Bitch Goddess (Robert Rodi Essentials)

Rodi's relentlessly acid satire of modern celebrity was a cult hit in 2002. Told entirely in the form of emails, interview transcripts, magazine articles, TV scripts, even Christmas cards, it's now back in print—and timelier (and funnier) than ever. Viola Chute, a seethingly ambitious actress who's graduated from Grade Z movies to network TV superstardom, hires failed novelist E. Manfred Harry to ghostwrite her (largely fictionalized) memoirs. Harry finds himself immersed in Viola's world of parties, planes, and paparazzi. But when he gets too close to discovering a real secret in her past, she fires him—and he continues his investigation with the help of her greatest rival. Two burning questions: Can he discover what she's hiding before she torpedoes her own career? And what scandal is even possible at the turn of the millennium? Adultery, illegitimate children, a sex change, even a criminal record—all are things a celebrity might boast about. The answer, when he finds it, blows even Harry's jaded mind. "The publisher should print a warning on this one: 'DANGER: Reading this book in designated quiet spaces risks rousing the wrath of others with chuckles, giggles, belly laughs, and outright guffaws.'" - Kirkus