BookLife Review: There's No Coming Back from This, a Novel, by Ann Garvin

Hollywood, movie wardrobe department, single mom, embezzlement, theft

Looking for a light, quick read about a mature woman on an adventure? There’s No Coming Back from This, by Ann Garvin, may be just the ticket. Poppy Lively, a jauntily named single mom from Wisconsin, has been leveled by embezzlement. Her small business’ bookkeeper absconded with the funds and she is faced with what appear to be insurmountable tax debts and fines. Poppy is facing the forced sale of her home and has yet to tell her 18 year-old daughter that her college nursing plans may go up in smoke, or in taxes. A fluke encounter with an old flame at the airport who has become a Hollywood producer presents an opportunity for a lucrative job on a Hollywood movie set.

Poppy hits the road in her aged minivan, teaching herself about Hollywood and costuming by listening to podcasts on the road. She arrives at the studio under the mistaken impression that there will be housing for the crew and stows away overnight in a changing room. Labeled a “must-hire” and initially ignored and disrespected by crew, Poppy’s multi-tasking skills and positive, mature approach to hard work impresses her boss. She survives some hazing and continues to hide out overnight on set. In time, a theft scheme involving the studio’s valuable classic costumes emerges and Poppy becomes an unwitting suspect due to her association with the producer. Poppy is assigned to an aging actor with a thorny reputation who befriends her.

The mess gets messier before it gets resolved and despite the book’s tone that suggests an inevitable happy ending, the “how” part of the caper is not revealed until late enough in the game that the reader holds on and hangs in there to ascertain whether justice, and proper comeuppance, will be served.