The BlondeAnna Godbersen -

The Blonde Anna Godbersen Perseus/Weinstein, May 13 2014, $26.00 ISBN 9781602862227 In the outer rim of Los Angeles County, due to a lack of funds, Norma Jean’s mother and “aunt” took in boarders. One of them Perry warns pretty but shy Norma Jean not to trust men and that one day soon he promises to teach her to defend herself from brutes. Not long afterward, Perry not only shows her how to use a gun; behind the scene he turns Norma Jean into the star actress, Marilyn Monroe. A dozen years after he launched her career, Perry comes to collect. He asks her to gather information on Massachusetts Senator John Kennedy, a rising political star. To sweeten the pot, Perry says he will arrange for Monroe to meet her father. Monroe leaves New York for Chicago, where she meets Kennedy at a restaurant. They begin an affair as he runs for and wins the White House. However, his ascendency changes Monroe’s mission into destroying the JFK presidency with the tryst and much more ending in Dallas. Although the premise of MM Soviet sleeper agent seems over the top of the Hollywood sign as the execution fails to come across as plausible, readers will enjoy The Blonde due to Anna Godbersen capturing the Hollywood-DC complex and the portrayal of lonely Marilyn Monroe. The support cast is solid (in both locales) while The Blonde, pretending to be a naive moron to hide her true intelligence, keeps the entertaining storyline focused even as Camelot takes a super hit. Harriet Klausner