THE RECEPTIONIST

Television producer Myles’ debut novel anatomizes the ways three points in a stratospheric Los Angeles triangle can screw, and screw with, each other.

Despite their opulent lifestyle, Emily Webb’s marriage to serial adulterer Doug Markham is less like a fairy-tale romance than a strategic alliance between Beyond the Brand, Doug’s market research firm, and RFG Entertainment, the talent agency to which Emily preemptively lured her star client, lifestyle guru Dr. Maryn, when she was at the point of leaving Emily’s old agency. The come-on Emily and Doug dangled was data mining, a neglected revenue stream based on the scads of personal information Dr. Maryn’s clients shared with her. But there are several flies in the ointment. In order to launch his own pet project, a portable EEG that registers its wearer’s levels of engagement with goods and experiences whose merchants would love to know more about, Doug needs more money, so he teams up with tech consultant Erik Powell to sell medical information they’ve stolen from Dr. Maryn’s database. Dr. Maryn continues to have strong opinions of her own, some of them highly ethical, others not so much. Most disruptive of all is Doug’s receptionist, Chloe, whom he sends to Emily hoping that RFG can represent her on the strength of her work with Common Parlance, a pop-up performing troupe. Chloe and Emily don’t bond, but Chloe and Doug do, early and often. When her romance with Doug has run its all-too-predictable course, Chloe is unexpectedly taken up by Emily, who has ideas of her own about how best to turn the situation to her advantage. But so, it turns out, does Chloe.

Myles’ sharp sense of the objects and perks that spell entitlement isn’t enough to save this inflated, overdetailed affair.