Book Review: Superhero

A-list actor Peter Compton and producing partner Marci Levy exist in the rarefied air of Hollywood’s elite. Their status as a married power couple is unmatched, their presence in any room transformative and god-like. But as their private jet lands in Atlanta to begin production on a tentpole superhero movie, even their privileged position will come under threat by the massive pressures of such an undertaking.

Compton, a self-educated recovering addict, sees the role of Sparta comics superhero Major Machina as the opportunity to transcend his already stratospheric platform. As director Joel Slavkin, Oscar-winning DP Javier Benavidez, and a crew of hundreds arrive in Atlanta to begin shooting, it doesn’t take long for the production to be embroiled in the tension and egos that drive the film. But when video of Peter’s disastrous on-set behavior goes viral, Peter and Marci’s partnership will be challenged as it never has before. As the stakes grow ever higher, it may just take a superhero to save them.

Superhero by Tim Blake Nelson will be published December 5, 2025. Unnamed Press provided an early galley for review.

Nelson has a long career (over 35 years) in TV and film, including a couple super-hero flicks. So, this story for his second novel is written from a place he knows. He has spent a lot of time around a Hollywood set and all the various people who work there. No doubt, he knows from whence he draws his inspiration and references.

The challenge, for me, is that this novel is very dialogue heavy. Pages will go on with back and forth between two characters (often with no reminding dialogue tags or character actions to help remind us who is who). In one scene several page scene, one character describes to another the inner workings of a film camera. While this certainly works for a script where what the characters are saying often carries the action, it loses me when I am reading it in a book. I need lots of descriptions (setting, body language, etc.) to break up the talky-talky. Otherwise, I start to zone out. That happened several times in the first quarter of the book alone.

Still, I stuck with the book for two reasons: 1) to see how things played out for these flawed characters and 2) for the thinly-veiled commentary on Marvel Studios. Nelson covers the ground in both of these areas, along with quite a bit of inside references to the whole film making business. I have to admit that the story took some turns I was not expecting in the final act.

In the end, I feel this one will do well with the right audience.