Close Relationships with Strangers

A struggling photographer falls further into a downward spiral when he fixates on a missing celebrity, in Diamond’s unsettling debut. At the outset, 20-something Ben toils at service jobs in Las Vegas while longing to be a wildlife photographer. After learning about the money to be made as a paparazzo, he moves to Los Angeles, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend, Ellory. Three years later, Ellory is out of the picture, and Ben has stoked controversy with a photo of pop star Mia Luna for reasons that come out later. When Ben learns A-lister Jack Whitlock has gone missing after he was caught having an affair with a much younger woman, he sets out to find Jack. Not only is Ben seeking a big payday, but he idolizes Jack and hopes to become part of his orbit. As Ben works his contacts in search of Jack, he ignores increasingly menacing text messages from angry Mia Luna superfans. The conclusion is abrupt, but Diamond convincingly brings to life the amoral Ben and his eroded sense of self (“I can watch the celebrity news without feeling like it’s the kind of hard-core pornography you’d switch off at the sound of keys at the door”). It’s a distinctive character portrait. Agent: Danielle Bukowski, Sterling Lord Literistic. (June)