Fade To Black [Paperback]

Wendy Corsi Staub (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002

With her most recent novel a four-week USA Today bestseller, and the upcoming In The Blink of an Eye (Pinnacle 3/02) already causing a buzz, Wendy Corsi Staub is a superstar on the rise. "Fade to Black," her first thriller, is being republished for her new fans.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Feverishly frothy tale of an actress living incognito, menaced by a shadowy stalker. It's been five years since Mallory Eden, that ``perky, pretty, girl-next-door'' starlet everybody loved, supposedly jumped off a Montana cliff into the turbulent Rock River. Her body was never found, but a suicide note in her Lexus implies that she was unhinged by an unidentified stalker who not only sent her threatening letters, but killed her secretary and then shot Eden in the womb so she could never conceive. While the Hollywood infotainment world mourns, a somewhat fleshier Eden is silently fighting baby cravings and nightmares in the unremarkable Rhode Island hamlet of Windemere Cove. Pretending to be freelance writer Elizabeth Baxter (who never seems to read or write), Eden, whose pre-Hollywood name was Cindy O'Neal, gets an ominous, anonymous letter in the mail one day from someone who purports to know who she is. Baxter-Eden-O'Neal thinks she faked her suicide perfectly, but her past, revealed through distractingly shrill flashbacks, has enough unresolved conflicts (her sleazy boyfriend has become a coveted guest on daytime talk shows), family trauma (she was abandoned as a child by her drug-addicted mother), and trashy secrets (she made her debut in a porno flick) to fill a Jacqueline Susann novel. While our heroine tries to guess who the stalker is (the kindly but strangely familiar locksmith, or her nosey policeman neighbor?), a host of skeletons, including her long-lost mother, stumble out of the closet to claim her for vile and shameless purposes. Shiny with Tinseltown sleaze, this first solo hardcover from Staub plays its tabloid terrors and tacky soap opera clichs deathlessly straight. The result is funny when it shouldn't be, silly and affected the rest of the time. A hissy catfight during the cliff-hanging finale is a hoot, but not worth the campy climb to get there. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

No one in the sleepy village of Windmere Cove, Rhode Island knows Elizabeth Baxter. She doesn't socialize, has no friends, and when she's outside, she constantly looks over her shoulder. That's because Elizabeth's living in fear. Keeping her past a secret.

And sometimes secrets can kill...

It begins with the arrival of a pink envelope: the postmark reads Windmere Cove, and there's no return address. Elizabeth's world crashes when she reads the message inside: I know who you are. Five years ago, she was Mallory Eden, Hollywood's hottest actress...until a mysterious stalker turned her life into a nightmare and left her with no other choice but to make everyone think she was dead and begin a new life.

As the days progress, the tension escalates as an old pattern repeats itself: when the phone rings, no one's on the other end; her house is broken into and ransacked. Frightened, Elizabeth finds solace in the arms of Harper Smith, the only person she has befriended in town. As their relationship deepens, Elizabeth wants to tell Harper the truth--until she learns of his unspoken past--a past that connects to Mallory Eden's... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786014881
• ISBN-13: 978-0786014880
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,153,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm an award winning, New York Times bestselling suspense novelist of more than 70 novels. All of my adult thrillers and in print backlist are available on Amazon and many are e-books as well. Check out my author website at www.WendyCorsiStaub.com, my reader community site at www.WendyCorsiStaubCommunity.com, and my author page at www.facebook.com/pages/Wendy-Corsi-Staub/43054289209. I'm also a bestselling novelist with the chick lit and romantic comedy I write under the pseudonym "Wendy Markham."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been 80 or 90 pages shorter!, September 9, 2003

By 

mahikahn (Columbus, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fade To Black (Paperback)

Hate to be in the minority but I found this book boring. There was so much detail on stupid things. Two paragraphs on how a woman changes her baby's diaper. Three on exactly what someone puts on their sandwich. And Elizabeth/Mallory/Cindi was constantly questioning herself: Should I do this or should I do that. I understand that she would be paranoid after what she's been through but she kept going over the same things, again, and again, and again. Not to mention the fact that she seemed to suspect everyone of being the stalker, except the real stalker! I really believe that if this book had been cut back to 230 or 240 pages it would have been a big improvement!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very suspenseful mystery, November 22, 2006

By 

A. Rowley (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fade To Black (Paperback)

Famous actess, Mallory Eden thought she had gotten away with faking her own death to escape a stalker. Little did she know that her past would catch up with her in a small village on the other side of the continent. Someone knows who she is. Thinking the worst, Mallory, now going by the name Elizabeth Baxter fears that her stalker has finally found her after five years of being on the run, and there is no one she can trust with her secrets.

Fade to Black is suspenseful from start to finish, filled with twists and turns along the way. Unfortunately, the ending is a bit predictable, but then anyone who reads a great deal of mysteries would know how to pick the red herrings out of the real suspects. I have seen on the cover of most Wendy Corsi Staub novels how this author is being compared to Mary Higgins Clark. I don't see the comparison. MHC's style of writing is much different. (Less suspenseful, less twists of the plot, much more predictable ending) Wendy Corsi Staub also writes in a strange combination of both first person and present tense third person. Her sentences read much like first person, but without using any "I, me, mine,etc." It is a little difficult to get used to at first. All in all, this author has potential.

Is it worth buying?
The paperback price is still a bit higher priced than most in its class at $6.99, but this was a fairly decent mystery, so I would say yes.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER..., October 17, 2001

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fade To Black (Paperback)

...because there IS someone watching Mallory Eden!

A retired actress, Mallory Eden fakes her death to leave the Hollywood life and enjoy peace and solitude in a small coastal community in Rhode Island.

Peace dodges her; she receives anonymous letters from somebody who knows secrets from her past. The anonymous writer threatens to blackmail her. Mallory Eden hides behind a false name; the name she chooses has an interesting twist to the story as well.

The list of suspects is a long one. Her neighbor's husband, a rather questionable police officer is one possibility. An embittered young woman who suffered disfigurement is another. People Mallory knew in her small midwestern hometown pose yet more possibilities. Even though the blackmailer's identity was not surprising towards the end of the book, it was a masterful mystery. I was sorry to see the curtain come down on such a wonderful book with a host of realistic, interesting and refreshing characters.