<b>With the cunning of <i>Gone Girl</i>'s Amy Dunne, and as dangerous as <i>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</i>'s Lisbeth Salander, the femme fatale of this <i>Talented Mr. Ripley</i>-esque psychological thriller is sexy, smart, and very, very bad in all the best ways.</b><br> <br>By day, Judith Rashleigh is a put-upon assistant at a prestigious London art house.<br> By night, she's a hostess at one of the capital's notorious champagne bars, although her work there pales against her activities on nights off.<br> <br> <b>TO GET WHAT SHE WANTS</b><br><br> Desperate to make something of herself, Judith knows she has to play the game. She's transformed her accent and taught herself about wine and the correct use of a dessert fork, not to mention the art of discretion. She's learned to be a good girl. But when Judith is fired for uncovering a dark secret at the heart of the art world - and her honest efforts at a better life are destroyed - she turns to a long-neglected friend. A friend who kept her chin up and back straight through every slight: Rage.<br><br> <b>SHE WILL CROSS EVERY LINE</b><br><br> Feeling reckless, she accompanies one of the champagne bar's biggest clients to the French Riviera, only to find herself alone again after a fatal accident. Tired of striving and the slow crawl to the top, Judith has a realization: If you need to turn yourself into someone else, loneliness is a good place to start. And she's been lonely a long time.<br><br><i>Maestra </i>is a glamorous, ferocious thriller and the beginning of a razor-sharp trilogy that introduces the darkly irresistible Judith Rashleigh, a femme fatale for the ages whose vulnerability and ruthlessness will keep you guessing until the last page.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>
