ll discover though, that battling fate when luck is not on your side can be a deadly game.

This is A Star is Born meets A Portrait of Dorian Gray and the consequences are not pretty. In fact, they’re darn well bloody.

Duffy’s Thoughts on Best Seller by Susan May

I have read a few of May’s books and I must fully disclose at the start that I am a fan. I love the premise of this book and was intrigued by a thriller driven by envy, one of the seven deadly sins.

Best Seller is a book of two parts, before and after. Before success, before tragedy, after success and after loss. I was instantly drawn to little Nem and her little stray rescue kitten Patch. Why is it that in the most disturbing of thrillers we tend to care more for the animals than we do of the humans? William Barnes will be the guy you love to hate as he tangles himself up in his own self-absorbed world. The story arc is well paced as we get to know the main characters and how their worlds collide and change forever. The feelings of envy, rage and frustration pour out of the pages here as May shows us how luck and power can change all of us in the end.

If I had one tiny criticism, it would be that the last third of the book could have lost a chapter to sharpen the race to the end. Other than that, I found this to be another cracker from May and an interesting look into the world of a writer who had it and then lost it all and a young girl who is consumed by the power she possesses.

4 stars!

Buy Best Seller here and check out my reviews of Susan May’s other books here!

best seller susan may