The Midnight Show - by Lee Kelly & Jennifer Thorne (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An immersive, page-turning novel about surviving as a funny woman in the male-dominated world of comedy--and what happens when the most promising female star of her generation disappears.

"An utterly addictive read."--Amy Tintera, New York Times bestselling author of Listen for the Lie

In the 1980s, women were not supposed to be funny. But when a group of college improv comedians gets the chance to join a new late-night show, it's Lillian Martin who stands out. The new show was called The Midnight Show and it would air every Friday night, live from New York, and change the landscape of TV and comedy forever.

But first it would change Lillian's and her friends' lives. When the show becomes a runaway hit, the cast is thrown into the spotlight. Suddenly, they're skipping the line at the city's hottest clubs and posing on the cover of Rolling Stone. Lillian, in particular, seems destined for bigger things--until one winter night in Lower Manhattan, she vanishes, leaving nothing behind but questions. Was Lillian a victim of her own excesses? Was it a mugging gone wrong? Or could she have been killed by someone in her own inner circle?

Forty years later, Lillian's disappearance has still never been solved. But when a budding journalist looking to examine Lillian's story from a modern lens begins asking questions, she stirs up decades-old drama--as well as tightly-held secrets some comedy legends would much rather stay buried.

A propulsive story of fame and friendship told through a variety of media--compiled interviews, articles, transcripts--The Midnight Show takes readers behind the scenes of the cutthroat world of comedy in 1980s New York and asks if the rush of getting a laugh is all it's cracked up to be.

Review Quotes

"The Midnight Show is an utterly addictive read--I couldn't stop thinking about it once I started. Kelly and Thorne expertly capture the cutthroat world of late-night comedy in juicy, hilarious detail, with special attention to the women at the center of it all. I loved it!"--Amy Tintera, New York Times bestselling author of Listen for the Lie

"Book clubs, behold your next great read. The Midnight Show is all the things: a brilliantly researched deep dive into the world of New York City comedy in the 1980s, a meticulously plotted mystery, and a big-hearted ode to complicated friendships in all their messy glory. Readers of Taylor Jenkins Reid will fall hard for this groundbreakingly original, utterly immersive story, with its cast of characters who feel impossibly real. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll immediately want to talk about it with everyone you know. At times comedic, at times tragic, but always unflinchingly human. A spellbinding, wildly imaginative book."--Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, USA Today bestselling author of Till Death Do Us Part and The Girls Are All So Nice Here

About the Author

Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne are the co-authors of the novels The Antiquity Affair, The Starlets, My Fair Frauds, and The Midnight Show. Independently, Kelly is the author of the acclaimed speculative fiction novels City of Savages, A Criminal Magic, and With Regrets. Thorne is the USA Today bestselling author of Diavola, Lute, and the forthcoming Newbourne Park, as well as several books for younger readers.