Book Review: “The Doom List”
Jazz-age Los Angeles provides an evocative setting for Gerard O’Donovan’s latest historical thriller, “The Doom List”.
O’Donovan’s first book, “The Long Silence”, saw Irish “private enquiries” man Tom Collins re-open one of Tinseltown’s most notorious unsolved murder cases.
Now he’s back again to shine a light into some of the darker corners of silent-era filmmaking.
The action
The story opens with the discovery of a body in the hills outside LA.
Soon after, a film director asks Collins to help his leading lady, Barbara La Marr, shake off a bigamy claim.
But La Marr is far more concerned about the troubles of her handsome co-star, Ramon Novarro. He has found himself in some deep trouble with a gang of vicious blackmailers . . .
With a campaign to clean up immoral behaviour in Hollywood underway, Collins is in a race against the clock to keep the stars’ names off the career-wrecking “Doom List”.
From these threads, O’Donovan weaves a fascinating, compelling story.
Add this to the author’s gift for bringing the glamorous sights, sounds and atmosphere of silent-era Hollywood vividly to life, and you have an unmissable opportunity for escapism.
Click here to buy “The Doom List” from Amazon.
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Did you know Fiction team’s Alan recently reviewed another 1920s-set thriller, “The Axeman’s Jazz“?
