Leading Man

May 27, 2013
In this shallow first novel about celebrity culture, Maxwell Lerner is a newly minted entertainment journalist for KNOW magazine. He lives with his childhood sweetheart, Samantha Kotter, an actress. But one day in 1994, Max reads in the newspaper that Sam, working at the Concord Theatre Festival, has fallen in love with her leading man, Johnny Mars, an ’80s action hero Max worshipped as a boy, sending Max into a tailspin. He tries to date, but doesn’t find anyone to take the place of Sam, who insists that she and Max become “pals.” As the ’90s become the aughts, Max nurses Sam through all sorts of crises in her marriage to Mars and makes a name for himself in the celebrity-interview game. But will Max end up with a true Hollywood ending? Svetkey’s tale is half romance and half roman à clef (he spent years as a celebrity interviewer for Entertainment Weekly), and reading about the celebrity scene of yesteryear is as rewarding as an old issue of EW. Max, sadly, is a little too callow to make us care whether he finds happiness, with or without his beloved Sam. Agent: Betsy Lerner, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.

February 15, 2013
Understanding the appeal of celebrity becomes a journalist's mission after his girlfriend is stolen by his favorite star. Max Lerner loved pop culture from the get-go. "[I]f it was on TV, I watched it." Growing up in the New York suburbs in the 1980s, he worshipped action star Johnny Mars. He also worshipped his neighbor Samantha. The two became childhood sweethearts, despite Sammy's more highbrow tastes. It seemed fated they would live together in the big city: Sammy the actress, Max the writer for KNOW, the prestigious news weekly. He gets the shock of his life when he learns from the tabloids that Sammy and Johnny, acting together in a New England stage production, have become involved and are soon to be married. When Max is assigned to the entertainment beat, he resolves to figure out this whole fame thing. Svetkey scatters Max's interviews with movie stars throughout his first novel. As a former writer for Entertainment Weekly, he knows the territory, from the protocols on the set to the delicate massaging of celebrity egos: "avoid asking questions that require any serious thinking." Max fumbles at first (an actress throws her food at him after he asks about her "infantile hermaphroditism") but soon has the format down pat, as well as a key to the puzzle: Fame may be nothing more than clever marketing. The interviews are the best part of this engaging but underplotted work. As long as he keeps a satiric distance from his material, Svetkey sparkles.

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July 1, 2013
Although only in his twenties, Maxwell Lerner is pretty sure he already has the perfect life. A writer for a well-known magazine, he lives in a New York City apartment with his beloved high-school sweetheart, Samantha. But when Sam leaves him for his childhood idol, film star Johnny Mars, that perfect life is suddenly gone. In his new life, Max becomes a popular celebrity interviewer, traveling to all corners of the earth, meeting with the rich and famous. Although his new life appears more exciting, Max suffers from increasing disillusionment. Bouncing from one girl to another, he seeks to understand the secret behind fame itself while desperately holding onto the hope that he will one day win Samantha back. When tragedy strikes her world, though, Max is again forced to reevaluate life as he knows it. Drawing on his own years with Entertainment Weekly, Svetskey melds a poignant love story with a witty satire of Hollywood life. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this playful and moving read will especially appeal to pop-culture fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)