A hilarious, glittering, pop-noir thriller about a rising musician and her new BFF, the secretly psychotic popstar who brought her on tour

Gretchen McMurphy was playing bingo halls and dive bars until a fitness influencer used her breakup anthem to help followers get a better booty, and now she's landed her dream gig-opening for iconic pop star Fae Deeds.

Suddenly Gretchen has things she's not used to having: a sizeable income, screaming fans, bottled water preferences, and a friend who understands the pressures of the music industry, the daily battle of being a woman in the public eye, and what it feels like to have every man you've ever loved hurt you.

Fae really gets it. Fae knows. Fae has developed her own tools for dealing with these issues-and it's not good coping skills or proper meditation. It's much, much sharper than that. And pretty soon Gretchen must decide what (and who) she's willing to sacrifice for fame.

Razor-sharp and riotously funny, The First Cut is the Deepest by Mindy McGinnis is a deliciously unhinged thrill ride down the music industry's darkest alleys.

Mindy McGinnis is the author of several books for young adults, including the Edgar Award-winning novel A Madness So Discreet as well as The Female of the Species and Heroine, both of which were in the American Library Association's Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults. The First Cut Is the Deepest is her first novel for adults. A ninth-generation farmer and former school librarian, Mindy lives Ohio.