NEW RELEASE


Elimination Night - Anonymous (2013)

This follows Sasha King, a young intern at Project Icon - a reality talent show. Sasha is in charge of keeping both the judges and contestants in line and the show rolling. In my opinion it's based very tightly on American Idol season 10, and the characters are obvious to anyone reading the book. The main players (Steven Tyler - "Joey Lovecraft", Ryan Seacrest - "Wayne Shoreline", Jennifer Lopez - "Bibi Vasquez" and Simon - "Nigel Crowther") are set up hilariously. There is some good insider information too, like how Joey used the stage as his personal urinal before filming one day, or how crazy some of the judges' contracts are - for instance, Bibi's clause about the crew not making eye contact with her. I felt the characters were one dimensional, though funny, and there was not enough about the contestants of the show - who in my opinion are the best part of American Idol. Sasha herself doesn't get a lot of play until about the last third of the book, and I have to admit her life was not as interesting as the rest of the book. I found myself skimming over her personal paragraphs. Overall it's an interesting and funny read, though not a very memorable one. (AV)



Elimination Night is written by an anonymous author, with behind-the-scenes knowledge about a top TV talent show. The roman a clef reportedly focuses on the season of American Idol where Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler became judges. The summary says: "Sasha King dreams of being a serious novelist and living the good life with her AWOL hunk of a boyfriend, Brock. But her day job as an assistant producer of Project Icon, the once-mighty ratings juggernaut that's recently taken a hit in the Nielsen's ratings, keeps her working nonstop. She's got her hands full with the show's two new celebrity judges, entrepreneur-actress-singer Bibi Vasquez ("Crew to be forbidden to make eye contact with Artist AT ALL TIMES," reads her contract) and rock legend Joey Lovecraft, a priapic wild man who doesn't even own a TV (it goes against the teachings of his guru, Tibetan high lama Yutog Gonpo). As the competition among the hopeful, young would-be stars - including the foul-mouthed Mia Pelosi and the chaps-wearing Jimmy Nuggett - heats up, Sasha finds herself constantly putting out fires. A date with a mysterious stranger makes her rethink her devotion to Brock. And then an unexpected revelation rocks her world. A frighteningly smooth host (Wayne Shoreline), muckraking gossip columnists, and powerful people named Nigel round out the characters of Elimination Night, a book so hilariously accurate about the inner workings of the talent show machine that it had to be written anonymously." Elimination Night is out in January.

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