Book Review: Trashed

Reviewed By: A. Rolfingsmeier

Trashed     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Alison Gaylin
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Thriller
Obsidian Mysteries (Penguin), 2007, 325 pages (ARC)

To hear the reporters who work for trash tabloid “The Asteroid” tell it, one would think they worked for “The Ass.” That is all a quote source hears before cutting the reporter off.

Simone Glass, journalism school graduate, moves to Los Angeles to start a respected job with an alternative paper. When she finds it has folded, she takes the first reporting job who will hire her - The Asteroid. Instead of sedately contacting respected sources and reporting straight news, Simone instead hides in dumpsters, sorts through stars’ trash, and poses as a waiter at gala events, for that ever-elusive scoop on the competition.

A has-been starlet’s suspicious suicide gets little press. But, when Simone finds Nia Lawson’s Jimmy Choo in a dead soap opera star’s trash, Simone makes it her business to find out what really happened. Fighting against her conscience to reveal her reporter’s role to the stars themselves with the paper’s exhortation that she be an “insider” to those who confide in her, Simone solves the mystery.

This reviewer protects her privacy as much as anyone, and expected to not enjoy Simone’s prying tactics. However, Simone Glass is a very empathetic character, and her exposure of murder most terrible, an exciting read.

A. Rolfingsmeier

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, A. Rolfingsmeier