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Griffin Mill is back, and that's bad news for any Hollywood types in his way.
You remember Mill. He was the young movie mogul who murdered his way to the top in Michael Tolkin's book The Player, later made into the acclaimed Robert Altman film starring Tim Robbins.
More than a decade has passed since Mill's ascent, and he hasn't changed much as a Tinseltown exec: He's still heartless, self-absorbed and willing to sell his soul for a blockbuster.
Problem is, Return of the Player doesn't introduce much change, either. Like the original novel, Return aptly skewers an industry that claims to be about art but is as corporate-minded as Enron.
But that's nothing new to readers nowadays. Whereas the 1988 novel gave some tantalizing, if fictional, insights into the movie business, Return of the Player reads like a Hollywood sequel riding the coattails of its predecessor.
Mill has become a serious Hollywood power broker but feels as if he has hit the career brick wall. Box-office numbers are down, as is his bank account and sex life: He's impotent and allergic to Viagra. He's divorced, loathed by his kids and stuck with a disinterested second wife.
It looks hopeless until our hero concocts a plan to pull some strings at an elite L.A. private school to gain the attention of an entertainment magnate who could make Mill filthy rich. Of course, our hero must kill someone -- again -- to pursue his dream.
Tolkin nails much about Hollywood, particularly its desperation to look successful; one struggling filmmaker turns on a hair dryer when he's on the phone so he can sound as if he's on a chartered plane.
But this book needs something to distance itself from the original: namely, a likable hero.
Tolkin's detached style worked in the first book because it was such an eye-opening ride through the industry's back lots and movie sets.
Now, though, we need to sympathize with Mill. And it's hard to feel sorry for a guy who considers himself broke when he's down to his last $6 million, is despondent because he may not retire on his own Pacific atoll and sees killing as a business stratagem.
If you're a movie executive who has just claimed your second victim, you're not a murderer. You're a serial killer. Now that could be a blockbuster.
The Return of the Player
By Michael Tolkin
Grove, 240 pp., $24
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