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Another small new press has trumped New York by publishing a charming book, set in the hill country of North Carolina, about a movie idol with feet of clay. We first meet Matt Logan on the day he checked out of rehab. His first thought is to go to his daughter's school and apologize to her for the accident from which she walked away but in which he went head first through the windshield, disfiguring his face and breaking a hand. His ex-wife and her lawyer are there to prevent him from even getting a glimpse of his Mouse. Later that day, he gets two notices from her: one telling him she has taken Michaela out of the school she loves and the other filing for divorce. Matt realizes he may never be allowed to see his beloved child again, so he starts a journal, starting every entry "Dear Mouse" Three years later. The restraining order is still in effect and Matt is still writing in his journal. Now he is in the hill country of North Carolina, making a movie. It's a really low budget movie...Matt, the star is sharing a motel room with the director. They are still casting the film when one night Crystal Beller, wearing nothing but a fur coat and too much perfume, enters their room while they are asleep. They get rid of her, but not before she steals the most recent pages of Matt's journal, which she then sells to a supermarket tabloid. At 4:30 one morning, the desk clerk in the slightly better motel to which they have moved, intercepts a phone call from a young girl asking for Matt. He doesn't put the call through because of the hour. Matt goes to work. They're still casting the film, when a detective asks for him. Apparently, his daughter has disappeared and they suspect him. She had been put on a plane for Orlando by her mother and stepfather but it appears she left the plane in Charlotte. Matt gives the phone number to the detective after begging him to let him know when they find her. The policeman does and Matt continues working. Later, Matt's ex-wife, Nancy, a petite swimsuit model, who has been phoning for several days, leaves a message that she and her new husband will be stopping by the set to talk to him. He's been avoiding returning her calls and is surprised to learn that they are staying in a nearby resort. Matt also learns that Crystal has been hired to body double in a shower scene for the star of the movie (the dolly grip is going to double for him). Nancy wants Matt to allow Wyndham, her new husband, to adopt Mouse. Matt of course, wants Michaela to tell him herself that she wants a new father, and they start negotiating during the shower scene. By the end of the day, Crystal is found dead, stuffed in a cupboard in Matt's trailer, and Matt is the prime suspect. The twists and turns continue; the strange actors and crew interact with the even stranger Appalchian natives. Matt keeps writing his journal, which the police read for clues. He falls for the actress hired to play the second lead, who is a very complicated woman, divorced from another Beller, and she helps him understand the local relationships, and, eventually, himself. The absolute boredom of life on a movie set doesn't quite come across, but the plotting is quite elegant.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, December 2001
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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