Sarah always wanted to work in the movie industry and she gets a foot in the door with a job in. film production agency.
They soon realise she is very hard working and also great with scripts- fast forward a few years and she is assistant producer, helping with production with a movie in LA. Everyone sing her praise and say she has a bright future. So how come that 10 years later she is no longer part of the industry and working as a teacher?
When a journalist from The Times get in touch, Sarah is ready to spill all the sordid secret of the movie industry.


A bit of a slow burner, but fascinating read about what goes on behind the scenes in the glamour world of the film industry and talks about metoo
3.8 stars

Written from the view of a female film producer of Asian origin starting out in the industry ten years before the #Metoo movement, this is a great story which carefully considers the horrors that were kept hidden.

The guilt the main character feels for protecting her own career weaves throughout the book but as a reader it’s easy to see how she was expected to behave.

I really enjoy Winnie M Li’s writing and look forward to more of her books.

Thanks to Netgalley for the copy in return for a review.

Slow burn of a novel - this is built around a multi faceted character Sarah. This #metoo storyline is well handled and timely and I enjoyed the strong feminist power throughout. Well written, with well defined characters. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. The book addresses the issue of sexual predators in the film industry via testimony given to prominent journalist. Whilst the MC of Sarah Lai is interesting the telling of her story fails to reach the parts thqt excite and involve this reader. The book is listed as a mystery thriller but its failure to excite is mainly due to the fact that there is no mystery to the way the narrative is going fails to reach a level at where the reader's thrill factor would be elevated. It has a very high rating her on GR. I have tried to pull out the thing that attracts these other readers and warranst such acclaim but I am afraid for me it is, in fact, a hugely predictable storyline which has been stretched to fill the 400 odd pages that it fills. Much of its action is just unnecessary to the underlying narrative.

I feel my rating is quite generous but I did keep on going until the end ehich, in itself, merits more than a single star

A timely book about Me Too and how women who want sought after media positions are often propositioned and left in uncomfortable situations by powerful men, An interesting and eye-opening read, not always the most relaxing of books but not everything needs to be a comfort blanket!

I am enjoying that there are more novels at the moment that either directly address or have stories influenced by the #MeToo movement. Women's voices are no longer silenced (although there is still such a way to go for equality) and it feels both timely and empowering to read books with this theme right now.

Complicit is set around the film industry. We meet Sarah, now a teacher, she previously worked in the film industry and witnessed some of the unethical behaviours that took place. Asked by a journalist to tell her story, we find out what happened through this mechanic and flashbacks. It's her exploration of exactly how complicit she was to the behaviours around her. It was also very insightful into the workings of the film industry.

While the pace was slow in places and the ending not what I was expecting, this was overall a powerful read.

So much potential but somewhat underwhelming. It felt it could dig deeper into the structural and systemic issues (sex, gender, race).

Wow. What can I say a real page-turner this was a book I could not put down it was brilliant, and mesmerizing for all those who like an edge-of-your-seat book this is for you I wish I could give it more than five stars'd like to give it 10. it has been really great reading and reviewing this book thank you NetGalley and id like to thank the author for such a brilliant book.

This timely novel drew me in and had me hooked from the start. Sarah Lai, our protagonist is now a lecturer on film studies in a community college, however ten years ago she had a glittering career in film production. What happened and is Sarah somehow to blame for the descent of her shooting star?

Told through flashbacks and interspersed with interviews to Thom Gallagher, an eminent interview for the NYT, this story is a great read.

Wow how of our times is this book. It brought me right into the heart of a world that seems so attractive and exclusive from outside. I am sure it is accurate in its portrayal of an industry that influences us deeply. Loved it thanks

Thank you to NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and Winnie M Li for this advanced copy!

2022 is definitely a year of great books! Complicit is another must read in my eyes. Here, we see Li address the MeToo movement but from the perspective of a female film producer being interviewed for an investigative article. It was such an interesting, unputdownable book!

For dealing with an uncomfortable topic, this book was a very easy read for me! The writing flowed from chapter to chapter making for a seamless narrative. I really liked the layout for this novel. Having the main character recalling her past and experiences in the film industry and by having transcripts of other interviews/conversations created little breaks in the main story, as well as giving other insightful perspectives.

Another thing I found very interesting is that most of these perspectives are from women. We see actresses, assistants, casting agents and producers all asked about what they saw, or what they believe could have taken place. We also get to see the real world of film making. It may not be the main point of the book but I found it really interesting to read about the entire process of filmmaking, as well as how there are so many badass women in this field thay are rarely talked about/acknowledged.

And, not only that, but how one starts out and has to work themselves to the bone to progress, to make a name for oneself. It's brutal and that's without dodging unwanted advances, brushing off a seemingly innocent but unwanted touch, laughing or smiling at a comment that gives you chills.

Honestly, this is a book thay should be on all TBR and if Li releases any other books, I shall be picking them up at once!

* Please research any trigger warnings before reading *

Sarah Lai is a teacher at a college in New York. She spends her nights reading the film scripts of her students hoping to come across something interesting. Because Sarah used to work in the film industry herself - she was an assistant produce ten years ago and had helped Xander polish the script that bought him to the attention of Hollywood and British investor Hugo North.

Sarah is harbouring a dark secret - a dark secret about what happened to her and the other young women that were around 10 years ago, a secret that she now shares with Thom Gallagher, journalist for the New York Times.

A novel about the #MeToo movement and how the film industry has played a huge part in allowing powerful and wealthy men to manipulate women to get what they want.

I am sorry to say that I didn't really like the book. I found the narrative very slow and boring and there was so much of it I wanted to skip forward because it felt like unnecessary filler. I just couldn't get interested in the character of Sarah - it was irritating how she kept referring to the part of New York her family were from what felt like every other sentence. I just found the whole thing quite superficial and not my thing at all. Others will love it, but it wasn't for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just a brilliant and timely insight into the film industry and the nuances of sexual assault, harassment and the levels of complicity within a business which ultimately exists because of and revolves around money. This is both sensitively handled and brutal at the same time and I know I will be thinking about it for a while

What a strong and powerful book. Its the first I've read by Ms Li and I can't recommend it enough. In an era of #metoo it perfectly encompasses the struggles of women in a make dominated film industry where money talks and men think they can take what they want freely without being brought to task for it. This book is especially emotive given the personal experiences of the author. This book is just superb.

I would struggle to be able to review this book due to issues with the file/download. The issues stopped the flow of the book. The issues are:
- Missing words in the middle of sentences
- Stop/start sentences on different lines
- No clear definition of chapters.
- No spaces between words

Not sure if it was a file/download issue but there were lots of gaps, stop/starts which really ruined the flow. I would love the chance to read a better version as the description of the book appeals to me.

Offering insight into the inner workings of the film industry and tackling the idea that bystanders who do not call out the incredibly sexist, inappropriate and often completely unacceptable behaviour of the powerful players in this world are contributing to the continued exploitation of women in the industry, Complicit is an interesting, if slow paced, realistic fiction read. I will admit that the incredibly detailed flash backs were sometimes tedious to get through and didn’t particularly add to my investment in our protagonist and I was grateful for all of the interview transcript asides which are dotted through the book as they pushed the plot along and added depth to the story. Overall this is an enjoyable, highly topical read that gets you thinking about how you might behave if you were to witness inappropriate behaviour yourself.
Thank you to Netgalley.co.uk and Orion Publishing Group for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read an ARC of Complicit on Netgalley in exchange of an honest review. This book talks about the film industry in a realistic way. It is certainly a timely novel as there has been many scandals lately, many actresses and people working in the industry coming forward and telling their stories.
A huge part of this novel reads like an interview between the main character and a journalist. It makes the book seem more personal as the main character tells her story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I was thoroughly gripped by the story of this book. Told mostly in flashback as Sarah recounts her story to a journalist, Li explores one of the unspoken areas of the #MeToo movement so far - the women who, whether maliciously or not, allowed sexual harrassment and violence to continue in Hollywood for such a long time. Li discusses this sensitively and with compassion, but doesn't excuse the behaviour and forces us all to think about whether we could do better ourselves. A compelling and timely read.

This is book that is so topical with all the news stories about the dark side of the entertainment industry and the #MeToo movement. The topic of this book is dark and extremely disturbing in places but is one of the most compelling novels of 2022 I couldn't put it down despite the difficult theme. Winnie M Li faultlessly describes the situation the MC is in to a point where your screaming about red flags constantly, The way she switches between the before and after timeline it makes you see what's coming before its revealed in the after sections. This book is hard hitting but a MUST READ. #NETGALLEY #COMPLICIT

Complicit had so much potential but ended up feeling very lacklustre. A lot of the dialogue felt unnatural and stilted, Hugo North as a Brit wasn’t convincing and there wasn’t a climax to the story.

The first half really dragged, felt quite repetitive and it took a long time for me to be truly interested and engaged with the plot. Once it had finally been established that it was a take on the metoo movement my interest had waned and it’s a shame that Complicit didn’t add anything particularly interesting to the topic.