Bolt Risk

Bolt Risk is a first novel by Ann Wood, about a young woman who becomes involved in the sex and entertainment industries in Los Angeles.The book was released in 2005 by Leapfrog Press.

The short novel tells the tale of a "good" girl, sick of the pretense of her exclusive New England College, who becomes an assistant to a B-list Hollywood actress. Fleeing the boredom of the tinsel town fringe, she lands a job as a stripper and begins a harrowing journey through the underworld of Los Angeles dive bars, phone sex factories, groupies and drug motels.

The author has also written a screenplay for the book's movie adaptation, being produced by Michael Mailer Films.

Reviews
Publishers Weekly wrrote that "Wood's debut features plenty of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll Welcomed as voyeurs, readers are given an insider's look into the subculture created by the smart and talented who arrive in L.A. with big dreams and wind up with big addictions. speaks to aliened teenagers, world-weary hipsters and cynical survivors of all types." The review criticized the author's "sometimes awkward prose."

The Washington Post called the book, "As bracing as a shot of rotgut whiskey, the brutal, unflinching prose is a tonic for the chick-lit weary." Tom Gogola, reviewing the book in the New Haven Advocate, wrote, that "it kills chick lit dead" as a "literate, visceral, foul-mouthed bildungsroman".

According to a review in Booklist, "The narrator's profound detachment quickly wears thin, and some hints at the narrator's inner life (flashbacks to her abusive father, for example) feel disjointed and purposeful. Still, some readers may be attracted by the vicarious, soft-porn tour through L.A. nightlife," and the book has "sparks of authenticity."

Kirkus Reviews praised the book for its "hypnotically spare", "bracingly frank" and at times "admirably sharp" prose as well as the "controlled, deliberately jagged" and "frenetic" pace of the narrative, but said the "stylized smartness" of the narrator sometimes gets intrusive.

"Bolt Risk reads like a memoir, but without the reflection", wrote Brian Leingang in a review at NewPages.com. He also praised the book for its fast pacing, with "the intensity, brevity and depth of a rock song. It’s gritty, blunt and fun.
The goal of Ann Wood’s novel is to tell a cool story It’s a story that will pull you in, chew you up and spit you out, leaving you feeling used and degraded, but grateful for the experience."

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