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.

With its constant twists and turns and surprises—mixed with plenty of Hollywood glitz and glamour and gossip—The Close-Up makes for a captivating read. It’s dark and eerie—and it’s sure to keep you guessing through one unexpected revelation after another.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery.

The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale is a thrilling ride with an unforeseen twist. I loved it!

Will Zoe find love and her newest book?

Zoe Ann Weiss
Zoe is our main character and only point of view. She is making it with one published book but hasn't finished her second required book. Writer's block has caught her, so she works as a florist to supplement her income. I like Zoe, but sometimes I want to smack her and say, "What are you doing? Listen to your friends!"

Zoe is stubborn and full of pride. She doesn't want to admit that she needs help and doesn't want to move back in with her Dad in London. Yet, perhaps she should. She could also write in a different genre, and as long as the book was good, her publisher wouldn't mind. At least, I think.

The Mystery
So, the mystery was crazy good. Zoe meets up with Zach, a guy she knew before he became a famous actor. He was her muse for her first book. So, she is hoping that he will be able to inspire her to write again. But that isn't what happens. Now she has Zach's stalker after her, or does she? There are all these secrets she isn't aware of until the end, which leaves her feeling blindsided. I was guessing through the whole story, and Ms. Drysdale kept surprising me turn after turn. The twists keep coming all the way to the Epilogue! OMG!

Five Stars
The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale starts slow, but once it's moving, you will be on the edge of your seat until the very end. I was entranced. My rating for The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale is five stars. If you like thrillers, you will love this one. I highly recommend it.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Close-Up by Pip Drysdale.

Until the next time,
~Jen

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out Baroness Book Trove.

The Close-up by talented writer Pip Drysdale delivers a punchy, twisty, and fun story about unrequited love, blind ambition, and coincidence, all placed in Los Angeles, a city of dreams. The major player is Zoe, who moved to L.A. to become the next great American novelist. Her book sells very little, and she is forced to work at a flower shop where she reunites with a previous friend, Zach, who is now a movie star. Zoe and Zach put their heads together, looking for creative inspiration.
Zoe attracts a stalker who uses scenes from her first book to terrify her and keeps her from working on her second book despite her agent's criticism and her publisher's lack of concern and interest. Zoe's life is turned upside down as her stalker continues to harass her and wreak havoc.
The Close-Up is a superior thriller that offers a glimpse at "Hollywood" and the ambition required to make it.

A really good read that picks up pace and keeps you hooked. I couldn't put it down and was hooked from early on. From the first pages I was hooked, and stuck to the edge of my couch the entire time!

When I read the synopsis of this book I was sold (it’s about a struggling author, a stalker who reenacts threatening scenes from her novel, and the Hollywood celebrity lifestyle 👀). And while it took me a little while to get into the book, I ended up really enjoying it.

This book feels different from typical thrillers. There’s a lot more detail to the story than just a twisty plot, and once I adjusted my expectations I really enjoyed that aspect. I also tend to love books about writers, and the writer vibes are strong in this one, so that was great. And the epilogue?? I did NOT see that coming. Loved it.

Definitely recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the digital ARC of this book.

I made two attempts to finish this book, the second a successful one.

First off, this is NOT really a thriller. More like chick lit with a suspense plot.

The Close-Up is an odd book with a strong narrative voice, a VERY convoluted plot, and a bold ending. I didn't hate it, but can't really say I loved it either. Zoe is a British writer in Los Angeles, struggling to complete the second book in her two book deal. Her writer's group says her ideas are bad. She thinks her ideas are bad. Then she runs into Zach, a celebrity actor she had a brief fling with previously. The two of them start a situationship and then Zoe starts receiving threatening notes ... just like the threatening notes Zoe's fictional main character received in her first book. Is a killer after her? Is she losing it? Both?

Reading that makes this book sound like a couple of Lifetime TV movies rolled into one, and that isn't inaccurate. (I like Lifetime TV movies.)

Zoe Ann Weiss signed with an agent and then a publisher who were both very excited about her first novel. There was even a movie deal. But that was years ago. Her novel came out to mediocre reviews. The movie option never panned out. Now Zoe owes her publisher a second novel, but all her ideas get shot down, if not by her writer’s group or her agent, then by her own insecurity. She needs a winning idea for that second novel, or she will owe the publisher a huge amount of money, far more than she an rustle up through her day job at a florist.

Delivering some flowers for an event, Zoe bumps into her ex, Zach Hamilton. She met Zach when he was tending bar several years back and had a magical long weekend with him. And then he ghosted her. But as it turns out, it was exactly what she needed. Her editor had been wanting a rewrite on her first novel, and she couldn’t find that desperation her character had until Zach broke her heart.

Now Zach is a huge movie star, voted the sexiest man alive, and Zoe can’t believe her luck. If she can get back into his life, it would be amazing. For her career. As long as she can keep her heart separate, Zoe might be able to get enough information on the upper echelon of Hollywood to write her long-overdue novel. But it’s not a perfect idea. Writing the story would be a betrayal of Zach’s confidentiality as well as going back on the non-disclosure agreement Zach’s security guy made Zoe sign. But for the first time in a very long time, Zoe’s agent is excited about something she’s working on.

Someone else is unhappy with Zoe though. After being photographed in the media with Zach, someone leaves a gift on her van’s windshield. When Zoe takes a closer look at it, she sees that it’s a heart. An actual heart. Probably from a cow, but it’s still disturbing. Especially since in Zoe’s first novel, a stalker leaves a heart on the windshield of the protagonist’s car.

Zoe is juggling a lot. She has her day job as a florist and an agent demanding pages from her. She has a budding relationship with one of the hottest actors in Hollywood and some sort of psycho who is acting out scenes from her first novel to try to scare her. And it’s working. But when Zoe accidentally overhears a telephone conversation between Zach’s security guy and his handler, Zoe isn’t sure how safe she is with Zach. The police can’t help her unless she is actually attacked. And while she is getting more and more terrified, her book is coming together with an amazing story of stardom and stalking.

The more danger Zoe is in, the better it is for her writing. But in order to finish the book and save her writing career, Zoe has to survive the danger. Will she be able to pull it off, or will it all turn out to be too much, pushing Zoe over the edge, causing her to lose her career as a novel, or maybe even more?

The Close-Up is the latest from Pip Drysdale, and it’s electric. This thriller takes a deep dive into how difficult it is to sustain a creative career, especially in a city as competitive as Hollywood. With the added intensity of Zoe’s own words coming back to haunt her as she makes questionable choices, this thriller takes the danger up a notch. Trying to figure out exactly what is going on and who is behind it is a maze of blind turns and shocking twists right to the end.

I loved this novel. I could barely put it down. I was so absorbed in this character and her struggles, and I could not wait to see how it ended. It’s just so much fun. If you need an escape this winter, something to cuddle with under a soft blanket with a hot drink, then The Close-Up may just be the novel you’ve been waiting for.

Egalleys for The Close-Up were provided by Gallery Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Interesting book that kept adding the twists and turns. I instantly liked this and could not put it down. A bit of slow burn but great storytelling.

A solid slow burn thriller plot, perfect for fans of You and for books from Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

Thank you Gallery books and Simon and Schuster audio for review copies! This is a dark, edgy, and wild ride of a thriller, the unreliable narrator themes are well done in The Close Up from Pip Drysdale, who offers here an interesting take on the "You" stalking themes and takes readers on an interesting, and intense, story where I didn't know what was going on (in a good way, not an annoying way) until reveals and twists came together later in the book.

😎𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗨𝗣😎
𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔢𝔯
🗓️𝙿𝚞𝚋 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙳𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟹, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 𝚃𝙾𝙳𝙰𝚈!
🤩𝕄𝕪 𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: 𝟜.𝟚𝟝 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤! ★★★★✫

BEST COVER EVER!🏆

🤏𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝...”a struggling author discovers the dark side of fame when a stalker begins reenacting violent events from her thriller in this twisty new novel…”

🌻𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢...I lapped this one right up! 🙌It was fun!! 🎉So, Zoe here(the MC) writes a thriller about a crazy stalker & then those things start happening to her in real life(I am talking unhinged things!😳), but also so much more is happening on the side. I love me some dark side of Hollywood 🎥🔪plots & you get that along with plenty of twists & the most unexpected epilogue ever. I loathed the epilogue😝, but I appreciated it too. No spoilers. That’s all I will say. Enjoy! 😍🤩

This book was very slow paced and just took way too long for it to start to pick up for me. The author did a good job with all the detail but sometimes for me it seemed like the level of detail outweighed the action and that just made it hard for me to get through.

This was a fun read with an unlikable narrator, a favorite trope of mine. Great if you like dark side of Hollywood and fame stories.

Whoa! What just happened?! This story is a true roller coaster! Starts off slowly and gradually builds up excitement until it's non-stop twists and turns. And just when you think they twists and turns are over, there is a surprise final drop you didn't see coming and you are left grasping for air.

THE CLOSE-UP captured my attention from the start. I highly recommend grabbing this book if you like stories filled with surprises and jaw-dropping endings.

Many thanks to the publisher for my gifted copy.

Immediately felt as if I was speaking to a friend, Drysdale creates believable characters and setting. Writing is captivating, thrilling and there is one hell of an ending.

The following roundup was published or updated in several Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia newspapers and magazines in November and December 2024. The review for this book will be updated upon publication date.

Booking a full year of reading

Review by Tom Mayer

If only us readers could just spend our days … reading. What would a year look like? Here, the editors of Home for the Holidays present their yearlong list of books, culled from the past 12 months of reading and reviewing. A few of the titles you’ll immediately recognize, and you’ll likely have more than few in your own library. But just in case you missed a title or two, we’re showcasing the whole year’s worth of books that we’ve read and reviewed, month by month.

Except for the first title, the list is simply a list. To find the reviews of many of these titles, visit our newspaper parent, The (Athens) News Courier at enewscourier.com — with a slight caveat. Our newspaper webmasters are currently working overtime to improve our content management system, the foundation of any website, and while many of our archives are now found there, it may be a few weeks before everything is fully re-uploaded — including the most recent editions of Limestone Life and Home for the Holidays. For now, though, enjoy our literary stroll through 2024.

And about that first title: Not every college professor can make statistical analysis approachable, let along interesting to their students and the general population, but Athens State University emeritus professor of psychology Mark Durm is not every college professor. After spending nearly five decades teaching thousands of students, the “ol’ psychology professor” decided that he’d best get around to writing the one book out of his nearly 100 published pieces that’s he always wanted to write. Call it a legacy piece, but what it really is is a “best of” Durm’s peer-reviewed, book reviews, non-peer reviewed and magazine articles from his 47 years in higher education.

The result is “Professional Publications of an Ol’ Psychology Professor” (Dorrance) with full previously published articles ranging from studies on the effects of glasses on a child’s self-esteem to his ever-popular parapsychology pieces, Durm presents his internationally recognized efforts with a twist.

“It’s a different kind of book because it doesn’t talk about the research, it presents the research,” the professor says from his second-career office at Durm Properties in Athens, about a half-mile from where he first presented that research in person. “I’ve spent hours on all of these articles, especially in the peer-reviewed journal articles.”

And so, articles on divorce, sex, religion and other topics now populate the pages of Durm’s most recent book in an effort to both continue his teaching and satisfy what has been a lifelong wonderment.

“You know, most people don’t understand statistics, so it’s all in there,” Durm said. “What I’m trying to do is a more critical approach to ‘just don’t believe everything you’re told.’ … It’s things that were in my life that I wanted to see if they were so, by using a psychological analysis.”

And like any good professor, Durm didn’t do that research on his own — or take all of the credit. Among the co-authors of many of his articles in the book were students — many of who he’s lost touch with, but all of whom who he credits by name in his acknowledgements and for each of who, if they look up their ol’ mentor, he has a signed book ready to hand over. For the rest of us, you can find the book at any online bookseller — just as you can with the remainder of our list, presented by the month in which the book was published, read and reviewed.

JANUARY

Unbound (Blackstone) by Christy Healy NG/F

The Devil’s Daughter by Gordon Greisman NG/ARC

FEBRUARY

Almost Surely Dead (Mindy’s Book Studio) by Amina Akhtar NG

The Chaos Agent (Gray Man 13) (Berkley) by Mark Greaney NG

The Lady in Glass and Other Stories (Ace) by Anne Bishop ARC

A Haunting in the Arctic (Berkley paperback) by C.J. Cooke NG

Ghost Island (Berkley) by Max Seeck

MARCH

Hello, Alabama (Arcadia) by Martha Day Zschock

The Unquiet Bones (Montlake) by Loreth Anne White

I am Rome: A novel of Julius Caesar (Ballantine Books by Santiago PosteguilloMarch 5: Murder Road (Berkley) by Simone St. James

The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry (Holiday House) by Anna Rose Johnson

Ferris (Candlewick) by Kate DiCamillo

After Annie (Random House, Feb. 27) by Anna Quindlen

Crocodile Tears Didn't Cause the Flood (Montag Press) by Bradley Sides The #1 Lawyer (Little, Brown and Company) by James Patterson, Nancy Allen

Lilith (Blackstone) by Eric Rickstad

Life: My Story Through History (Harper One) by Pope Francis

APRIL

Matterhorn (Thomas & Mercer) by Christopher Reich

Friends in Napa (Mindy’s Book Studio) by Sheila Yasmin Marikar

City in Ruins (William Morrow) by Don Winslow

The House on Biscayne Bay (Berkley) by Chanel Cleeton

Two Friends, One Dog, and a Very Unusual Week (Peachtree) by Sarah L. Thomson

For Worse (Blackstone) by L.K. Bowen

A Killing on the Hill (Thomas & Mercer) by Robert Dugoini

The Clock Struck Murder (Poisoned Pen Press) by Betty Webb

The Book That Broke the World (Ace) by Mark Lawrence

The Forgetters (Heyday Books) by Greg Sarris

Lost to Dune Road (Thomas & Mercer) by Kara Thomas

Warrior on the Mound (Holiday House/Peachtree) by Sandra Headed

Pictures of Time (Silver Street Media) by David AlexanderBare Knuckle (Blackstone Publishing) by Stayton Bonner

Murder on Demand (Blackstone Publishing) by Al Roker

Home is Where the Bodies Are (Blackstone) by Jeneva Rose

MAY

Matterhorn by Christopher Reich

The Hunter's Daughter (Berkley) by Nicola Solvinic

The House That Horror Built (Berkley) by Christina Henry

In our stars (Berkley) by Jack Campbell

Freeset (book 2) (Blackstone) by Sarina Dahlan

Southern Man (William Morrow) by Greg Iles

Camino Ghosts (Doubleday) by John Grisham

JUNE

Specter of Betrayal by Rick DeStefanis

Lake County (Thomas & Mercer) by Lori Roy

Serendipity (Dutton) by Becky Chalsen

Shelterwood (Ballantine) by Lisa Wingate

The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle (Holiday House) by Dan Gutman

Jackpot (Penguin) by Elysa Friedland

The Helper (Blackstone) by M.M. Dewil

Winter Lost (Ace) by Patricia Briggs

Shadow Heart (Blackstone) by Meg Gardiner

Lake Country (Thomas & Mercer) by Lori Roy

The Out-of-Town Lawyer (Blackstone) by Robert Rotten

Love Letter to a Serial Killer (Berkley) by Tasha Coryell

Sentinel Berkley) by Mark Greaney

JULY

Three Kings: Race, Class, and the Barrier-Breaking Rivals Who Redefined Sports and Launched the Modern Olympic Age (Blackstone) by Todd Balf

The Night Ends with Fire (Berkley) by K.X. Song

Echo Road (Montlake) by Melinda Leigh

It’s Elementary (Berkley) by Elise Bryant

You Shouldn’t Be Here (Thomas & Mercer) by Lauren Thoman

Back In Black (Blackstone) edited by Don Bruns

The Recruiter (Blackstone) by Gregg Podolski

AUGUST

You Shouldn’t Be Here (Thomas & Mercer) by Lauren Thoman ARC

Not What She Seems (Thomas & Mercer) by Yasmin Angoe NG

Fatal Intrusion by Jeff Deaver/Isabella Maldonado

Death at Morning House (HARPERTeen) by Maureen Johnson

Fire and Bones (Scribner) by Kathy Reichs

Some Nightmares Are Real (University of Alabama Press) by Kelly Kazoo

The Brothers Kenny (Blackstone) by Adam Mitzner

Blind to Midnight (Blackstone) by Reed Farrel Coleman

The Wayside (Blackstone) by Carolina Wolff

Enemy of the State (Blackstone) by Robert Smartwood

You Will Never Be Me (Berkley) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice (W.W. Norton) by Adam Kirsch

We Love the Nightlife (Berkley) by Rachel Koller Croft

Talking To Strangers (Berkley) by Fiona Barton

An Honorable Assassin (Blackstone) by Steve Hamilton possible interview see email

Dungeon Crawler Carl (1 of 6 but see next two months) (Ace) by Matt Dinniman

SEPTEMBER

Fatal Intrusion (Thomas & Mercer) by Jeffrey Deaver and Isabella Maldonado

When They Last Saw Her (Penguin) by Marcie Rendon

American Ghoul (Blackstone) by Michelle McGill-Vargas

First Do No Harm (Blackstone) by Steve Hamilton

A Quiet Life: A Novel (Arcade) by William Cooper and Michael McKinley

One More From the Top (Mariner) by Emily Layden

No Address (Forefront Books) by Ken Abraham.

Tiger’s Tale (Blackstone) by Colleen Houck

An Academy for Liars (Ace) by Alexis Henderson

Rewitched (Berkley) by Lucy Jane Wood

Gaslight (Blackstone) by Sara Shepard and Miles Joris-Peyrafitte

Counting Miracles (Random House) by Nicholas Sparks

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society (Ace) by C.M. Waggoner

The Hitchcock Hotel (Berkley) by Stephanie Wrobel

In the Garden of Monsters by Crystal King

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (2 of 6 see next month also) (Ace) by Matt Dinniman

OCTOBER

The Hushed (Blackstone) by K.R. Blair NG

A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer (Berkley) by Maxie Dara

On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice (Norton) by WSJ Weekend review editor Adam Kirsch

Framed (Doubleday) by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey

This Cursed House (Penguin) by Del Sandeen

The Puzzle Box (Random House) by Danielle Trussoni

Two Good Men (Blackstone) by S.E. Redfearn

Dark Space (Blackstone) by Rob Hart and Alex Segura

This Cursed House (Berkley’s open submission)by Del Sandeen

Vindicating Trump (Regnery) by Dinesh D’Souza

The Book of Witching (Berkley) by C.J. Cooke

The World Walk (Skyhorse) by Tom Turcich

The Waiting Game by Michael Connelly  ARC, possible interview see email

Beyond Reasonable Doubt (Thomas & Mercer) by Robert Dugoni

Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (3 of 6, with bonus material) (Ace) by Matt Dinniman

Frozen Lives (Blackstone) by Jennifer Graeser Fronbush NG

Vincent, Starry Starry Night (Meteor 17 Books) intro by Don McLean

Paris in Winter: An Illustrated Memoir (PowerHouse Books) by David Coggins

NOVEMBER

The Waiting (Little, Brown) by Michael Connelly

The Teller of Small Fortunes (Penguin) by Julie Long

Shadow Lab (Blackstone) by Brendan Deneen

Trial by Ambush (Thomas & Mercer) by Marcia Clark

Devil Take It (Heresy Press) by Daniel Debs Nossiter

SerVant of Earth (Ace) by Sarah Hawley

All the other me (Blackstone) by Jody Holford

The Perfect Marriage (Blackstone reissue re-edit) by Jenny Rose

DECEMBER

Trial By Ambush (Thomas & Mercer) by Marcia Clark

The Close-Up (Gallery Books) by Pip Drysdale

The Silent Watcher (Thomas & Mercer) by Victor Methos

Leviathan (Lividian Trade HC) by Robert McCammon

The Silent Watcher (Thomas & Mercer) by Victor Method

Assume Nothing (Thomas & Mercer) by Joshua Corin

One example link:
https://enewscourier.com/2024/11/29/in-review-booking-a-full-year-of-reading/

Many thanks to NetGalley, Gallery Books and MBC Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this wonderful twisty book by Pip Drysale. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

Zoe Ann Weiss moved to LA to pursue her dream of a writer. Her first book, Fractured, had great promise which sales didn’t support. She met Zach, a bartender, and felt such chemistry, but he ghosted her. Three years later, Zach is a famous movie star and Zoe is working at a flower shop. Her deadline for her sophomore book has come and gone and Zoe Ann has writer’s block in all caps. But when she meets Zach again on a flower delivery, things seem just as magical as they were before. Zoe felt Zach inspired her first novel and things he can once again be her muse. Until things fall apart in a very scary way.

This was such a twisty book, basically a book within a book, which is always fun, especially when it’s so well done. Plus, my mind was blown by the epilogue! The characters felt real to me, and I could feel Zoe’s frustration as well as her fear. The whole stalker theme is so scary and Zoe's fear felt palpable. You weren't sure quite what to believe and my feelings came and went about who I could trust. Another fabulous read by this author - I loved her previous book, The Sunday Girl, as well.