The Assistants
A Novel
-
- $7.99
-
- $7.99
Publisher Description
The compulsively readable and sinfully gossipy tale of five Hollywood personal assistants who band together to turn the tables on their celebrity employers—written by a former personal assistant to a star.
In this wicked, laugh-out-loud debut novel, five miserable souls struggle to make their mark on Hollywood, the city of the soulless.
Rachel, a starry-eyed and clueless Texas transplant accepts a position as assistant to an aging television diva. Michaela has spent years on the casting couch, and the last pilot she almost got, a decade ago, went to that little nobody, Lisa Kudrow. Jeb has been fired from more assistant jobs than he cares to count, and he currently teeters on the edge of insanity under one of the sleaziest agents in Hollywood. Griffin assists a crass A-list manager who has a tanning bed in his office. Kecia, a no-nonsense Pisces pining for love and Krispy Kremes, works for a hot teen heartthrob who is always looking for the next good party—until his ex-con brother shows up at the front door.
Once a week, the assistants meet to commiserate. When the system spits them out, they must learn to succeed through sheer determination, hard-won industry savvy, and luck.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Five Hollywood assistants struggle to stay afloat in a shark-tank of arrogant movie stars and cutthroat agents in Williams's capable debut. Michaela is an assistant to fading sitcom actress and pill-popper Victoria Rush, whose husband, Lorne, is 20 years younger and pathologically unfaithful. Griffin is straight but plays it gay to keep his gig with metrosexual Johnny Treadway, a narcissistic agent whose clientele includes hot, wild, 19-year-old Travis Trask. Jed, assistant to power agent Randall Blume, is unceremoniously handed his walking papers, but recovers by stalking the boss's wife, Ashley. Rachel, a recent Texas transplant, takes screenwriting classes and becomes Victoria and Lorne's newest hire. Kecia scarfs Krispy Kremes, deflects the IRS and baby-sits the unmanageable Travis. All the dirt gets dished at the gang's weekly powwows, and just about everyone ends up getting fired though Michaela fits in a lesbian affair, Jeb finds love and Rachel's debut screenplay, The Sugarland Shuffle, impresses Griffin (and new business partner Travis), who sees it as the springboard for a new company. Williams was a Hollywood assistant herself, so she knows from Hollywood humiliations. Her resilient characters sometimes spin in place too long, but once she steps up the pace, the story becomes deliciously vicious entertainment.
