Angel Dare is a former porn star and current adult talent manager who is tricked into one final scene by an old friend. Her scene partner, he says, is a newish male performer who has always been an Angel Dare fan.
Christa Faust’s “Money Shot” delivers more than pulp thrillers should and, as it was written using Porn Valley and its professionals as main characters, it is a compelling read.
Faust spent time as a fetish model and peep show booth worker, and her descriptions of adult industry personnel are spot-on, from the lingering insecurity of people who have nevertheless spent hundreds of hours naked on camera to the rare, rewarding, and/or fragile relationships they maintain.
“I wanted Angel to be at the top of her game; smart, savvy and satisfied with the career she created for herself,” Faust told me. “(I felt) it was important to create a female protagonist who was not simply a ‘victim’ of the adult film industry, as is so often the case in fiction and film. Far too often, women who feature in adult videos are viewed as having hit rock bottom.”
When Dare is nearly murdered, she seeks not only to change the fate of others on her attackers’ list but also vengeance, and her journey from complacence to ass-kickery is the story the book tells.
On the way, “Money Shot” visits familiar spots in the Valley, drops a few names for credibility, and explores the psyche of porn stars of a certain age.
“I have worked in the fetish end of the adult film industry for years, both behind and in front of the camera,” Faust said. “I spent a lot of time on sets, talking with, and more importantly listening to people in every aspect of the business from talent and shooters to editors and producers.”
“Money Shot” was published by the New York house Hard Case Crime. The cover is satisfyingly lurid. Faust also makes money by writing horror movie novelizations and serials, such as for the “Final Destination” and “Friday the 13th” movies.
As I read the book I couldn’t help but picture Tina Tyler as Angel Dare. Faust said she didn’t have anyone in mind.
Described as “The Thinking Man’s Porn Star” (“Some of my fans thought that was an insult,” Tyler said, “as if my appeal was limited to thinking people”), Tyler quit performing a few years ago and started directing. Unlike Dare, Tyler says she was never tempted to return to the other side of the camera.
“Even by the time I was done onscreen I was done,” she said.
Like Dare, however, Tyler is sadder-but-wiser and doesn’t mythologize the porn industry.
I asked her what form propositions from fans take lately.
“It was always uncomfortable,” Tyler said, “but it’s more so now, because I don’t see myself through those eyes anymore.”
Tyler is amazed by fans who recognize her even when she’s not wearing makeup.
“Those are the real fans,” she said, “who know more about me than I do. They want more from you in any given public moment than any other person and you have to be cordial with them and let them down in the same breath.”
I loaned “Money Shot” to Tyler and she read it in a few days. This photograph was taken at the Lamplighter Restaurant in Chatsworth, which Faust failed to mention, but then again the photo was staged.
“Some of the plot points shocked me,” Tyler said. “In a good way.”
Always going above and beyond, Tyler provided a written book report:
I was really looking forward to reading this novel and wasn’t disappointed in the least. The heroine Angel Dare’s journey from aging porn star to ass kicking survivor is riveting and impossible to put down. I was impressed with Ms. Faust’s knowledge of the adult industry as a whole and loved the 2257 info as a plot point.
Ms. Faust has a keen perception and must have talked to a few women in this business at length, as every female character rang true. The men on the other hand were rather one-dimensional and stereotypical. However, this just drives the point home that even strong women in this business suffer from lower esteem than your average woman and don’t feel they deserve true happiness with a man that will treat them right, preferring instead to follow their genitals into situations that their brain screams No to.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the opening of the book; it’s Angel’s pussy and insecurity over her (in her mind) fading looks that put her in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The men in this novel seemingly have no redeeming values, from the sadistic stud Jesse, to Malloy the former cop/bodyguard and all the men in between, they all betray our heroine in some real way. I don’t believe this was meant as a slam, but in any crime novel your bad guys need to be so bad that you root for your heroes that much more.
The reader needs to remember that this is fiction (with a few famous names and streets thrown in) and as fiction “Money Shot” really does its job well. I read it cover to cover in three days and wanted more when it was over.
“Money Shot” is the perfect marriage of two of my favortite things, the adult indiustry and brilliant crime fiction. Kudos to Ms. Faust for crafting a story that all women should read. It left me feeling empowered.
I mentioned that Dare is ultimately abandoned by the one person the reader isn’t expected to suspect, and seems to shrug it off.
“That kind of taking it in stride comes from a lifetime of betrayal.”
Previously: Tina Tyler refuses to stop being hot; At home with Lexington Steele; Area code impurity to destroy Valley, porn
See also: Christa Faust
ordered a copy looks great