Exposure

by Kurt Wenzel

Book Overview

Los Angeles, a few years from now. Technology has changed the rules of the movie business with old, long-dead stars brought digitally back to life. Billboards cover every available surface of the city, beaming out a constant flood of commercials starring the likes of John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, and--the great exception, the last "real" movie star--Colt Reston.

But something is going wrong: A group of anti-tech rebels are attacking the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316093971
• ISBN13: 9780316093972
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

fun and thought provoking

The book is a bit like what might happen if Raymond Chandler wrote a science fiction story, with some healthy Kurt Vonnegut style ranting thrown in. It takes you through furturistic hollywood with several mysteries that keep the story line moving along quickly but still allows for some very clever and interesting character development. I found it a quick fun book. However,it was thought provoking too, making one think about the info overload that the current world pounds one with as well as about hollywood's ability to rewrite history and lives.

Pretty good, I wanted more

Exposure was a pretty interesting dystopia sort of novel that tells the story of Colt Reston and Marshall Reed, best friends navigating the world of Hollywood in 2019. Images are everywhere - the billboards move and old movie stars from the 50's are brought back to life through computer razzmatazz to advertise products like soft drinks and shaving cream. An anti-ad manifesto has just come out, by someone calling themselves "Mr. Black" and his followers, the "Blackheads" are destroying the billboards. Since Colt Reston is the most photographed human being on earth, his images are destroyed the most. There are a lot of twists and turns in the story, and it was definitely a good book with great writing. I just wish it had been a little more creative. I know that we can't really describe things that we don't know about yet, but I got distracted by the fact that everything was supposed to seem different, but wasn't. TV's are plasma's. Computers are pods. Cell phones are vidphones. I wish he could have come up with some different names and it would have seemed a bit more futuristic.

The most entertaining book of the summer ... by far

Exposure: A Novel A best-selling tome written by an anonymous media-loathing mystery author, moving image advertisements on bathroom stall walls, fast-food-addicted lions, HOT movie stars plastered on every crevice of the American landscape, movie studio execs that would go to ANY length to out-do each other, a police-state "governmentality" after a major US terrorist attack ... it's today, only amplified by a thousand. The year is 2017 and Los Angeles is drowning in MIBs (Moving Image Billboards) and the hottest actor in the world, Colt Reston (in my opinion, probably fashioned after Tom Cruise), is dying of a strange disease, seemingly a victim of terminal over-exposure. Could it be that media over-exposure has morphed into some kind of real disease? Are we so obsessed with celebrity that we need them selling us the latest Lexus SUV on our salt and pepper shakers at fine-dining restaurants? That's the scary question that Wenzel tackles in his latest novel, Exposure. Of course, it is impossible to not see the future slowly turning into this nightmarish scene where we will be taking "media fasts" to cleanse our minds (and our souls, I should think). I mean, if I hear about Lindsay Lohan going to rehab ONE MORE TIME I think I will... I digress. Wenzel captures the cusp on which we are dangerously poised as Americans. The suspenseful plot finds us spying the inner-workings of the movie business - I'm a movie buff, so that got me from page one. The characters, particularly Marshall Reed, the once-great screenwriter, and Colt Reston's best friend btw, are trying to be human beings in a vapid industry surrounded by their own images. It makes one think... how far will we go in allowing Madison Avenue to control us? This was the first time I have ever read anything even resembling SciFi. But you would be correct in saying it was as much literary as sci-fi. The writing was great and the plot was a page-turner. The ending was such a shocker that every angle I dreamed up paled in comparison to the ending Wenzel put forth. I still can't believe it. Exposure is a very exciting and entertaining read, and it will make you think about how close we now are to this Universal Studios vision of America. Can't wait to see the movie!

From page 1 I was hooked

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.