Book review: ‘Stay Up With Hugo Best,’ by Erin Somers

Erin Somers’ compelling debut novel takes place over a brief period — the Memorial Day weekend following the final taping of a fictional long-running late night comedy show.

Books with this kind of pacing often invite reading in one fell swoop.

Still, I was surprised by just how much “Stay Up With Hugo Best” sucked me in for the ride as it chronicled a complicated #MeToo situation between a young comic and the older, David Letterman-like former boss she once idolized.

When Hugo Best invites June Bloom, a young writer on his now canceled show, to his house in Connecticut for the long weekend (“no funny business”), she says yes.

She’s pretty sure what she’s saying yes to, but how it all unfolds — there’s a pitying teen son, a bitter game of tennis and a visit to stand-up night at a townie bar that ends with them in the emergency room — is a story, celebrity and power that feels fresh and unpredictable.

I found the whole book to be funny and relevant but also sad — and over too soon.

Tribune News Service