Aug 2 2010
In the Mail: Babylon Nights
Babylon Nights: A David Spandau Novel Daniel Depp
Publishers Weekly
Depp skewers the film industry with relish in his brilliantly comic follow-up to Loser’s Town (2009). PI David Spandau, who specializes in serving Hollywood’s elite, takes on the unenviable task of guarding aging actress Anna Mayhew, “Oscar winner and onetime tabloid fodder,” whose career is in decline, but she’s still glamorous enough to have attracted a stalker, weirdo Vincent Perec. Spandau, a rugged ex-rodeo rider and former Hollywood stunt man, reluctantly agrees to accompany the sexy, foul-mouthed Mayhew to Cannes, where she’s to serve as a judge at the famous film festival. Sharply drawn supporting characters, including Special, an opera loving pimp, and a slew of movie stars, agents, and directors, enliven the lavish, ludicrous events at Cannes. Fans of Elmore Leonard‘s Get Shorty should enjoy Depp’s clever complications and witty capers at least as much.
Private investigator David Spandau, an ex-stuntman familiar with the ins and outs of Hollywood—a smart, tough, and wickedly funny observer of la vie L.A.—finds his patience almost sapped when he’s hired to protect actor Bobby Dye from a blackmailing scheme gone wrong. Dye—young, brash, and on the verge of becoming a major star—has been set up by gangster Richie Stella, a nightclub owner and drug dealer with dreams of becoming a Hollywood producer. And he has a movie perfect for Dye. Problem is, it’s the worst script anyone’s ever read. But Richie is not easy to say no to, and when he retaliates, the game becomes deadly for more than a few of its players.
