An interesting, albeit flawed look at Hollywood celebrity culture
A sweeping drama about two A-list stars — a former star couple — as they cross each other’s paths over and over again through the years, in a story that examines the work we have to do in order to grow into the people we want to become.
Maiko Fox and Adrian Hightower were young, beautiful, in love… and famous. The latest model to grace the Valentina Posh runway show and the hottest new superhero actor were Hollywood’s breakout couple. They were in every magazine, all over the most popular celebrity-blogs, and on countless E! News stories.
They starred in a blockbuster film together, reaping box-office gold. Fans were at a fever pitch. No one could get enough of Madrian, the couple that printed money for the studios, for the paparazzi, for themselves.
But then, their relationship crumbled.
Years later, with Adrian topping the Hollywood A-list as a writer and director, dating the country’s biggest pop star, and Maiko starring in movies for her celebrated producer-director husband, they live totally different lives. But they can never be too far apart. Madrian is still a box office draw, and the studios keep throwing them together.
As the two grow more and more entangled again professionally, Maiko and Adrian have to reckon with themselves: are they happy with their current lives? Or have they grown to be better people when with each other?
I enjoyed Sloan’s debut novel, The Unravelling of Cassidy Holmes, which focused on the fallout of a pop star taking her own life. In this third novel, Sloan takes another look at celebrity culture: specifically, celebrity couples, and the ways in which careers and relationships can become intertwined in the entertainment industry. I had very high hopes for this novel, and there’s some interesting stuff in here; but, ultimately, it didn’t feel as accomplished or gripping as the author’s debut.
I’m going to keep this review short. Sloan has packed in a fair bit into Double Exposure, as she recounts the tale of a celebrity couple. After a chance meeting at an abortion clinic, young model Maiko Fox and actor Adrian Hightower find themselves bumping into each other at a variety of projects. Eventually, they strike up a relationship and fall in love. After a slightly-contrived and not-particularly-well-executed fight, the couple splits up and their paths semi-diverge. Given the box-office draw of the two, they keep getting thrown together for new projects, which inevitably causes lingering feelings to surface, tensions to rise, and jealousies and so forth to bubble to the surface.
On the whole, this novel ended up being rather predictable, and disappointing as a result. There weren’t any surprises (in part due to the trigger warnings included at the start, but even without that the novel would have been somewhat predictable). It also isn’t served by the dialogue, which was… well, just not good. At first, I thought this was the author’s attempt to write young, impressionable, and naive characters, still in the flush of youth and not yet fully-formed as adults. However, even as the years passed, the two main characters (in particular, but not alone) felt two-dimensional, with dialogue that was at times cliché or just clunky.
I really wanted to like this, but unfortunately it fell far off the mark. It was markedly less compelling and engaging than the author’s debut, and perhaps it’s because the author wanted to pack in too much, which left little room to fully develop the characters and build our investment in their lives, careers, and relationships. I’ll still check out the author’s next book, and would like to catch up on her second novel, as well (Hayley Aldridge is Still Here).
*
Elissa R. Sloan’s Double Exposure is due to be published by William Morrow in North America, on September 10th.
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram
Review copy received via Edelweiss