{"product_id":"the-divide-isbn-9780593685693","title":"The Divide","description":"\u003cb\u003eA failed actress turned grifting psychic searches for her missing doppelgänger and is plunged into a web of murder and corruption among Hollywood A-listers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Weird and wonderfully addictive—reads like Agatha Christie on acid, or maybe Raymond Chandler adapted by the Coen Brothers.\" —Ernest Cline, #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eReady Player One\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen Jenny St. John was eighteen, she moved to Los Angeles from her rural midwestern hometown and scored the lead role in an independent film called \u003ci\u003eThe Divide\u003c\/i\u003e. Under the intimate direction of young auteur Serge Grumet, Jenny was on her way to becoming the next indie darling. But then the movie tanked, and Jenny never caught a second break. Now, two decades later, after floundering on the fringes of the entertainment industry, she’s barely keeping afloat running a low-level grift as a psychic life coach.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut when news surfaces that Serge has been murdered, Jenny’s life is turned upside down. Unbeknownst to Jenny, Serge’s ex-wife, painter Gena Santos, looks alarmingly similar to Jenny. So much so that when Gena goes missing, the cops think Jenny \u003ci\u003eis\u003c\/i\u003e Gena.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJenny finds herself pulled into Gena’s world and manages to leverage both her resemblance to Gena and her faux psychic abilities to infiltrate the affluent yet unstable inner circle of friends, which include a Korean pop idol–turned–social media star and an Oscar-winning actress–turned–wellness guru. Soon Jenny’s search to find Gena unearths dark secrets about her own past while putting her squarely in the sights of a killer.\"A wild ride of a novel. . . . Richter , an industry veteran and pop culture critic, writes with the energy of a freshly charged battery, full of bright sparks, quick wit and vivid color.\" \u003cb\u003e—Sarah Weinman, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ms. Richter’s novel starts as an offbeat mystery and turns into an emotional tour de force. The redoubtable Jenny strives to redeem her disappointing life by accomplishing something exceptional. Darned if she doesn’t do just that.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Tom Nolan, \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A riveting neo-noir thriller about mistaken identity and what it means to live and die in LA. Weird and wonderfully addictive—reads like Agatha Christie on acid, or maybe Raymond Chandler adapted by the Coen Brothers.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ernest Cline, #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eReady Player One\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In the utterly refreshing THE DIVIDE, a slightly grifty ‘intuitive’ life coach finds herself at the center of this devilishly clever mystery. Morgan Richter uses her fresh voice and a modern noir vibe to bring Jenny St. John and Los Angeles to life.  A slow burn you won’t be able to put down.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Alafair Burke, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eFind Me\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Richter’s novel moves and reads quickly without feeling rushed, paced like a brisk ninety-minute film noir that focuses more on character than convoluted plots. . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Divide\u003c\/i\u003e has echoes of Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled novels mixed with the humor and warmness of \u003ci\u003ePsych\u003c\/i\u003e—with a touch of Otto Preminger’s \u003ci\u003eLaura\u003c\/i\u003e to keep things interesting. . . .  \u003ci\u003eA \u003c\/i\u003esoul-searching novel, using its “whodunit” plot to probe about the “what-ifs” in life that define a person’s trajectory.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLas Vegas Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An ingenious tale of intrigue, deception and doppelgängers, Morgan Richter’s \u003ci\u003eThe Divide\u003c\/i\u003e is utterly absorbing and completely original. This deviously sharp, sublimely strange modern-day noir took me hostage and wouldn’t let me go until I’d devoured every last delicious word!\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Katherine Wood, author of \u003ci\u003eLadykiller\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"[In] \u003ci\u003eThe Divide\u003c\/i\u003e a murder mystery mixes with an enthralling tangle of identity, trauma, and an exploration of art versus commerce. . . . More than a simple whodunit. Richter wraps the mystery in a cat-and-mouse game of memory versus truth, and readers won't be sure they've uncovered who is who until the very end.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Nina Semczuk, \u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Absorbing. . . pure LA noir.\"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Booklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \"An actor turned psychic stumbles into the center of an LAPD murder investigation in Richter’s winningly offbeat debut...Richter comes through with sparkling prose, a consistently surprising mystery, and an engrossing portrait of contemporary Los Angeles. Fans of Hollywood neo-noir will relish this fresh update on an old formula.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"It’s so unusual to find a murder mystery novel that grapples so thoughtfully with these questions of fate, identity, and the paths not taken. . . .  A gripping tale of LA noir . . . [and] a surprisingly wistful examination of the way that certain decisions can cause our life paths to diverge.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003eDoreen Sheridan,\u003ci\u003e Criminal Element\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eMORGAN RICHTER is a graduate of the Filmic Writing program at the University of Southern California’s film school and has worked in production on several television shows, including ABC’s \u003ci\u003eAmerica’s Funniest Home Videos\u003c\/i\u003e and E! Entertainment Television’s Emmy-winning comedy series \u003ci\u003eTalk Soup\u003c\/i\u003e. An avid popular culture critic, she is the author of \u003ci\u003eDuranalysis: Essays on the Duran Duran Experience\u003c\/i\u003e and has amassed a cult following on her analyses of classic Duran Duran videos. She has self-published five novels, but \u003ci\u003eThe Divide\u003c\/i\u003e is her first foray into traditional publishing. Richter currently lives in Seattle.","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233655009509,"sku":"NP9780593685693","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593685693.jpg?v=1767739041","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-divide-isbn-9780593685693","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}