The novel describes a typical "American Idol"-clone-tvshow from behind the curtains. An entertaining view, really. I bought it when I had to kill time in Amsterdam one day.

I especially noticed how exact a clone of "American Idol" the german "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" is. For instance, all the emotional scenes seem so planned out, they feel all just like in the book. And, the "heroes" in this novel, the self-centered and cynical jurors, are the same characters in each of those shows in real life: The smart boss with the cruel put-off line, the guy who has some experience in the showbiz (but noone remembers which) and of course a woman to hug the poor but cute losers.

I think that maybe more of this book is actually true than most viewers think, even the ines who tune in for fun, knowing that it's all "a little" artificial.It might very well be casted and planned from A to Z...

So much to the show system in this book and in reality. Concerning the characters Elton exaggerates a bit for the sake of the fun and that's ok. A nice read for lonely afternoons in Amsterdam cafes, really.