Oscar Season: A Novel [Hardcover]

Mary McNamara (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 2008

The Pinnacle is the place to stay during the Oscars, and this year the pre-Awards crises have reached fever pitch: a very recognizable body is found in the pool, Hollywood's leading man is secretly holed up in the Presidential Suite, and the larger-than-life producer of the Oscars will stop at nothing for higher ratings. A consummate professional, the hotel's PR manager Juliette Greyson must do a careful dance to save the hotel while somehow sparing herself and her famed clientele in the process. But first Juliette must figure out what is real and what is staged? Who is lying and who is acting? And when does murder stop being murder, and start becoming damn good publicity?

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Agatha Christie meets Hollywood Squares in journalist McNamara's glitzy debut, a crime novel set in and around Los Angeles during the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards. Juliette Greyson, the director of public relations at the swanky Pinnacle Hotel, is preparing for another wild Oscar season (the month between the nominations announcement and the awards ceremony) when someone murders her ex-husband, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Josh Singer. With a reporter and a young starlet nominated for best actress already dead, Greyson and cancer-ridden megastar Michael O'Connor join forces to uncover the mastermind behind what the media is calling the Oscar curse. Featuring a plethora of self-absorbed actors, comedians, publicists and producers as possible suspects, McNamara's self-assured, tabloid-fueled narrative—simultaneously sexy, scandalous and suspenseful—will appeal to fans of authors like Jackie Collins and Harold Robbins. McNamara insightfully portrays life on the other side of the velvet rope—and it's far from glamorous. Gift bag with complimentary supply of Xanax not included. (Feb.)
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Review

"It is written 'we all have two businesses, our own and show business.' We in show business, thus, sadly, have but one business -- that which, thankfully, there is no business like, and which Mary McNamara chronicles and lambastes in her book sadly, ruefully, and with that inextinguishable insider's hope and love, which is the most wistful irony of all." -- David Mamet, two-time Oscar nominee

"In the weeks before the Oscars there are a lot more surprises in store than what's in the envelope. With a depth of character and an insider's eye that you don't expect from a mystery, Mary McNamara spins a sensational tale of gossip, intrigue, murder, and mayhem." -- Amy Ephron, author of A Cup of Tea and White Rose

"In Hollywood, Mary McNamara knows where the bodies are buried. Oscar Season is a terrific murder mystery and a dishy behind-the-scenes account of the sublime madness of the movie world." -- Peter Lefcourt, author of The Deal and The Dreyfus Affair

"The wildly self-absorbed rascals in Oscar Season have familiar names and others are modeled on not-quite identifiable celebrities. This delicious novel feels like the love child of Agatha Christie and Harold Robbins and reads like a favorite old movie. Figuring out just who's who will surely keep Hollywood guessing all through this giddy mystery." -- David Freeman, author of A Hollywood Life and It's All True

"More a whodunit than a who-won-it, Mary McNamara's Oscar Season whizzes by at at least twice the speed of the yearly, seemingly yearlong, event and is a hundred times more entertaining. I liked it. I really liked it." -- Larry Gelbart, two-time Oscar nominee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1St Edition edition (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416539913
• ISBN-13: 978-1416539919
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,826,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Talented Author in the Wrong Genre, January 26, 2008

By 

UES - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oscar Season: A Novel (Hardcover)

Mary McNamara, a reporter for the LA Times, knows Hollywood well, and it shows. In this novel she gives us an insider look into the frenzied preparations during the weeks ahead of the Academy Awards -- not in the Kodak Theater, or a film studio, but in the Pinnacle, a luxury hotel that becomes home away from home for movie stars and producers during Oscar Season.

I never imagined that what goes on in the service industry could be so interesting, but McNamara manages to create a world that seems a lot more entertaining than many Oscar ceremonies. I thoroughly enjoyed about 250 pages of the book -- and then we got to Oscar night and the whole thing went flat.

The problem is that, for an alleged whodunit, Oscar Season is not much of a mystery. The bad guys are so poorly drawn, it's hard to understand their actions, or to care much about what they did, one way or another. Solving the crime is the heart and climax of any mystery, but here it comes as a total let down. I almost felt sorry McNamara had wasted those pages on the who-did-what discussion, when she clearly had so many other interesting things to show us. McNamara has talent, and I have no doubt she could write many compelling novels set in Hollywood. I just don't think mysteries are her thing.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book - just not award worthy, February 25, 2008

By 

Alexandra - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oscar Season: A Novel (Hardcover)

Oscar Season by Mary McNamara is a fast-pace mystery novel set during Hollywood's most tumultuous time of the year: the time period between the Academy Award nominations announcement and Oscar night. At first, Oscar season at the hotel seems to be business as usual for PR Director of the Pinnacle Hotel, Juliette Greyson. Well, as usual as can be for one of Hollywood's hottest hotels hosting all of the big name celebrities who come to stay for Oscar week. That is until a series of mysterious deaths start to seem all too connected to be coincidence. Is someone trying to sabotage the Oscars? And if so, why?

Mary McNamara spent time with the people who run the Four Seasons in Los Angeles to get a real insiders view of the preparations that go into making a high end hotel run smoothly during Oscar season. Her attention to detail makes this novel compulsively readable and intriguing.

Where this book fails is as a mystery novel. The mystery that propels the story line in Oscar Season falls flat in the end. The ending was anticlimactic and dull. McNamara never manages to truly spin a suspenseful thriller.

Pick up this book for a fun behind the scenes glimpse of the inner workings of a Hollywood hotel during this glittering time of year in LA but not to indulge in a real mystery story.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging!, January 20, 2008

By 

J. Moore (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oscar Season: A Novel (Hardcover)

I was surprised at how quickly I was caught up in this book. Usually it takes many pages before I get really involved in a book's characters and plot, but that happened right away with Oscar Season. The plot moves along quickly and I had a lot of fun trying to figure out who did what and why - all the way up to the end. The book provides a detailed view of the inner workings of a major Hollywood hotel, which I found just as fascinating as the murder mystery plot. Lots of famous names are sprinkled throughout, which really added to the sense of not being sure where truth turns into fiction. It was a great read for a cold winter weekend (I don't live in Hollywood, where, as the heroine point out, violets bloom all year long!).