Desperation Will Kill You

She built herself from nothing. He wanted to own the woman she became.

"A rollicking retro Tinseltown thriller." - Kirkus Reviews

"Hart crafts a layered psychological thriller that steadily tightens its grip..." - BookLife Prize

Los Angeles, 1989. Franny Lane is a sharp, self-contained creative director at Sojourn Records who doesn't need anyone - and likes it that way. So when she lands her favorite band on the soundtrack for the year's biggest film, the last thing she wants is the attention of Don Bradford, Hollywood's most powerful - and most dangerous - producer.

Don doesn't take no for an answer. And Franny, despite everything, gets pulled into his orbit.

He's fixated on the parts of her she's spent a lifetime protecting. He insists she see his therapist. It's the kind of gesture that looks like care. It isn't.

What Franny doesn't know is that she's not the only woman Don has sent to that office. And when the truth of who else has been there erupts in a waiting room one afternoon, it sets off a chain of blackmail, betrayal, and a murder that lands squarely on Franny - for a crime she didn't commit.

Fighting to clear her name means confronting a version of her own life she never suspected: what she's worth to the people circling her, and how far a desperate man will go to keep his secrets buried.

"Hart writes with confidence and cinematic detail, capturing the glamour of late-1980s Hollywood while exposing the predatory culture beneath its polished exterior. Her prose balances sharp dialogue with thoughtful psychological insight, allowing moments of quiet emotional reflection to coexist with scenes of mounting suspense." - BookLIfe Prize

"A page-turning thriller that explores the ego-larded world of L.A.'s film and music industries in a compelling story of identity, ambition, and love. Both the story and its characters are as irresistible as the world their author paints." - IndieReader

"Hart keeps it all fresh, frisky, and fun, offering sharp Hollywood dish and a clear-eyed appraisal of power while honoring the studios' zeal for economical, propulsive storytelling." - BookLife

A glossy, lethal novel of 1990s Hollywood ambition, Desperation Will Kill You is for readers of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six.