Twenty pages into There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood by bestselling Pasadena author Rasheed Newson, I had to stop reading ... It was writerly admiration — OK, envy — that stopped me ... A novel populated with a seamless mix of real and invented characters, each with their own true or fictional backstory, personality, career vicissitudes, sartorial style and sexual proclivities ... Imaginatively crafted, stunningly tense, historically significant.
An intensely involving read ... No sophomore slump here ... There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood is every bit as solid and thoughtful and moving as its predecessor.
An unflinching drama about queer Black history in the guise of a glittering, slow-burn mystery about a closeted actor in Hollywood’s golden age ... Though more saga than mystery, this ambitious novel takes big swings and mostly succeeds.
