Reading a book that immediately pulls you in because it’s so frank and honest, yet so lovely, is one of the best feelings in the world. Time flies as you become immersed in the plot and the characters. That's how THE CLOSE-UP by Pip Drysdale struck me and why I read it in 24 hours. It doesn’t make us stop to reread paragraphs and ponder the deep meanings contained therein. Instead, it's a lively first person narration featuring Zoe Ann Weiss, whose debut novel tanked.

Zoe is working at a florist's shop while she tries to write her second novel, which already has been promised and paid for. It's while making a "high-profile" delivery after her boss, who usually handles those, recovers from a sprained ankle that she runs into Zach Hamilton, a very successful new movie star. She met him three years ago when he was working as a bartender and she was dating one of his coworkers. After she was dumped, Zach helped move her things out of her ex’s apartment. They spent three days together in Palm Springs, where they shared stories and drank a lot. Zach took her home and told her he would call her, but then he disappeared. He never reached out to her, even after she left a few embarrassing messages on his voice mail.

"The ending is powerful, realistic and heartbreaking.... You will be up all night reading this not-to-be-missed novel, which I can say from personal experience."

So now, when Zach acts as if he regrets not contacting her and wants to spend time with her, Zoe is wary. But she is lonely, Zach is handsome and charming, and she just might find something to write about if she gets to learn more about his celebrity world. So she gives him a second chance.

Zoe catches Zach's security guy, Carlos, making cryptic comments in a phone conversation she overhears. When she asks Zach, he tells her that he has problems with a possible stalker. Carlos is hoping that he might be able to identify the stalker when she targets Zoe. So when photos of Zoe and Zach are leaked to the press, Zoe becomes a hot topic on social media, and her first novel starts selling. Then things begin happening to her that are taken right out of her book, which is about a woman being stalked. She doesn't know whom to trust. And throughout it all, she's taking notes for her new novel.

Zoe points out there's a certain irony that she is using Zach for his ability to give her entrée into the celebrity world so she can write her book while she is being used to identify Zach's stalker. There are twists right up until the last page, but we have been completely engrossed in the action, Zoe's thought process, and the mystery of who is behind the threatening messages. Not only is the narration brilliantly executed, the twists are both clever and totally unexpected. Drysdale effectively portrays Zoe as someone who can be calculating as she plans to "use" Zach's celebrity to help her write her novel, while also showing her naive side as she falls completely for his ostensibly affectionate actions. She wants to believe that he appreciates a "real" person, but she's also savvy enough to wonder about things that don't add up.

The ending is powerful, realistic and heartbreaking. Through her intermittent use of featuring supposed social media comments from those who follow celebrities, Drysdale demonstrates the fickle nature of today's stardom. Celebrities can do no wrong, and when they do, their wrongs are quickly forgotten as soon as they do appropriate (or what social media followers feel is appropriate) penance. There's so much that a good public relations manager can conjure up that will cause any peccadilloes to disappear or become lost in the mists of time. You will be up all night reading this not-to-be-missed novel, which I can say from personal experience.