Talent

The heroine of this glitzy, designer-studded blockbuster hopeful is Allison Morton, who is young, bright and rich. She is also the much-loved ward of her uncle, Gus Morton, who owns L.A.'s hottest, biggest talent agency, which he intends one day to hand over to his niece. But privilege earns envy, and when Allison, just out of Harvard Law, joins the ranks of Universal Talent Management, she learns she has serious enemies. These include UTM's best agent (a nymphomaniac); a millionaire semi-crook and his sadistic son plotting to take over the company; Gus's mistress; a fellow employee who is Allison's lover for a while; even an evil pair of albino twins. Despite the dropping of names such as Beidermeier, Ungaro and Roederer, the plot is as broad and unexclusive as the cast, featuring betrayals in bed and boardroom, murders attempted and achieved, excesses of assorted appetites, Allison's rocky love affair with an Irish-Mexican playwright, the mystery of Gus's death and the revelation and unraveling of Allison's adoption. Eschewing subtlety and depth, the Kaminskys (he's president of Hearst Books, she a former editor; as Brooks Stanwood, they wrote The Glow ) haven't limited themselves to any particular formula for commercial fiction--they've used them all. 50,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo. (July)