Halley Sutton's "The Lady Upstairs" is set in Los Angeles. Its heroine, Jo, is a lost soul with a host of problems, including a habit of suppressing her inner demons with alcohol. When Jo is at a particularly low ebb, a gorgeous woman named Lou offers her a job that is lucrative but unsavory. Lou—who works for a boss known only as "the lady upstairs"—informs Jo that she makes a living hiring attractive females to seduce affluent men. Soon, Lou teaches Jo to select and indoctrinate additional recruits for their business. Robert Jackal, a colleague of the enterprising duo, takes photographs and videos of their victims in compromising positions. The extortionists subsequently demand hefty sums to keep the incriminating evidence secret.

This novel is a sordid and atmospheric look at the underbelly of L. A. The settings and situations are bleak and sleazy, and it is unpleasant to observe the ways in which Jo and Lou callously manipulate their naive employees. It is difficult to care about a pair of self-serving and amoral connivers who have so few redeeming features. The author wraps up her story with some surprising and distasteful developments. There are no winners in this cynical and grim tale in which everyone and everything is for sale.
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DNF. For me, awful characters and subject matter. ( )