Attack of the Theater People by Marc Acito
Blurb for the back cover:
"This book should not be read before bed."
It’s been almost four years since I read How I Paid For College . I was a little lost when I started reading Attack of the Theater People . I remember more or less what happened and bits and pieces of the characters that were involved. Luckily, readers and new comers are quickly brought up to date on what happened previously that you could easily read AOTTP without having read HIPFC . The cast of characters is large but each one is distinctive enough to where you wont get them confused.
The second chapter of the Edward Zanni Saga picks up him being kicked out of Julliard for being “too jazz hands.” I found it funny that the very first thing AOTTP does is basically tell us that everything he worked so hard for in HIPFC was all for nothing. But it serves as a great start for his new adventure. Being desperate, Edward tries to find some way to survive in New York and lands a gig as a “party motivator” which leads to insider trading and being wanted by the FBI, naturally.
Marc Acito is hilarious. Two years ago I was lucky enough to see him give a talk to a woman’s romance writing group where he told the ladies there that he makes sure that every sentence is important to the story (again, it was two years ago and I wasn’t taking notes, he said something along these lines). It shows as every sentence adds something to the story. There are also phrases that get repeated over the course of the story that are funny and often lead up to some plot point that is the equivalent of a punchline (Edward’s worse nightmare for example).
Also, every chapter seems to end with a cliff hanger which is probably the reason this book should not be read before bed. You’ll never get to sleep.
