Innocent and voluptuous Peggy Raven was consumed with the passion for dance. Only too soon did she realize the real way people succeed in show business-but her relocation to New York City would teach her the tricks of the trade-whether she wanted to or not! Her first was Dave Farnum, the theatre director who groomed her for the big time with advice and adoration. Then there was Ernie Kastle, talent peddler extrodinaire from whom she learned that a lot of loving, and a little talent, could take her a long way! Stan Newkirk was next, and became her graceful partner on stage and in the bedroom! Finally came Bob Hamilton, the debonair dilettante who was the financial angel in the light of lost innocence!Jean's voluptuous body had the the movements that sorched men's emotions. Haughty, disdainful, she warded off every advance with icy detachment . . . her sights set on goals encased in the glamor of Hollywood. Even her affair with show manager Nick Diles was strictly business as far as she was concerned. And then Mace joined the show-a daredevil motorcyclist with broken nerves and shattered manhood. Yet he continued to stir women to passions long dormant. Under Mace's spell, Jean turned her act and body into a dancing fire of lustful promise-renewing Nick's needs and driving him to a jealous frenzy. In vengeful retaliation, Nick attempted to force Jean into after-the-show "customer relations" and started a blazing chain reaction no one could stop!

本作は、華やかなショービジネスの裏側に潜む「欲望の等価交換」を赤裸々に描いたペーパーバック・ノワールの白眉です。クレイトン・マシューズらが綴るのは、単なる過激な描写を超えた、野心と喪失の残酷なコントラスト。純真な表現者が成功の代償として魂を削り、虚飾の街に染まっていく過程には、美しさと悲哀が同居する文学的な凄みが宿っています。 特筆すべきは、肉体の躍動が内面的な情熱や絶望と連動する筆致の鋭さです。登場人物たちが舞台上での喝采と引き換えに直面する裏切りや孤独は、現代にも通じる「自己の搾取」という普遍的なテーマを突きつけます。読み手は、熱を帯びた文体を通じて、夢に焼き尽くされる者たちの命の輝きと、その果てにある冷徹な現実を強烈に追体験することになるでしょう。