On the night before their high school graduation in 1950, three popular boys, Mack, Kleber, and T.J., venture out to a remote cabin to celebrate when they run across a girl that had been attacked and left by the side of the road. They bring the girl to the cabin where, instead of helping her, they end up raping her. During the rape, the girl dies. They leave her by the side of a swollen river and agree to never speak about that night again. As they go on with their lives, they become celebrities in the fields of writing, acting, and evangelical preaching, but that night at the cabin is never far from their thoughts.

Celebrity is an engrossing tale written in 1982 that takes place mostly in Texas during the turbulent period from 1950 through the 1970s. Frequent use of racial slurs is jarring, but the terminology does fit in the historical context of this period and geographical location. The book also works as a very detailed character study of the three men and the progression of their lives during this time in history, while the rest of the story chronicles a mystery that opens the book with one of the three men in the hospital in critical condition. The identity of the man or how he was injured isn't revealed until much later in the story. I didn't love this book, so I can't give it 5 stars or even 4 because it is such a long, overblown plot that beats every detail in the lives of the characters into the ground, but even with this criticism, I would rate it at 3.5 because it does tells a compelling story about these men and what drove them to be so successful while dangling the promise of the resolution to the mystery. Overall, Celebrity is a very long-reading book with just enough mystery to keep it interesting.

Trigger Warnings: Child and spousal abuse; suicide; rape; homophobia; racial slurs; mental health issues ( )

3 Princes TJ, Mack, Cantrell, Texas buddies tragic high school mishap followed them for yrs

They were princes... The royalty of their 1950 high school graduating class--three promising young men who were, without a doubt, most likely to succeed. And they did succed. In films, in journalism and in charismatic religion, they reached that dazzling, dangerous pinnacle called CELEBRITY...only to be haunted by memories of a dark night of violence and a shared secret guilt that could destroy them all.

This was a very interesting and intiquing book as was the Mini-series. ( )