"Curtains' outrageous plot is set against the chilly corporate publishing world of Raven's Towers, a designer megalith. Here, Olliver takes us inside the world of Glossy International magazine, a kingdom ruled over by a megalomaniac ice queen super-ed called Vicki Cochrane. At first, it looks as if we're in for one of those 'insider' tales beloved by journos who've moved onto better things, but not a bit of it. Before you can say 'Conde Nast!', Vicki's been blown sky high and whisked off to an astral waiting room where, upon the chaise-longue of her soul, she's forced to watch an action replay (in virtual reality mode, of course) of the previous few days leading up to her demise, to try and ascertain whodunit. Mr Olliver is a talent to watch. His caustic and very funny narrative, set exotically between London and Brightworth (where absent media magnate husband Max has set up home at the end of the pier), has a cast of bitches, temptresses, queens and roughs worthy of grand opera, and just asking for the book alone should provide mirth at the checkout. And that's before you've even opened it." Christie Hickman, Midweek.... "Much of Victor Olliver's Curtains takes place in Raven's Towers, the corporate headquarters of a lifestyle-cum-fashion Conde Nast-type glossy in the heart of the capital, although, here too, a significant part of the action ventures out into the dim provincial greyness surrounding London, in this case, a seaside town called Brightworth, famous for its pier and not much else, although fame, as the novel teasingly points out, is as up for manipulation as anything else. Following an explosion on said pier, Vicki Cochrane, editor of a high-end life style magazine, finds herself trapped between life and death in an astral waiting room, with the chance to virtually relive her last few hours and see what sense might be made of them. Olliver has enormous fun with the eavesdropping possibilities this offers, as Vicki enters and exits (in spirit form, naturally) not only herself, but some of the other appalling creatures that populate the world of fashion journalism. Think Ugly Betty with every opportunity for sentimentality surgically extracted and you'll have some idea of the ambiance, and bitchiness quotient. At the heart of this wickedly perverse morality tale stalks Vicki the evil queen, a literary Wilhelmina (UB fans will know what I mean), but without the kittenish side. The setting, late 80s, adds to the fun and general campiness, as Vicki slots cassettes into her astral VCR, but the satire, relentless wit and narrative poise, are bang on today's money. And... what sets out to make a point, as any good satire should, turns out to have not just claws but also, in the unlikeliest of breasts, a heart." Novelist Charles Lambert website: http: //charleslambert.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/books-by-charlie-hill-and-curtains-by-victor-olliver/
