Juicy Book Review: The Rise
As I’ve said before, I’m always in search of a good thriller, so when Giselle from Xpresso Tours let me know about this upcoming book release, I knew I wanted to cover it.
The Rise is a new glam thriller from co-authors Ross King & Shari Low. GLAM THRILLER! If you’ve read any of my work, then you know glam and thrillers are, as my Cuban wife says, “my salsa.” Also, as a 90s girl, I love that a pivotal part of the plot takes place in the early 90s. It was really taking me back to my Cindy Crawford workout video days. SO SEXY!
If you love stories about Hollywood and friendships that go south, you’re going to love this. I don’t want to give too much away, because there are some fun twists. I definitely recommend this book as a top read for Fall 2022. Pour yourself a glass of rosé, curl up in an Hermes blanket and let this juicy thriller take you away.
Keep reading for my interview with the authors. They talk about their craft and inspirations and share a HUGE celebrity endorsement (I mean, huge… idol status).
Jincey: The book centers around a broken friendship. As co-authors do you feel your own friendship played a part in inspiring the complicated relationships between your characters?
Shari: Only in a good way! We’ve been friends for over thirty years, but we’ve always lived on opposite sides of the Atlantic, so we’ve rarely been in the same place at the same time. This means that we can still surprise each other with our reactions and thoughts, but we also have the kind of familiarity and trust that allowed us to put any egos or judgement aside and just push the boundaries of who these characters are and how they relate to each other. It also gave us a greater understanding of the characters’ worlds and motivations. Ross and I both grew up in Glasgow, just like Davie, Zander and Mirren, so we understand that time and place and the people in it. The characters then moved to LA, where Ross has lived for many years, so he has that insider knowledge of the challenges faced by Zander and Davie, while I’ve spent two decades as a writer while raising a family, just like Mirren. It was fascinating to bring all the strands of our lives together. It also helped that we have very similar work ethics and share the same Scottish humour, so that made the whole process of writing the book so much more entertaining than writing with a stranger.
Jincey: Were there any real life Hollywood inspirations you thought of as you wrote the characters?
Ross: The characters and storylines are entirely fictional, but like any writers, we did use influences, thoughts and themes from our own lives and careers. I’ve been working as an actor, writer in LA for over two decades, and for most of that time I’ve also been an entertainment reporter for British television, so I have interviewed almost every star you could think of. That familiarity with the lives of Hollywood and the way this town works, gave us endless stories and dramas to spark the imagination and give the book a real feeling of authenticity.
Jincey: The book is super juicy, and with three friends, I can’t help but think of Valley of the Dolls. Do you feel iconic, soapy reads like that inform your writing?
Ross: We’re both big fans of eighties and nineties bonkbusters, so we’ll take that! We actually wrote this book a few years ago, and my dear friend, the late Jackie Collins, was incredibly supportive and encouraging throughout the whole process. She was the first person to read the finished book, and she adored it and said lovely things about it. That meant everything to both of us as she was, and will always be, the writer who made us fall in love with books when we were teenagers growing up in Glasgow.
JIncey: How do you build tension in your scenes?
Shari: I think everything comes down to the strength of the bond between the readers and the characters. The tension, the suspense, the love, the heartache, the thrills, come from having characters that the readers connect to and care about. Mirren, Zander, and Davie may be massive stars, but to us, and hopefully to the readers, they’re real people who are flawed, damaged, infuriating, wonderful and inspiring. Ross and I loved them, whether they were Glasgow kids growing up in poverty and disfunction or imperfect Hollywood power players making terrible decisions and horrible mistakes.
Jincey: You mentioned this in the description: “an exciting new glam thriller for the fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, Liane Moriarty and Jo Spain.” What is it about this book that fans of those writers will love?
Shari: They’re all authors that we adore because they write beautifully constructed thrillers that often show the darkness and struggles behind the façade of perfection in aspirational worlds. That’s what we set out to do in The Rise, and we hope readers who enjoy books with those themes will love this one too.
Synopsis:
When we bury our secrets, they always come back to haunt us…
Their rise was meteoric.
Only a few years before, they had been three friends from Glasgow, just trying to survive tough lives of danger and dysfunction.
But on one Hollywood night in 1993, they were on the world’s biggest stage, accepting their Oscar in front of the watching world.
That night was the beginning of their careers. But it was also the end of their friendship.
Over the next twenty years, Mirren McLean would become one of the most powerful writers in the movie industry.
Zander Leith would break box-office records as cinema’s most in-demand action hero.
And Davie Johnson would rake in millions as producer of some of the biggest shows on TV.
For two decades they didn’t speak, driven apart by a horrific secret.
Until now…
Their past is coming back to bite them, and they have to decide whether to run, hide, or fight.
Because when you rise to the top, there’s always someone who wants to see you fall.
An exciting new glam thriller for the fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, Liane Moriarty and Jo Spain.
Where to Buy It:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3wXhl2K
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rise-shari-low/1141681009?ean=9781804267684
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/the-rise/id6443079995
Giveaway: