2cool2btrue

by Simon Brooke

They're moving on up... Charlie Barrett, male model, is ready for a career change. It's not that modeling for ten years hasn't been fun -- the Paris shows, the VIP lists, the cool flat and even cooler model girlfriend. But he and Lauren are probably going to get married and have kids someday so it's time for him to find a job that offers more challenge than tilting his head left or right. Lovely Lauren seems poised to break into TV, so when a chance meeting results in Charlie's being offered the job as the face of 2cool2btrue, he readily accepts. "Power couple" here they come! But something's going down. 2cool is the web equivalent of Armani, Prada, and Gucci. It's the sexiest thing in cyberspace and everyone wants a piece of it. As its marketing guru, Charlie spends his days wading through a sea of luxury products and designer freebies and his nights in a whirl of parties and champagne. When Nora, an American journalist based in London, takes a particular interest in the site -- and in Charlie -- the buzz is definitely on. But suddenly 2cool's owners disappear with a large amount of money and Charlie finds himself investigated for fraud. With Lauren too preoccupied with TV producer Peter to help, the only person Charlie can turn to is Nora. And Nora -- clumsy, eccentric, and increasingly mysterious -- is fast proving herself to be 2hot2handle.

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 21, 2003

About the author

More than 20 years' experience in communications as a public relations professional, spin doctor, journalist, writer and media trainer. Currently he works as a journalist writing for all the the national papers as well as specialist publications and as a media trainer advising the communications departments of various companies, charities and other organisations on how to do interviews so that they get their message across effectively and don't fall for any of the journalistic traps.

Reviews

[Kerri Blessing · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's just ok. Took awhile for the story to get going. I almost stopped reading but wanted to know how it ended.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome. I had my doubts about this book when my wife picked it up in the discount section of Chicago's last Border's, mostly because her taste in literature is slightly less than "fine", but I decided to give it a try because this year my goal is to read one book from each letter of the alphabet. Since "2" apparently comes before "a", this one was first on my list.

Initially I had thought that it was going to be a silly book involving things that only silly girls would find interesting, but that all quickly changed when I learned that there were betrayal and mafia-like violence involved! I really had a difficult time putting this book down due to my overwhelming curiosity with respect to the culmination of the story. Since money woes are what are currently keeping me up at night, I identified with the anxiety felt by Charlie, the protagonist of this story. The ending was a bit too "American" for my taste, but all in all it was a quick, painless read that kept me waiting with intense intrigue.