Sunset Boulevard

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 22 SEP. 2003

This debut novel may be just the ticket for Gossip Girls fans. Perennial good girl Anna Percy ("Anna had yet to do one truly nasty thing") moves from New York City to her father's mansion in Los Angeles determined to reinvent herself. Things seem to be going well when the 17-year-old meets and makes out with handsome Princeton student Ben Birnbaum on the plane. Even better, he invites her to the New Years Eve wedding that night of a famous actor, Jackson Sharpe. But when her father fails to pick her up at the airport, Anna's new glamorous life takes a downward turn, made much worse when she meets Ben's nasty friends at the wedding. Covering a four-day period, the author cycles through various perspectives, from Anna to Ben's friends, including Jackson Sharpe's insecure daughter Sam, and Sam's friends, cruel Cammie and ditsy Dee, all of whom secretly attempt to land Ben for their own. Readers will likely be caught up in the glamorous world created here, full of fancy cars, decadent parties and designer clothes (Sam has designer's assistants "to help with the selection process"). But, while Dean raises some intriguing plot points (Why did Ben abandon Anna on his father's yacht? Why is a former child prodigy now driving Anna's father's car? Will Anna's sister check herself out of rehab?), the audience may be frustrated by all the loose ends that point strongly to a sequel, if only by way of explanation. Ages 15-up.