The Spectators · A Novel

**A shocking crime triggers a media firestorm for a controversial talk show

host in this provocative novel--a story of redemption, a nostalgic portrait of

New York City, and a searing indictment of our culture of spectacle.**

Talk show host Matthew Miller has made his fame by shining a spotlight on the

most unlikely and bizarre secrets of society, exposing them on live television

in front of millions of gawking viewers. However, the man behind _The Mattie M

Show_ remains a mystery--both to his enormous audience and to those who work

alongside him every day. But when the high school students responsible for a

mass shooting are found to be devoted fans, Mattie is thrust into the glare of

public scrutiny, seen as the wry, detached herald of a culture going downhill

and going way too far. Soon, the secrets of Mattie's past as a brilliant young

politician in a crime-ridden New York City begin to push their way to the

surface.

In her most daring and multidimensional novel yet, Jennifer duBois vividly

portrays the heyday of gay liberation in the seventies and the grip of the

AIDS crisis in the eighties, alongside a backstage view of nineties television

in an age of moral panic. DuBois explores an enigmatic man's downfall through

the perspectives of two spectators--Cel, Mattie's skeptical publicist, and

Semi, the disillusioned lover from his past.

With wit, heart, and crackling intelligence, _The Spectators_ examines the

human capacity for reinvention--and forces us to ask ourselves what we choose

to look at, and why.