Reading a book that immediately pulls you in because the narration is so frank, so honest, and yet so lovely, is one of the best feelings in the world. You get immersed in the plot and the characters, and time flies. That’s how “The Close-Up” by Pip Drysdale struck me and why I read it in 24 hours. It’s not a deep read that make us stop to reread paragraphs and ponder the deep meanings contained therein; instead, it’s a lively, lovely first person narration featuring Zoe Ann Weiss, a novelist whose first novel tanked and who can’t, for the life of her, write the second promised (and paid for) novel.

Zoe is working at a florist’s shop while she tries to write her second novel, and 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, the handsome, very successful new movie star — the same Zach Hamilton she had met three years previously when he was working as a bartender and she was dating one of his coworkers; the same Zach Hamilton she spent three glorious days with after her jerky boyfriend dumped her and Zach helped her move her things out of the boyfriend’s apartment. They had then spent three days together in Palm Springs, where they shared stories and drank a lot, after which Zach took her home, told her he’d call her, and then disappeared, meaning he never called her, even after she left a few embarrassing messages on his voice mail.

So now, when movie-star-rich Zach acts as if he regrets not calling her three years before, and wants to spend time with her, Zoe is wary. But she is lonely, Zach is handsome and charming, and she might just find something to write about if she gets to learn more about his celebrity world. So Zoe gives Zach a second chance. And in spite of the NDA (nondisclosure agreement) that Zach’s manager has her sign, she begins to write about a movie star who is being stalked, just as Zach told her he is being stalked.

But some things don’t add up. She catches Zach’s security guy, Carlos, making cryptic comments in a phone conversation she overhears about using her to further their aims. Zoe just doesn’t know what their aim is, and when she asks Zach, he tells her about his stalker. Carlos is hoping that because Zach is seeing Zoe, Carlos 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 start happening to Zoe that are taken right out of her first novel, which is about a woman being stalked. Zoe doesn’t know whom to trust. And throughout it all, she’s taking notes for her new novel.

Zoe herself points out that 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 novel while she is being used to identify Zach’s stalker. The action escalates as Zoe struggles to figure out whom she can trust and who is behind all the creepy messages she is receiving. There are twists right until the last page, but we have been completely engrossed in the action, in Zoe’s thought process, and in 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’s ability to portray Zoe as someone who can be calculating as Zoe plans to “use” Zach’s celebrity to help her write her novel, while also showing her naive side as she falls completely for Zach’s 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. It’s realistic and it’s 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. A stint in rehab, spirituality, there’s so much that a good personal relations manager can conjure up that will cause any peccadilloes to disappear or become lost in the mists of time. This is a not-to-be-missed read that will keep you up all night reading; I can say that from personal experience.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.