The Anatomy of Desire

December 1, 2020

Formatted as a true-crime docuseries, this reimagining of Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy features Cleo Ray, an up-from-nothing Hollywood fitness coach and social media influencer who paddles off on a canoeing trip with a young woman later found dead. Was it an accident or murder, and where's Cleo? From film director/writer/producer Matt Dorff and Emmy Award winner Suzanne Dunne, writing pseudonymously; with a 150,000-copy first printing.

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Starred review from March 29, 2021
Centered on the world of social media influencers, the pseudonymous Dorn’s remarkable debut takes the form of a true crime docuseries. Cleo Ray, who’s bisexual and has risen from a humble background to become a successful fitness coach and social media influencer, and her lesbian girlfriend, Beck Alden, row their rented canoe to a secluded cove on Serene Lake near Bishop, Calif. The canoe is later found overturned, with Beck’s bruised body floating nearby. Cleo flees to the town of Mammoth Lakes to rendezvous with her YouTube star boyfriend for a camping trip, never mentioning Beck or the canoe incident. Before long, the sheriff investigating the drowning finds and arrests Cleo. Cleo’s uncle, the owner of a talent management agency, hires a high-powered L.A. defense attorney to represent her. The riveting trial, during which Cleo constantly changes her story, comes down to circumstantial evidence. The prosecutor even brings the canoe into the courtroom to reenact the crime. With no witnesses to the murder, readers will breathlessly await the verdict. Dorn, the pen name of husband-and-wife team Matt Dorff and Suzanne Dunn, is definitely a writer to watch.

May 1, 2021
Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, based on a celebrated 1906 murder case and trial, has given rise to many adaptations, with the latest being this contemporary mystery in which, once again, two people rent a canoe, one is bludgeoned to death, and the other returns to shore. This time, two women rent the canoe--one, Cleo Ray, is a fitness coach, social influencer, and rising media star; the other's relationship to Cleo is unknown. Dorn, a pseudonym for Matt Dorff, a TV writer, producer, and director, and Suzanne Dunn, a screenplay writer, follow the story from canoe rental through trial in a seven-part docuseries format. In podcast style, the mystery gives us a range of voices and perspectives, from the boathouse attendants on, held together by the narrator. The advantage of this format is its great immediacy. However, since the book is written as a script, it lacks the depth of a novel and can't provide the ambient sounds of a podcast or the visuals of a docuseries. Still, this will be intriguing for podcast fans.

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