Customer Reviews

Deadly Beautiful: A Novel

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"Imagine the judges at the television show, Project Runway, turning investigators in a murder. That is what happens in this really cool story of Annie Anderson, a journalist who must investigate the strange disappearance of a supermodel. Anderson, who wears only the latest in fashion, travels worldwide in a fun beach read to discover who done it."

When her career collapsed after leaving behind her teen years, former supermodel Scarlett Ulrich landed in Tokyo working at a bar. However, when Scarlett, the face that launched a million album covers, vanishes; her half-sister, Luella "Lou" McCartney becomes concerned. Knowing she needs help, Lou asks her reporter friend Annie Anderson to investigate.

Anne explains she is now a fashion features editor for Handbag magazine and is no longer doing investigative journalism as she used to (see FASHION VICTIM); besides she is in New York City while Scarlett was in Tokyo. However, Anne makes a few long distance inquiries and learns of Japan's Roppongi Ripper, who has murdered several Western young blonde females; she fears Scarlett is on the dead list. She heads to Tokyo to learn what happened to Scarlett.

The investigation is superb as Anne tries to find Scarlett, but it is the look at the fashion industry's obsession with the young that makes the tale worth reading. The father of the half-sisters symbolizes the youth fixation as Rufus is a "modelizer" who only wants to screw the latest superstar who is younger than his daughters. Readers will enjoy Sam Baker's fine exposé in which twenty is old, twenty five is the walking dead, and thirty is an ancient history corpse.

Harriet Klausner

Although billed as a "thriller," Deadly Beautiful is almost not quite a mystery.

Rather than a search for a missing supermodel who is possibly the victim of a serial killer, Baker writes a story about Tokyo, and the sad, shallow, self-absorbed world of the fashion industry. She includes a relationship retrospective and the struggle of one young woman to figure out a few things about life before she turns thirty.

The writer's style is sometimes a pleasant read, and there are glimmers and hints of a storyteller about to break out, but the book is in need of some editing. The real story--the mystery part of the story--begins on page 223-of a 275-page book. While there is a decided difference between the pacing of UK authors who write mysteries, and American authors who do the same, the craft of writing fiction is not necessarily one even a top editor of a fashion magazine (Baker's profession) can develop without effort.

Although Deadly Beautiful has good bones, don't go into it expecting much in terms of a thriller.

Sam Baker is an author to keep an eye out for however, because she's sure to develop her storytelling abilities.

Armchair Interviews agrees.