Exposure

Kurt Wenzel
Little Brown and Company (2007)
ISBN 9780316093972
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (6/07)


This book begins with a dramatic, spine-tingling scene.  She placed a black pillowslip over her head as she awaited his arrival.  She had no idea who he was or what his true intentions are.  He was known as Mr. Black, “he made it clear that he hates television, he hates any form of the media.”  What else was he capable of, would he let her live?  No one knows who he really is.  The setting is the near future where every surface is lined with MIBs (digital plasma screens).  “Media” is like a drug, people are addicted to it.  Images of stars from the past are digitized and used to advertise products.  Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, and more of the greats, all their faces were being exploited.  Mr. Black’s book, “The Black Book,” had become the icon of a cult, giving rise to a group known as the Blackheads.  They are vandalizing the MIBs and hacking into websites.  Would they turn to murder?  It warned of dire consequences if people did not heed the warnings to stop worshipping the media, to stop craving the “drug,” television. 

Marshall Reed is trying to help his friend Colton Reston, who has contracted some mysterious illness.  Colton’s face is one of the most celebrated; he is one of the final motion picture stars.  The two friends had played ball together until a rare injury stopped Reed’s career.  Reed went on to write a screenplay.  Colt’s blemish-scarred face was bafflingly beautiful when projected on the MIBs.  Colt knows he’s dying. Is this strange disease part of a deeper plot?

“Exposure,” by Kurt Wenzel, is sure to be the hit of the summer.  From page one I was hooked.  “Exposure” grabs the reader’s attention and doesn’t let go until the very last page.  Kurt Wenzel deftly uses humor, science fiction, and horror in his latest book, “Exposure”, to describe the risk of fame and the obsession people have with the media.  This plot has unexpected twists and turns, leading the reader down a path of the unexpected.  I highly recommend this book to fans of science fiction and suspense.

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