No City for Dreaming

Sleight of hand magician/author O’Melveny has concocted a stew of screenplay, noir mystery, and historical speculation that keeps the reader flying through to the end. Ambition and scandal center the work. It is is August, 1962. The dreams of failed screenwriter, Lou Beach, aspiring actress Cherie Winters and former A list director, Aaron Townes, cross paths. Townes thinks he is directing a film based on a Robert Kennedy book. Cherie gets a screen test and what she thinks is an acting job. Beach sees an opportunity to have one of his screenplays read by a Hollywood honcho. All are being used. The screenplay here is actually by Beach, long lost and now discovered by the author.

Circling these characters are shady Texans, people close to the Kennedy family who are imposters, crooked cops, CIA, KGB, Jimmy Hoffa, the mob, and of course, Marilyn Monroe. The author doles out clues about a sinister plot to bring down the President, using nude photos of the actress wearing his brother’s crucifix.

No one can be trusted as the web of entrapment tightens and tension builds to a violent climax. An epilogue, in which O’Melvany himself hunts down clues from the screenplay, interviewing those involved fifty years later, loses none of the element of mystery established in the screenplay, creating more questions.

The book is constructed so cleverly, seamlessly incorporating a plethora of theories surrounding Marilyn Monroe’s death, one wonders if indeed it could be factual. Besides the fast pace, the author smoothly transitions from characters, variegating tone and voice, and nailing each character perfectly. A riveting read.

Reviewed by Joe Del Priore for IndieReader.