This surprised me and I'm not sure if I loved it or hated it. It was an addictive, juicy thriller with glamour and celebrity. It was a propulsion read, even if I'm not sure the pacing was perfect, I had a good time.

This was an interesting book, and one that had me questioning everyone. I’m tired of the whole “unreliable female narrator with alcohol/drug issues” trope that thriller writers seem to love. I almost quit this book multiple times because of it and the questionable choices the lead character was making. However, I am so glad I stuck with it! The ending was twisty and I never saw it coming!

Book Review: The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Close-Up is an engaging, fast-paced thriller with a sharp Hollywood edge. Zoe Ann Weiss, a struggling writer in LA, gets a second chance at love and literary success when her ex, now a rising star, reappears in her life. But fame comes at a price, and when scenes from her debut novel start playing out in real life—against her—Zoe is thrust into a gripping, high-stakes mystery.

Pip Drysdale blends suspense, dark humor, and a biting look at fame, obsession, and ambition. The twists kept me hooked, and Zoe’s voice—both witty and vulnerable—made her a compelling narrator. Though some moments felt a bit over the top, it was a fun, addictive read that delivered plenty of tension and intrigue. If you love thrillers with a glamorous, psychological edge, this one’s worth picking up.

DNF around 20%. I just couldn't get into this one. I couldn't connect with the writing style/voice of the character.

When Zoe Ann Weiss signed her first book deal, it only made sense for her to move from her dreary home in England out to the Hollywood sunshine. After all, her book was being optioned for film, and there was a good chance that she’d be hired on to adapt the screenplay herself. Plus who could resist the glamour and weather and light of Southern California?

But nothing quite worked out as she intended. A serious case of writer’s block pushed back completion of her novel, an obstacle she was only able to overcome finally with the not entirely welcome help of heartbreak. While still agonizing over her writing, she wound up spending three magical days with Zach Hamilton, a bartender and aspiring actor she thought she’d really connected with. He, however, ghosted her. To add insult to injury, he went on to become Hollywood’s next big thing, starring in an action blockbuster that meant that she was never far from being reminded of him, whether on the Internet or while minding her own business in the supermarket checkout line.

On the bright side, Zoe was able to parlay her emotions over the end of their relationship into finally completing her novel. Now she’s on the hook for her next book and facing yet another seemingly insurmountable case of writer’s block. So when she runs into Zach at a Hollywood party, it seems like fate has given them both a second chance, even if Zoe is understandably a bit more ambivalent about it than Zach is:

QUOTE
“I can’t believe you were just going to leave me there. But let’s go to my place. I think you’ll love it.” And then he squeezes my knee.

And as embarrassing as it is to admit, that’s all it takes.

I forget everything else. Because this is exactly what I need to hear. That someone like Zach would choose me over Kenneth and Solange and every other face I’ve seen on TV and commercials and billboards. Because if he wants me, even for just the night, maybe, just maybe, I’m worth something after all.
END QUOTE

Being involved with Zach is very different the second time around. Zoe has to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and his many commitments means he has a lot more people surrounding him than before. Public interest in their relationship is also vastly different, with Zoe finding herself splashed across the tabloids despite their best efforts to stay private. Social media is also vicious, though the sudden spotlight does increase sales on her debut novel, much to her agent’s delight.

But when someone leaves a threat ripped straight out of the pages of that same book on her van’s windshield, Zoe will have to start reconsidering everything she knows. Her novel Fractured was about a demented stalker angry at the protagonist’s relationship with a new man. Could someone be so upset that Zoe’s dating Zach that they’re mirroring the events of her own book back to her?

Yet even in spite of her fear, Zoe quickly finds the seed of a story germinating within her. While she genuinely cares for Zach, she desperately needs the inspiration that being in his orbit gives her, so lies to her agent about the next book she’s allegedly writing, based on the recent twists in her personal life:

QUOTE
And then we hang up and I look back over at Zach’s house and, shit, what the hell am I going to write about? And also, I like Zach and I don’t want to break his trust. But I just pitched a book that I have no idea how to write, especially in three weeks–that’s only twenty-one days. Not unless I can use Zach and his world and our quasi-relationship as material… Even then, it’ll be a struggle–I may have an idea, but I don’t know what the story is. And oh shit, I signed that NDA; I’ll need to be super opaque…

But that’s okay; I’ll just use him as inspiration. A springboard. I mean, I’m a writer–I’ll just do what writers do: blur the details and make it up… I can do this.
END QUOTE

As the lines between fiction and reality grow increasingly vague, will Zoe be able to navigate the treacherous path in front of her? Or will she become the next victim of someone highly motivated to commit murder, before she has a chance to get even the tiniest sliver of her story out?

A paean to both Los Angeles and to writing, this is the perfect book for anyone who enjoys either. The Close-Up beautifully melds a classic Hollywood thriller with a delightfully modern feat of metafiction, as Zoe works out her story on the page. This authorial sleight of hand makes the events chronicled within feel all the more immediate, though there are certainly parts where Zoe’s dithering had me yelling at the book in frustration. That’s a good thing though, as it really underscores how invested I was in her journey. Zoe is realistically flawed, and Pip Drysdale takes pains to show readers exactly why so that we can sympathize deeply with our heroine, no matter what strange and terrible things she ends up going through.

4.25 stars Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this as an ARC.

I loved this book! It starts off seeming like a rom com meet cute with a second chance, then takes a turn and becomes a stalker thriller. It does take a little while to make that turn, but be assured- it is coming! Zoe is a down on her luck author. Like so many in LA, she thought she was getting her big break a few years earlier, only to see it fizzle out. Now she works at a florist and is desperately trying to recapture her voice on paper.
Once I finally got into the thriller part of the story, I couldn’t wait to get home and read it some more. It seems like it is a challenge for most thrillers to wrap up their endings as well as their story usually unfolds. I actually wasn’t disappointed by the end of this novel at all! I am going to recommend to both of my book clubs. I think some great conversations would be had!

'The Close-Up' made me an immediate fan of Pip Drysdale. It had a bit of a slow start and then ramped up quickly, and during that slow start Drysdale did a fantastic job of setting a sense of place and giving readers a sense of who the main character was. It was a bit out there at times and definitely one of those books where you're sitting on your couch yelling at the main character, but that's what's fun about it!

Fame isn’t always such a shining spotlight, it has its dark side as well, an ugly truth. Imagine going viral overnight when you least expected it and having everything go downhill from there? ‘The Close-Up’ by @pipdrysdale is a story of a struggling writer who discovers that being famous isn’t all that it seems when a stalker starts reenacting violent scenes of her last novel.

This may have been one of the greatest thrillers that I have read this year! Every page is a page turner. From a very ‘normal’ start, you wouldn’t think that the events that follow would even appear in the book. It’s definitely a thriller at its finest.

This was a first for me by the author but, I also have ‘A Paris Affair’ sitting on my shelf which I can’t wait to read! Her writing is engrossing and she makes her characters come alive with such engaging and genuine personalities.

‘The Close-Up’ has been all over social media but, I think it’s worth it!

Thank you @mbc_books for the gifted copy!

Have you had the chance to read this one yet? What did you think?

I loved this author's previous book The Sunday Girl so I had high expectations for this one but I ended up not finishing it. I was mildly invested in the main character Zoe but I never really bought into her characters motivations. I thought there were so many irrelevant details, especially about the flowers and it bogged down the story. I wasn't invested in the thin plot

Omg! This book was SO GOOD! I’ve never read anything like it. It had me gripped from the start and I LOVED the ending- it was truly the only way it could have ended and kept my respect.
I love reading books that keep me this entertained! Sign me up for Pips next book!

Zoe moved to LA to pursue her career as an author. When the guy she is seeing ghosts her though, she was devastated but pushed through to complete her debut novel. Now she needs to write her next book and the writers block is hitting strong. When she runs into Zach, now a famous actor, and they begin to see each other in secret however, a new idea forms. Will the NDA he made her sign keep her story from being completed?

Dang this book was a wild ride! This was my first Pip Drysdale book, but it will not be my last! I listened to this while taking down the book tree, and it was the perfect book to keep my attention during a big task! It started a little slow, but when it ramped up, it RAMPED UP! I certainly wanted to scream a few times at the silly decisions that were being made, but sometimes we just have to ignore that piece in a book! This was a great thriller that I definitely recommend!

Thank you to @gallerybooks for my gifted copy of this book!

I really wanted to like this book. I was excited when I recently a copy from NetGalley. The cover alone got me! It started off good, I loved Zoe and her sarcastic personality. But as the book went on, I was waiting for the ‘good stuff’ to start. But the story was drawn out and not as suspenseful or as twisty as I was hoping. More of a romance than a thriller to me.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Gallery, and Pip Drysdale for an ARC of this book!**

"Because everything dangerous starts with warmth: fire, hope, love. Even hypothermia feels warm before it kills you."

Zoe Ann Weiss is in a bit of a dry spell...personally AND professionally. After a whirlwind romance with present day Hollywood hotshot but then unknown, bartender Zach, her relationship evaporates as quickly as it started. She had moved to L.A. to pursue a writing career, and although her debut novel had promise, lackluster sales have proven to Zoe that maybe her dreams were TOO big, too ambitious, and perhaps she doesn't have what it takes to cut it in a cut-throat industry after all.

But all of that is in the rear-view...at least, for now. Zoe is working at a flower shop to pay her rent, and although this is far from her initial dreams of Hollywood glitz, glamour, and opulence...at least she gets to VISIT fancy homes. (Sigh) Her agent has not quite given up on her, but her demands for more pages have been met by a whole lot of silence from Zoe...and she is borderline desperate for some inspiration. Well, as fate would have it, her next flower delivery was destined to drop it RIGHT in her lap. When she opens the door, she is met by none other than her former flame, Zach, who has skyrocketed to fame...and although HE dropped her before, the two reconnect intensely, passionately...and privately. Zoe is forced to sign an NDA before she even enters Zach's party, and although she finds this a bit strange, her heart takes the wheel and she thinks that these illicit, passionate rendezvous might be JUST what she needs to give her writing a bit of a jump start.

When the paparazzi snap a picture of the pair, however, rumors begin to fly, with the internet quick to scorn Zoe for coming in between Zach and his most recent Hollywood romance. Once her name begins to be Googled incessantly, the internet sleuths then find her novel, managing to make it a BookTok success....practically overnight. This all seems to good to be true...until Zoe gets a call from Zach's publicist DEMANDING she no longer contact Zach in any form or fashion. Zoe is heartbroken, confused, and frustrated...but the NDA she signed is never far from her mind, and she attempts to comply. But being entangled with Zach has also put a target on HER back...as Zach appears to have a stalker who knows ALL about Zoe. So much so, that she actually starts REENACTING scenes from Zoe's thriller novel...which just so happens to have been ABOUT a stalker. With an unknown enemy on her heels, a forbidden love that she just can't shake, and of course, her next NOVEL at stake, is Zoe willing to risk EVERYTHING for love...even her own life?

New to Pip Drysdale, I was a bit unsure of what I would find in these pages. I'll admit, I requested this one SOLELY based on wanting to
'dip my toe' into this author's work...and let's 'face' it, that cover is a stunner. (Okay, so I ended up with not one but TWO accidental puns referencing the cover...I can't help it!) Despite feeling a bit leery about yet ANOTHER story that involves social media (to an extent) the premise of a random stranger bringing the horrifying events of an author's novel to LIFE to terrify her? JUST different and interesting enough to feel fresh, and I knew I had to give it a whirl.

Well...when I say this journey is JUST as exciting, as scintillating, and as unexpected as the most SCANDALOUS Netflix documentary about an illicit, dangerous, Hollywood romance with all the snap, crackle, and pop of an action flick....it's NO exaggeration!!

From the opening pages on, it's easy to connect with Zoe. I think we as readers secretly LOVE having an author MC: for one, it's fun to get sort of an unfiltered and brutally honest look at the behind the scenes 'drama' of book publishing, whether it's the pushy agent, the aches and pains of writer's block, or in this case, the way a twisted fan can become very, VERY dark. (And yes, this is fiction, I know...but with the way the world is these days, it doesn't REALLY seem that far fetched anymore, does it?!) Throw in her on-again-off-again 'forbidden' love with Zach, and there's something utterly spectacular and relatable about this connection. As a reader, you can see why Zoe is sort of lured into it, despite her better judgment, and you both want her to run away screaming AND stay because it's juicy and fun, and NOTHING is a more potent bookish cocktail!

This is also one thriller that is PERFECTLY paced. It doesn't waste time on meandering backstory, pointless side conversations, or ancillary characters that don't matter...and I LOVE that. I had a clear sense of what was happening, what to expect, and who our characters were from jump. Sure, there were plenty of surprises along the way (and one character I was SURE had diabolical intentions turned out to be nothing more than the requisite red herring; I both love and hate being wrong!), but also the knowledge that EVENTUALLY the perp would be revealed and our MC would escape her tormentor. (PROBABLY, anyway...I can't promise you anything!) Drysdale's writing is efficient, exciting, and to-the-point; don't expect any long flowery soliloquys here. There's action a-plenty (with a little bit of romance tossed in) and the denouement reads action-thriller like no other, with a final 'act' that will get your pulse a-pounding like the Little Drummer Boy after too much cocoa!

My one quibble with this one and the reason I bumped my rating down from the 4.5 I was SURE it was going to get for about 40-50% of the book, was due to the aforementioned action-packed ending...and the only reason for THAT is that the pace slowed down significantly at this point. I felt as though once some of the reveals happened, we had to sort of sit around and watch the 'fight sequence' play out...which is fine, but just wasn't as exciting as all of the intrigue that lead up to the big reveals, so the intensity dipped a bit. I think if this material were to get adapted for the screen (and it is RIPE for it, based on the subject matter, premise, and setup...are you LISTENING, Netflix?!) this would be less of an issue, because it would be scarier to WATCH all of the tussling play out in real time. Despite this, the book has a satisfying ending and left me with that sly, happy grin I always get finishing a clever thriller...so if you're asking if the juice is worth the squeeze, the answer is a resounding YES!

And if there's anyone who deserves a moment in the spotlight and her very OWN Close-Up....I present to the Academy, for your consideration, the one and only, Ms. Pip Drysdale!

4 stars

I LOVED the premise of this book but wasn't the biggest fan of the execution. I read 60 pages in the middle where absolutely nothing happened. As in, if I took out those pages, it would take nothing away from the book. It almost felt as if the author was nervous to pull the trigger and take the next step without a solid ramp up period, which it didn't need (in my opinion.)
The relationship lacked any aspect to make me believe she would stay in this situation whatsoever - even for the *reason* she was in it.
I'd give this author another chance! Maybe this was just a miss for me.

This started out rather slow but once it picked up it sped along without letting up. A stalker novel with full of twists and surprises.
An author becomes reacquainted with a man who 3 years previously ghosted her and who has since become an actor with his star on the rise. While experiencing writers block she decides to use the new relationship as inspiration for another book. Thing do not go as planned and she finds herself the apparent victim of a stalker but is that what is really going on?

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲-𝗨𝗽 is an exceptionally fast paced thriller that left me shocked by the end! This book included two of my favorite themes: the dark side of Hollywood fame and the often cutthroat world of writing and publishing. I was captivated from start to finish.

Zoe Weiss is a British writer living in L.A. and reconnects with Zach after he had ghosted her several years before. He is now a famous movie star, while Zoe is suffering from writer’s block after the publication of her first novel. Zoe also has a stalker, who is eerily following all the actions of the fictional stalker in Zoe’s first book.

Is Zoe’s stalker a crazed fan of Zach’s? Or is the stalker actually someone from Zoe’s past? The author kept me on my toes because while Zoe is relatable, she’s also an unreliable narrator. She’s paranoid and confused and her rising panic added to the suspense.

The tension escalates with wild twists and turns. Just when I thought the story reached its conclusion, the author unveiled one last, shocking revelation. I read that the author actually had a stalker while living in London and she certainly did a great job at translating her emotional experiences onto the page. These unforeseen turns will keep you guessing right up to the final page!

Many thanks to the publisher for the #gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The Close Up was a fun stalker thriller. The pacing was a little hard for me at times. There were moments I was flying through the pages, then moments I had to make myself keep reading. I semi-called the twist at the end. Nevertheless it was a fun read for thriller fans!

Take a turn on Hollywood's dark and and twisty side with Pip Drysdale's The Close-up.

Working at a flower shop after her first novel flopped, Zoe Ann Weiss bumps into a one-weekend fling who is now a Hollywood star and sparks fly.  But when word of their relationship leaks and Zoe starts being stalked exactly as the character in her book was stalked things start looking dangerous.

Take a break this holiday season to binge this twisty tale.

Click here to check out the book today.

I love the cover with my whole heart but I loved the ending to this book even more. the epilogue made it for me! Drysdale did an excellent job at catching all the small nuances of a morally gray story. The story follows Zoe as she tries and fails to start her second book. We get an indepth look at her struggles even when she meets back up with Zach. It was fun to watch the mystery unfold and there were a few curve balls in there I didnt see coming.

In The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale, disillusioned writer Zoe Ann Weiss is yearning for a career revival. As she juggles the challenges of penning her second novel while working as a florist, she unexpectedly reconnects with Zach, her ex-lover who has now become a Hollywood superstar. However, this resurgence of romance comes with a dark twist when someone starts stalking her, recreating scenes from her first novel—a thriller featuring a heroine who meets a grim fate. Set against the dazzling yet dangerous landscape of Los Angeles, this neo-noir thriller is packed with unexpected twists, high stakes, and an engaging look into the themes of ambition and survival.