For fans of the high-stakes tension of the New York Times bestsellers Luckiest Girl Alive and The Lying Game, comes “a brilliantly paced thriller that gets under your skin in the best possible way” (Megan Collins, author of The Winter Sister) about female ambition and what happens when fake violence draws real blood. After years of struggling in the Chicago theater scene, ambitious actress Kira … Chicago theater scene, ambitious actress Kira Rascher finally lands the role of a lifetime. The catch? The mercurial Malcolm Mercer is the director and he’s known for pushing his performers past their limits–on stage and off.
Kira’s convinced she can handle Malcolm, but the theater’s cofounder, Joanna Cuyler, is another story. Joanna sees Kira as a threat–to her own thwarted artistic ambitions, her twisted relationship with Malcolm, and the shocking secret she’s keeping about the upcoming production. But as opening night draws near, Kira and Joanna both come to the realization that Malcolm’s dangerous extremes are nothing compared to what they’re capable of themselves.
An edgy, addictive, and fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deceit, and power suited for fans of the film Black Swan, Temper “revels in its mind games, delivering twist after twist as it races toward a Shakespearian climax. The final page will leave you gasping” (Amy Gentry, author of Last Woman Standing).
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Utterly compelling. A fascinating look at our willingness to accept the destruction of others for the sake of artistic genius.
Layne Fargo’s debut, Temper, took my breath away. A slow-burning feminist thriller set in Chicago’s theater scene, it’s a dangerously seductive story about ambition, obsession, and the capacity for violence that bewitched me from the start and kept me in its thrall until long after I turned the final page.
TEMPER is a dark and sexy ride, its characters’ passion and rage snowballing in equal measure as the story builds to its shocking conclusion. This is the Black Swan psychological suspense novel we’ve all been waiting for.
When Kira takes the starring role in Temper, she knows she’ll be working closely with Malcolm, a director and actor known to enjoy manipulating people, driving them past their absolute limits both on stage and off. With an overtly sensual, bold character like Kira, you might expect a tumultuous affair as the primary storyline. What you get is a dark psychological ride with sexy, dangerous characters in a constant power struggle. It’s as hot as it is disturbing, with Kira’s reality blurring with the play that threatens to consume her.
Joanna is another compelling character, and I felt Fargo was contrasting these two disparate, sharp-edged, and vulnerable women against each other with great intentionality, asking questions about femininity that the reader mulls over throughout the story.
I’m still wondering–who was the puppet master and who was the puppet?
I highly recommend this book. I can’t wait for July 2019 so I can buy it for all my thriller-reading friends!
Thank you, Goodreads, for my complimentary review copy.
The apt title sets the tone and is also the name of the play at the heart of this novel. I enjoy the theater, but I had no clue how much work went into the prep and/or the action behind the scenes. This provided a fascinating glimpse.
Set in Chicago’s theater world, Fargo’s debut novel centers around protagonist, Kira, an aspiring actress, and Joanna, co-founder of the Indifferent Honest Theater Company. The short chapters alternate from the perspectives of these two characters. Both are ambitious and passionate about their career…and about the devastatingly handsome and charismatic Malcolm Mercer(“Mal”).
Mercurial, manipulative, dedicated, and demanding, Mal is a man of extremes. He pushes himself and those in his life to the breaking point. He not only started the theater with Joanna, but also directs and plays the lead in every production. And, further complicating matters, he and Joanna live together. But, their exact relationship is ambiguous.
Adding to the mix are Spence (Kira’s roommate), Bryn (theater intern), Rob (journalist), and finally Jason(stage actor). Although these are supporting characters, they are well fleshed-out. They share a history with Kira, Joanna, and Mal. Their relationship dynamics are no less provocative than Temper itself.
Overall, I loved this book. It had a compelling storyline, great character development (alternating voices greatly help with that), and good plot twists. And that ending…definitely didn’t see that coming! I greatly look forward to reading more from this author.