Diana Christmas by F.R. JamesonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
When young Michael Mallory is tasked with writing an article about forgotten siren Diana Christmas, he quickly falls under her spell. Diana tells him she's being blackmailed and Michael goes to settle tings and quickly winds up in way over his head...
I've been friends with F.R. Jameson here on Goodreads for years. When he hit me up to review an ARC of Diana Christmas, I took him up on it. I was hooked form the first page.
Taking a page out of the early Megan Abbott playbook, James weaves the tale of Diana Christmas, a screen goddess that faded into obscurity, and Michael Mallory, the twenty-two year old that she gets her hooks into. Logically, I thought Michael was an idiot for a lot of the book. As a red-blooded male, I understood why he did what he did, logical or not.
It started off simply enough: confront a blackmailer and get him to stop. Things got a little more complicated after that, mostly due to the fact that Diana Christmas was, in fact, crazier than a shit house rat. Things go off the rails in a big way, as expected in stories of this type. Knowing it's Michael telling the story doesn't kill the tension. He gets seven shades of shit beat out of him before the end. Speaking of the ending, it hit me like a truck.
F. R. James crafted a good hard-boiled tale with Diana Christmas. Four out of five stars.
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