An psychological thriller that refuses to fit inside the genre box. With love them or hate them characters and backstories of grief and glamour, Klien immerses the reader in the kind of book you can't put down. From scandals to murder and cover-ups, this is an uptown thrill ride through traffic going 100 mph with no brakes. Designer drugs and law school dropouts, mixed with a cocktail of the uber rich and the utterly lonely. What happens when a mystery author gets thrown into a real-life noir? Sometimes it's the personal baggage you carry that helps you carry on.

And the Dead Shall Live by David Shawn Klein.
5 out of 5 stars.
I wanted to give this 4 stars. I really did. I hardly ever give 5 stars. But this book won me over: Hard. I don't know what I've been reading up to this point. I request a book here and there. I try to finish them. Sometimes I actually finish them, but I just can't (or wont) get around to writing a stellar review. The words are blocked, or blah, blah blah.
This book changed that. After chapter two, I sat up in my chair and paid attention. The opening had a few good sections and I thought, well, maybe I should finish it. When I read chapter two, I Really paid attention. And then it was an all out furor of reading. Whatever was bored-to-tears in me got up and left the room. I was hooked. Klein not only lit a fuse in me, I'm darn near cooked. Please, please, please write more.
OKAY... Mystery. A recluse writer hires a research assistant. Who surpasses all expectations. Said assistant was a dropout from law school, going nowhere on a raft of dead end temp jobs. Cry me a river. But, as a Research assistant she is crazy good. She not only finds a billionaire recluse (perv), but she gets invited to his inner circle. Twice!
Just, trust me. Read this book!

This was the first book by this author and the cover is stunning.

This book was a great thrilled and i really enjoyed the book. This is a story about a billionaire and a secret resort. Anything with a resort feel i am in. The billionaire, Lee, Grooms women to become Celestials, these are sophisticated women. Then when at the resort and the party a woman comes up dead and then the mystery builds from there. There were twists and turns i didn't see coming. Was a great read, great writing and will check out more from the author.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

Wow! This was a great thriller! This is the first book I've read by this author, and I really enjoyed it. Lee Fletcher is a billionaire who owns a secret resort where his famous friends can come to enjoy themselves. He grooms young women to become his Celestials, a special group of sophisticated women there to fulfill their desires. But one young beautiful woman ends up dead after one of his parties. There, begins our mystery. It is an i.tense thriller with plenty of twists. Check it out, I know you'll enjoy it!

Philip Raymond is a full-time neurotic, unable even to visit local shops without the online help of his shrink. A pitiable figure. Philip Raymond, however, was once Someone, and he also wrote brilliant detective stories. When one of his old fans seeks him out, it is with a real-life proposition: to bring the billionaire murderer of a young girl to justice for her bereaved mother.

The sidekick Raymond employs, Jesse Carter, is equally damaged. By guilt, after she tragically loses t 78wo close siblings. Working, but in squalor at home, not living up to her full potential. Raymond, not quite gaining marks as a sympathetic protagonist, is satisfied that Carter is as expendable as she is beautiful and gifted.

Carter somehow persuades her quarry, the Hefner-like Lee Fletcher, to employ her. From then on, Fifty Shades style, Lee affords Carter a lifestyle she can only dream of: beautiful clothes on tap, private jet-and yacht-setting. Lee in his own way seems to be drawn to Carter's frostiness, her being one step above his beautiful but rather clueless entourage of 'bunnies'. But she has further occasion to learn what happens to those who betray his trust.

As a billionaire, Fletcher is also playing god, having perfected a drug that can open the door to the Other Side, and Carter also yearns to meet her lost loved one there too. So expendibility might just suit her.

Can Raymond overcome his own past and demons to raise the bar and be there for Carter, or will Fletcher continue to get away with murder, and more?

How the power of money can be misused is a theme that never gets old, though the ways this can be done are topical enough in this novel. That conscience can lead to heroism, even agaonst insurmountable odds, is another, though the reader will have to discover for themselves whether or not there is any happy ending.

It's a thriller with heart, alongside elements of escapism from the hardship and squalor of everyday life. Not a bad cocktail at all for many thriller acccionados.