Trashed (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Quite frankly, you're making a tremendous mistake," Simone Glass's sister Greta said while watching her pack up her Jeep..." (more)
Key Phrases: shipping heir, phone chimed, Alison Gaylin, Blake Moss, Emerald Deegan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gaylin's giddy hardcover debut follows young reporter Simone Glass on her short but shocking infiltration of Hollywood's sleazy side. Simone, a recent Columbia journalism grad, heads for L.A. to work for a slick weekly that goes out of business almost immediately. She grabs a position at the L.A. bureau of the trashy tabloid Asteroid and plunges into the world of celebrity gossip. Reluctantly rummaging through TV superstar Emerald Deegan's garbage, Simone discovers a shoe belonging to the recently murdered comeback kid Nia Lawson. Then Emerald becomes the next victim, and one of her bracelets is found in another future victim's trash. When Simone carelessly wears the bracelet to a party, she catches the killer's eye as a potential target. Gaylin (You Kill Me) has tremendous fun with stereotypical tabloid fodder, from a closeted gay superstar and a desperate, underage stripper to wild Hollywood parties and car chases. The hectic pace and huge cast of extras keep the reader guessing right to the end. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Getting trashed can make or break you.

Scandal-sheet cub reporter Simone Glass has posed as a cater-waiter at a gala benefit, eavesdropped from a Dumpster, and sneaked onto the set of the hottest new TV series. But how many lies and betrayals can Simone live with—especially if they lead to murder?

When a soap opera star commits suicide and a stripper with sordid celebrity connections is found dead, Simone’s most reliable sources begin acting paranoid. There’s a remorseless killer ripping Tinseltown apart. Can Simone expose the murderer or will she become just the latest casualty of Hollywood’s brutal deceptions?

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Onyx; Reprint edition (August 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451412605
• ISBN-13: 978-0451412607
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #572,570 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun and juicy tabloid mystery, October 2, 2007

By	David Montgomery "Book Critic" (davidjmontgomery.com) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Trashed (Hardcover)

Alison Gaylin makes her hardcover debut with "Trashed," the story of Simone Glass, an ambitious young journalist trying to make it big in L.A. Unfortunately, the only job she can get is working at Asteroid, a bottom-feeding tabloid that makes the Enquirer look like the Economist.

Glass' first assignment is to root through the garbage of the hot TV celeb of the moment, a foul task that turns up an intriguing find: a shoe belonging to a recently murdered actress. After the TV star is murdered in turn, a possession of hers is found in the trash of the killer's next victim.

The murder mystery of "Trashed" is creepy and suspenseful, but the real pleasure of the book is the witty look at the inner workings of a gossip rag and the tart spoof of Hollywood celebrity and buffoonery. "Trashed" could have been trashy, but instead Gaylin makes it a fun and juicy read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hollywood gets "Trashed" in Gaylin's suspenseful murder mystery, September 11, 2007

By	Roy E. Perry "amateur philosopher" (Nolensville, Tennessee) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Trashed (Hardcover)

In Trashed, her third novel, upstate New York-based Alison Gaylin (Hide Your Eyes and You Kill Me) has written a tense murder mystery in which a psychopath terrorizes Tinseltown.

When Simone Glass, 26, a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School, moves from the Big Apple to L.A., she becomes desperate when she cannot find employment.

She finally lands a job at the Asteroid, a supermarket tabloid described by the National Enquirer as "the lowest form of sleaze." The Asteroid's editor demands "heartwarming, eye-popping, gut-wrenching" copy. In other words, dig up the dirt, expose sordid secrets, and publish anything short of legal liability.

Working for this scandal sheet, Simone becomes a "domestic refuse expert," snooping around the dumpsters and garbage bins of Hollywood's stars and starlets, sorting through their trash and finding juicy items to titillate a gossip-loving public.

Simone finds more than she had bargained for: the sick handiwork of a serial killer that will place her own life in jeopardy.

Halfway through the book, we read: "The first victim's shoe in the second victim's garbage. The second victim's bracelet in the third victim's garbage. . . . Three dead young women, their throats all slashed. Connected by what someone had forced them to throw away. Their favorite belongings, their secrets, their lives. Trashed."

At Columbia, Simone had received high honors in journalistic ethics, but now she finds herself ensnared in a web of lies and deceit, wondering if she can trust anyone.

"Maybe lying was part of the atmosphere here," she muses, "in this city where everyone wanted to act or write or direct--to make up stories and play them out. Maybe fiction was in the air like smog, and there was no avoiding it."

Highly entertaining and satisfying, Trashed has a complex plot (in the best sense of the word), dozens of colorful characters, and smart, snappy dialogue. The author impresses us with her deft use of metaphors, similes, analogies, and witticisms, and she skillfully keeps the story moving.

Gaylin scatters numerous red herrings along the plot's pathway, and only a Sherlock Holmes could deduce the psychopath's identity until the very end.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mrs. Jfran's new favorite, February 22, 2008

By	James F. Stone "jfran" (Rutland, Vermont) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Trashed (Hardcover)

The truth is I bought this book for my wife for Christmas along with Alison Gaylin's two previous books. The reason was her work was highly endorsed by my wife's favorite author, Harlan Coben. My wife flew through the first two and read this book in a sitting. So I am really recommending the book based on her enjoyment. Every other book she has recommended to me has been superb. It is funny, fast moving and, obviously, holds the reader's attention. As an aside, if you know the publishing industry, the fact that the third of her books is issued first in hardcover means she's meeting with increasing interest and success. My wife says five stars and recommends it highly.