New college graduate Sarah Lai gets chewed up and spit out by the film industry on her journey to becoming a producer in Complicit, a devastating and riveting novel about sexual assault by Winnie M. Li (Dark Chapter). Sarah has been in love with films for as long as she can remember. After graduating from Columbia University without any idea of how to break into the entertainment industry, she sends out about 60 query letters to production companies. No one replies. She then sees a flyer on the Columbia job board for an unpaid internship at Firefly Films. Desperate, Sarah answers the ad and is hired on the spot.
Sarah's work ethic soon makes her an invaluable asset. Her notes for new director Xander Schulz's script become vital in getting the project financed and eventually accepted into the Cannes Film Festival. Real estate magnate Hugo North offers to finance Firefly's next film in exchange for part ownership of the company and, though he knows nothing about film production, his money makes Firefly a major player in the industry. Hugo likes to party, and suddenly Sarah is introduced to the darker side of moviemaking--casting couches and cocaine-fueled all-nighters. Her options are simple: ignore Hugo's victims and become a film producer, or walk away from everything she ever wanted.
Li's nail-biting narrative deftly entangles readers within the naïve heroine's well-intentioned choices, resulting in a novel that will surely prompt much-deserved discussion. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer