The Understudy
Morgan Richter. Knopf, $28 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-68570-9
Richter follows The Divide with a razor-edged thriller set amid the rarefied world of opera performers. Kit Margolis has been cast as space adventurer Barbarella in a new production by experimental Manhattan opera company Brio. From the moment Kit meets her understudy, Yolanda Archambeau, she senses trouble. Brio’s director obviously prefers Yolanda’s electric-if-sloppy performance over Kit’s sealed-off, note-perfect take on the cult-film heroine, and Yolanda, having slept and blackmailed her way into the understudy position, makes no secret of her intention to supplant Kit before the show opens. As the pair’s All About Eve antics heat up, they settle into an unsteady frenemy dynamic, until Yolanda is murdered while Kit is asleep in the same room, possibly under the influence of sedatives administered by Yolanda herself. A frightened Kit digs into Yolanda’s past, and soon learns that she was living under an assumed name and has plenty of enemies who may want her dead—and who might come after Kit next. The plot starts slowly, but once things kick into gear, Richter delivers soapy backstage dynamics and gasp-worthy twists. It’s a satisfying nail-biter. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan. (Aug.)
Details
Reviewed on: 05/29/2025
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Other - 978-0-593-68572-3