New Comedic Thriller, Exposed, Highlights Newspaper Industry’s Perennial Homophobia

On The Table Read, “the best book magazine in the UK“, Exposed, a stand-alone prequel to the best-selling debut novel by Paul Ilett, is about a serial killer who kills people who work for the right-wing tabloid, The Daily Ear.

Exposed

Paul Ilett’s Exposed is the riveting and eagerly anticipated sequel to his first novel, Exposé. However, it works perfectly as a stand-alone narrative as well, delighting all Exposé fans.

A serial killer is shocking the town by immersing readers in the shady world of right-wing tabloid journalism as three newspaper employees are murdered each day. Dreading she is next on a serial killer’s hit list, the Daily Ear writer Valerie Puncture takes matters into her own hands, and enlists the assistance of her arch nemesis, gay TV actor Adam Jaymes, determined to put an end to the murders and save her own skin.

The flawed and antagonistic relationship between journalist Valerie Pierce and gay TV actor Adam Jaymes is a standout aspect of this story, skillfully bringing them together as the protagonist duo that will save the day.

Exposed not only flies the flag for LGBT literature but also positions ex-reporter and online journalist Paul Illet as one of the most exciting contemporary writers of the last few years. It is character-driven (including an actress who died years before playing a key role), darkly comedic, and highlights the very significant issue of how the media intrudes on the lives of celebrities and politicians.

Synopsis Of Exposed

A serial killer is targeting people connected with scandalous right-wing tabloid, the Daily Ear, and journalist Valerie Pierce fears she is next. When no one will believe her, not even the police, she sets out to catch the killer herself. But her plan involves teaming up with a man she considers her personal nemesis – gay TV actor Adam Jaymes.

“She could not shake a terrible feeling of dread, a feeling that out there, somewhere, in the streets of London, someone was watching her. And planning to kill her.”

Valerie Pierce is reinventing herself. After more than thirty years as an outspoken columnist for a scandalous right-wing tabloid, the Daily Ear, she wants to renew her personal brand and be seen as a more moderate and thoughtful commentator. She knows she hurt many people over the course of her career, and likely destroyed many lives. But her own private life suffered too, and she is attempting to rebuild her relationships with her estranged daughter and ex-husband.

Only people are dying. People Valerie used to work with. Every three days, at 9pm, someone connected with the Daily Ear is found dead. Valerie can see the pattern, and senses a serial killer is at work. But when no one will believe her, not even the police, she turns to the one person who has the knowledge and resources to help. However, it is someone with a lifetime of grudges against Valerie: gay television actor Adam Jaymes.

Paul Illet

“This novel is set in 2016 – the year of Brexit, and the presidential election won by Donald Trump. I saw a frightening lurch to the right in the media at that time – in terms of the way certain topics (e.g., immigration, LGBTQ+ rights) were written about and the language that was used. That lurch to the right is reflected in Exposed, particularly through the introduction of a new character, weekly columnist Lucy Strickland.

“The book has a gay man (Adam Jaymes) in a heroic role, as one of the two principal characters. It also has Valerie Pierce, a 57-year-old Conservative supporter as the other lead character. So not the usual leads for a murder mystery story about a serial killer.”

Exposed is the sequel to Paul Ilett’s 2014 surprise hit Exposé, a darkly comical thriller that became a bestseller across multiple genres including thrillers and gay fiction. Exposé sold more than 35,000 copies around the world and won four and five star reviews in national publications including attitude magazine and The Sun newspaper.Even though it is a sequel, Exposed is a self-contained story and so readers do not have to read Exposé to enjoy Exposed.

Paul Ilett spent more than a decade working as a reporter across a range of different media organisations including newspapers, radio stations and TV news. He continues to write as a freelance journalist with articles published in the likes of The Guardian, Attitude, Press Gazette and Readers’ Digest.

In the late nineties he worked for the BBC’s news website and became one of the corporation’s first online journalists. It was there that his interest in online media began, particularly how the rapid growth of social media (such as Twitter and Facebook) eroded the power of the traditional press.

A keen advocate of LGBT rights, Paul’s writing also focuses on homophobia within the newspaper industry. Paul is 52 and lives in England with his husband. The two have been foster carers since 2006.

Find Exposed now:

Published by Publishing Push, Exposed is available in hardcover (£20.86), paperback (£7.61) and Kindle format (£1.89 or free via Kindle Unlimited) on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3SIozjQ / https://amzn.to/3EdAsdC and https://amzn.to/3C7ikze

It is also available at Apple Books, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble and other good book retailers

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