Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review
...[E]ven the PBS crowd should be amused by the nasty insider details.
Publisher's Weekly
Demanding star Sunday Tyler, who plays hit soap opera Heartbreak Hospital's most important role, that of femme fatale Andrea Harmon, has few friends but lots of enemies. So when she is found murdered in her apartment, everyone on the show becomes a suspect. NYPD officer William Troy, who'd been assigned to security work for the soap, helps homicide cops sort through the cast and crew, which includes jealous actors and frustrated scriptwriters. Adding to Troy's problems, his ex-girlfriend Fiona suddenly turns up at his apartment: she's pregnant and wants him to marry her. The plot may be sudsy, but Slesar does an admirable job of making the bubbles worth watching as he mimics daytime TV's most outrageous hours. Deliciously stereotyped characters and overacting add to the atmosphere. A second death has Troy reeling as he finds himself a suspect, and while the finale is predictable, Slesar provides an enjoyable time, full of nasty twists and characters, taking readers there.
Library Journal
As liaison for New York City's movie and TV police unit, William Troy meets the luscious but much-hated star of a popular soap opera, "Heartbreak Hospital." Rude, snotty, and vicious, the nonetheless talented Sunday Tyler rules the soap opera roost--and, for a brief time, Troy's heart. When she is murdered, life imitates television "art" as cast members and writers attempt to reorganize their story lines and police try to narrow the suspect list. Wry humor, dramatic pauses, real and imagined conflicts, and ever-metamorphosing subplots.
Marilyn Stasio
...[E]ven the PBS crowd should be amused by the nasty insider details. -- The New York Times Book Review
Kirkus Reviews
This first U.S. publication for a novel Slesar (The Thing at the Door) originally published in Europe in 1990 finds the veteran storyteller, whose TV credits go back to "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," plotting murder in the world he used to work in, the hothouse universe of the soap opera. Bill Troy, the NYPD detective whose first assignment on the department's Movie/TV Unit is to troubleshoot some location work for the venerable "Heartbreak Hospital," soon finds himself falling for imperious Sunday Tyler, who plays the program's resident bitch. But Sunday's gotten so good at living into her character that everybody else around her is impervious to the charms Troy can't resist. "Heartbreak Hospital"'s star, Milo Derringer, who normally regards his marriage to Sunday as merely inconvenient, is more than piqued when she threatens to kill off his character; head writer Bob Neffer trembles before her power to get him canned; executive producer Abel McAfee squirms under her blackmail threats. It's archly amusing to watch the cast and crew mimic the show's shenanigans, but once Sunday (surprise!) gets killed, the sequel is more of the same, right down to the daytime drama Troy finds himself in when his ex-live-in turns up on his doorstep to demand marriage in the name of the baby she's carrying. Even the final twists are faithful to "Heartbreak Hospital"'s sudsy formula, sharpening the novel's appeal to soap-opera fans while inviting everybody else to the egress.
Genre: Mystery
...[E]ven the PBS crowd should be amused by the nasty insider details.
Publisher's Weekly
Demanding star Sunday Tyler, who plays hit soap opera Heartbreak Hospital's most important role, that of femme fatale Andrea Harmon, has few friends but lots of enemies. So when she is found murdered in her apartment, everyone on the show becomes a suspect. NYPD officer William Troy, who'd been assigned to security work for the soap, helps homicide cops sort through the cast and crew, which includes jealous actors and frustrated scriptwriters. Adding to Troy's problems, his ex-girlfriend Fiona suddenly turns up at his apartment: she's pregnant and wants him to marry her. The plot may be sudsy, but Slesar does an admirable job of making the bubbles worth watching as he mimics daytime TV's most outrageous hours. Deliciously stereotyped characters and overacting add to the atmosphere. A second death has Troy reeling as he finds himself a suspect, and while the finale is predictable, Slesar provides an enjoyable time, full of nasty twists and characters, taking readers there.
Library Journal
As liaison for New York City's movie and TV police unit, William Troy meets the luscious but much-hated star of a popular soap opera, "Heartbreak Hospital." Rude, snotty, and vicious, the nonetheless talented Sunday Tyler rules the soap opera roost--and, for a brief time, Troy's heart. When she is murdered, life imitates television "art" as cast members and writers attempt to reorganize their story lines and police try to narrow the suspect list. Wry humor, dramatic pauses, real and imagined conflicts, and ever-metamorphosing subplots.
Marilyn Stasio
...[E]ven the PBS crowd should be amused by the nasty insider details. -- The New York Times Book Review
Kirkus Reviews
This first U.S. publication for a novel Slesar (The Thing at the Door) originally published in Europe in 1990 finds the veteran storyteller, whose TV credits go back to "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," plotting murder in the world he used to work in, the hothouse universe of the soap opera. Bill Troy, the NYPD detective whose first assignment on the department's Movie/TV Unit is to troubleshoot some location work for the venerable "Heartbreak Hospital," soon finds himself falling for imperious Sunday Tyler, who plays the program's resident bitch. But Sunday's gotten so good at living into her character that everybody else around her is impervious to the charms Troy can't resist. "Heartbreak Hospital"'s star, Milo Derringer, who normally regards his marriage to Sunday as merely inconvenient, is more than piqued when she threatens to kill off his character; head writer Bob Neffer trembles before her power to get him canned; executive producer Abel McAfee squirms under her blackmail threats. It's archly amusing to watch the cast and crew mimic the show's shenanigans, but once Sunday (surprise!) gets killed, the sequel is more of the same, right down to the daytime drama Troy finds himself in when his ex-live-in turns up on his doorstep to demand marriage in the name of the baby she's carrying. Even the final twists are faithful to "Heartbreak Hospital"'s sudsy formula, sharpening the novel's appeal to soap-opera fans while inviting everybody else to the egress.
Genre: Mystery
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