Sunset City
A Novel
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A taut, erotically charged literary noir set in Houston about a woman caught up in her friend’s shocking murder, and the dark truths she uncovers.
Before the drugs, Danielle Reeves was Charlotte Ford’s most loyal and vibrant friend. She helped Charlotte through her mother’s illness and death, and opened up about her own troubled family. The two friends were inseparable, reveling in Houston’s shadowy corners. But then Danielle’s addiction got the best of her and she went to prison for four years. When she gets out, she and Charlotte reconnect. Charlotte hopes this is a new start for their friendship.
But then, a detective shows up at Charlotte’s apartment. Danielle has been murdered, bludgeoned to death.
Overwhelmed by grief, Charlotte is determined to understand how the most alive person she has ever known could end up dead. But the deeper Charlotte descends into Danielle’s dark world, the less she understands. Was Danielle a hapless victim or master manipulator? Was she really intent on starting over or was it all an act? To find out the truth, Charlotte must keep her head clear and her guard up. Houston has a way of feeding on bad habits and Charlotte doesn’t want to get swallowed whole, a victim of her own anguished desires.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Houston barista Charlotte Ford, the heroine of poet Ginsburg's absorbing fiction debut, is devastated by the bludgeoning murder of her "oldest, dearest friend," Danielle Reeves, a rich, troubled young woman whose past includes abuse, addiction, and a prison stint. At the time of her death, Danielle was working for a pornographic website, SweetDreamz. Charlotte passes on any information of potential interest such as that Danielle's estranged mother, Sally, was handling an inheritance to the detective in charge of the case. As Charlotte investigates Danielle's life, she becomes intimately involved with Danielle's boss at SweetDreamz, Brandon, and her coworker, Audrey. Ginsburg (Dear Weather Ghost) evokes some palpable moments of grief, exhaustion, and drink- and drug-fueled bad behavior in a novel that's steamy in both the sexual and atmospheric senses. Despite the thin plotting and lack of overall suspense, readers will enjoy getting to know the feisty Charlotte.
