B&N Reads
4/13/2016
L.S. Hilton’s pitch-black trilogy starter Maestra gives us a new amoral heroine to love: Judith Rashleigh, art house assistant by day and hostess by night, who finds herself—by way of snagging a rich man’s attention—navigating the glittering world of the Riviera. After inadvertently ending up on her dangerous boss’s bad side, and following the accidental death of her mark, Judith relies on a flair for reinvention and sociopathic resistance to looking back to propel her on a twisting, decadent spree across Europe. Read More
From the Publisher
A radical heroine. She deploys a uniquely female arsenal...weaponizing femininity...It’s hard not to feel vicariously empowered by a woman unapologetically in pursuit. Let’s call her the Sheryl Sandberg of sociopaths, leaning in to the hilt.”—O, The Oprah Magazine
“One of this year’s most talked-about novels. . . . More mayhem, more art—and certainly more sex—lie ahead for insatiable Judith.”—The Washington Post
“This year's most erotic novel. . . . Unapologetic, confident and quite the sociopath, protagonist Judith Rashleigh is no Anastasia Steele.”—New York Post
“[A] shopathon travelogue thriller that has billionaires, art world scheming, and a sociopathic heroine who can unfasten belt buckles with her teeth.”—The New York Times
“An unpredictable London auction-house assistant turned high-class escort slips effortlessly into the world of the glamorous and wealthy, crossing international borders and leaving destruction in her wake.”—The Wall Street Journal
“The European art world mixes with an underground world (hint: sex parties). This thriller is like The Talented Mr. Ripley meets The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Warning: it’s VNSFW. That V is for very.” —The Skimm
“[J]ubilantly mordant...A twenty-first-century femme fatale as lethal as Tom Ripley and as seductive as Bacall.” -Vogue
“Ever since Gillian Flynn dominated the book club circuit (and the big screen) with her psychological thriller Gone Girl, everyone's been waiting for the next mystery to sink their teeth into. [Maestra] is it..”—InStyle
“A taut, meaty thriller . . . Judith Rashleigh’s single-minded and self-centered quest for wealth and acceptance could well be the most compelling since Patrick Bateman’s.”—Chicago Review of Books
“As readable as any crime thriller, but also clearly belongs in the literary tradition of Moll Flanders and Vanity Fair.”—Sunday Times (UK)
“Meet Judith, an art-house assistant who’ll make you root for the bad girl once you really get to know her.”—Marie Claire
“Thank the book gods that L. S. Hilton’s Maestra is only the first installment in a series.”—Redbook
“Hurry up and read this R-rated psychological thriller before it hits the big screen—it’s already been optioned by Columbia Pictures. Think 50 Shades of Grey meets The Talented Mr. Ripley.”—Allure.com
“Delicious escapism—I loved it!”—Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go
“[A] deliciously Highsmithian thriller...As Judith assumes and sheds identities as effortlessly as her Louboutins during a twisty series of increasingly treachero's escapades, Hilton artfully conjures a glossy world where just about everything—and everyone—has its price.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Delicious...at once glamorous, edgy, decadent, erotic, and irresistible. Judith is just full of surprises. She is ruthless and yet vulnerable...[Maestra] is a gift for readers who delight in vengeful female protagonists.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Utterly un-put-down-able, a shocking and sexy psychological thriller.”—Popsugar
Kirkus Reviews
2016-02-03
Hilton's novel about a woman with exotic sexual appetites and a penchant for murdering those who cross her mixes blood and sex the way a bartender slaps together martinis. Judith Rashleigh works as an assistant in a large London art house known as British Pictures. While toiling under the repugnant Rupert, she finds occasional employment working in a club where gentlemen of wealth spend the evening in the company of a beautiful woman. No sex is involved, but it wouldn't bother Judith if it was: she has the sexual appetite of a 16-year-old boy and is open to any and all partners. While having detailed coitus with almost everyone she meets, Judith stumbles on a nefarious scheme to defraud a hapless art buyer with Rupert behind the wheel. At first she's not aware that it's Rupert's swindle and tries to expose it, which earns her a pink slip. She and another woman at the club accompany one of her regulars, an enormously fat married man named James, to France, where they slip some drugs into his drink so they can party, and, before they know it, James is dead. For Judith, that's when the fun begins. Hilton's character spends the bulk of the book killing people—sometimes viciously; having minutely described sex, often with total strangers and with an emphasis on overweight men; and dropping the names of rich people's playgrounds, unusual and luxurious foods, and all the designer clothes she buys and wears. Judith, it seems, likes the best of everything. Readers are promised that Judith's depraved tour of Europe will continue. Billed as erotic suspense, this is not a book for suspense fans; it's more a portrait of a sociopathic woman with a voracious appetite for sexual adventure.
