"He was filled with shame for them, and for himself, because he and they were so similar in appearance but so different in the things they would permit themselves to do to survive."
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Sundown Beach: Twilight of the Demi-Gods by Chris O'Grady Amazon Digital Services
book review by Wendy Strain
With a title like Sundown Beach, a reader may expect to discover a love story between the pages or a beach. However, the sub-title suggests something a little different. The fourth part of a four-part series, this book delivers a cynical, multi-faceted look at a dying age of Hollywood magic and captures the uncertainty about where it was headed. It picks up as Corcoran Pictures prepares to launch a full-scale New York gala release of the much-anticipated film, Sundown Beach.
Written with a post-modern tendency to examine numerous characters at once, the book keeps readers busy tracking the various movements and motivations of several individuals. O'Grady does a wonderful job of providing readers with a reason to like each of them, as well as a reason to be appalled by them. The writer's tone is lyrical, allowing himself to become lost in the beauty of the moment from time to time and giving the reader a break from the stark realities of this harsh landscape.
Readers who have not had the pleasure of reading the preceding three volumes miss out on some of the finer details of many of the main players, but can enjoy the book without this background. Whether before or after reading this volume, it will be difficult to avoid wanting to know more about this complicated cast of characters. True to his subject, O'Grady leaves some tantalizing bits of gossip embedded in the pages to haunt the mind long after the final page has been turned.