Maestra (Hilton)

Book Reviews
Maestra features a feisty, morally complex and sharp heroine who may appeal to fans of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.
New York Times


An unpredictable London auction house assistant turned high-class escort slips effortlessly into the world of the glamorous and wealthy, crossing international borders and leaving destruction in her wake (5 Killer Books for 2016).
Wall Street Journal,


Maestra will be one of this year’s most talked-about novels…Judith may well be [a] more interesting character [than Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley].... Will Judith’s dreams come true, or will her crimes catch up with her? We won’t know right away. At least two more of her adventures remain...more mayhem, more art—and certainly more sex—lie ahead for insatiable Judith and for all those consenting adults who will delight in her endless ups and downs.
Washington Post


What makes a woman who’ll do anything to get what she wants so threatening...and thrilling?... It’s Judith’s modes of retaliation that make her a radical heroine. She deploys a uniquely female arsenal...weaponizing femininity.... It’s hard not to feel vicariously empowered by a woman unapologetically in pursuit. Let’s call her the Sheryl Sandberg of sociopaths, leaning in to the hilt.
Oprah Magazine
 

[J]ubilantly mordant.... Already optioned for the big screen by Amy Pascal, [Maestra is] the story of a twenty-first-century femme fatale as lethal as Tom Ripley and as seductive as [Lauren] Bacall.
Vogue


As readable as any crime thriller, but also clearly belongs in the literary tradition of Moll Flanders and Vanity Fair.
Sunday Times (UK)


Meet Judith, an art-house assistant who'll make you root for the bad girl once you really get to know her.
Marie Claire


The name Judith Rashleigh will be on everyone's lips, just like Amy Dunne (Gone Girl) and Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) were in summers past.... Thank the book gods that L.S. Hilton's Maestra is only the first installment in a series.
Redbook


You're going to want to hurry up and read this R-rated psychological thriller before it hits the big screen—it's already been optioned by Columbia Pictures. Think 50 Shades of Grey meets The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Allure.com


(Starred review.) [D]deliciously Highsmithian thriller, the first of a trilogy.... As Judith assumes and sheds identities...during a twisty series of increasingly treacherous escapades (several X-rated), Hilton artfully conjures a glossy world where just about everything—and everyone—has its price.
Publishers Weekly


Judith is a female Tom Ripley (Patricia Highsmith's con artist protagonist)—doing all she can to survive and further her entree into the upper echelon of society. Verdict: The first of a planned trilogy, Hilton's debut is not for the faint of heart as Judith's exploits—from sex parties to murders—are described graphically.... [A] scandalous, thrilling tour through Europe and the art world. —Lynnanne Pearson, Skokie P.L., IL
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Delicious....at once glamorous, edgy, decadent (like rich but somewhat bitter dark chocolate), erotic, and irresistible. Judith Rashleigh is just full of surprises. She is ruthless and, yet...vulnerable.... [M.aestra] is a gift for readers who delight in vengeful female protagonists. The detailed sex scenes will also appeal to fans of the Fifty Shades series.
Booklist


Hilton's novel about a woman with exotic sexual appetites, and a penchant for murdering those who cross her, mixes blood and sex the way a bartender slaps together martinis.... Billed as erotic suspense, this is not a book for suspense fans; it's more a portrait of a sociopathic woman with a voracious appetite for sexual adventure.
Kirkus Reviews