The price of a soul, or cost of success, for a hero in Hollywood. Robert Peterson, encouraged by easy words and the success of one novel, is a Hollywood innocent. His first lessons are harsh; pornographic films with a waiter's job to pay the rent seem the only option. Then he meets a powerful, eccentric British producer who, liking a Svengali role, adds Robert to his stable of wannabes. But there is a price... Bryan Forbes' powerful new novel is filled with great characters. The women in Robert's life include the wholly ambitious, sexy Amanda; the domesticated Tracey with the morals of an alleycat; the beautiful, empty Lauren, whom only the camera defines. And the men who teach him the lessons of life include a knife-throwing English director more histrionic than his stars, the agents, double-dealing in wives and clients, and the fellow script writers with strange secrets. Who could live in the middle of all this scheming ambition and survive?