Read Online The Devil's Analyst by Dennis Frahmann - Free Book Online

bring along their good friend, Francesca Petroff. She was the restaurant reviewer for the Los Angeles Dispatch , known as much for her perky and feisty persona as her prose. That was the kind of talent Premios needed to foster. Premios users wanted more than the recommendations of fellow users; they demanded the acerbic approvals of authorities. Even if Francesca wasn’t yet a signed contributor to their editorial content, guests could be forgiven if they assumed otherwise. A party was like a house of cards, each person supporting another, building a buzz that made everyone think they were having a good time—whether they were or not. In the end, true feelings didn’t matter. Given the right elements, everything seemed important and therefore unforgettable.
    Danny just couldn’t master this calculus of promotion; it would be a miracle if he could even feign interest. Josh loved the guy, but he could never understand why Danny became so obsessive over minor things. Like their flap earlier in the week over Jesus Lopez. That would have been prevented if Orleans hadn’t tried to cover up Josh’s meeting with Jesus. Everyone knew that Danny didn’t like the professor, but Josh wanted Jesus at this party and at Premios. Jesus was like Francesca—another link in the chain of energy. Everyone understood how Jesus’s writing program could be a great way to identify early new writing talent. Investors wanted to see just that kind of edgy people associated with Premios. Even better, Jesus’s latest novel was being seriously shopped around Hollywood for a major picture deal. Jesus had clout and he could draw in more of the Hollywood crowd. After all, Premios wasn’t just an information site about restaurants and entertainment or a referral site for reservations and shopping. Josh was shaping it into the destination for those in the know.
    He needed this party to bring some of that buzz, and he was counting on Kenosha and her connections to do their magic. The game plan was simple: deliberately mingling different worlds, while engaging people that could generate gossip for the Internet crowd and the old-line press
    What Danny didn’t understand was that you didn’t need to worry about whether you liked your guests. Earlier in the evening Danny finally bothered to review the guest list, and he had a fit. Even though he knew it was a business event and had made his recent resolution to be more involved, he hadn’t bothered to prep to host the event. Danny was a Premios star too and Josh needed him to play his A-game tonight, but Josh’s prediction for this evening was that Danny would try to seclude himself in the kitchen with Wally, Stephen, Francesca and the catering staff. But he would lure them out if for no other reason than Jesus wanted to talk to Danny tonight.
    A new car arrived , and Josh smiled in satisfaction. It had happened—the arrival of a much-sought-after guest—Barbara Linsky, the star of his evening. Surprisingly, it was the promised presence of Francesca Petroff that had lured Linsky. Who would guess that a tired old tech guru like Linsky would be infatuated with food? It always paid to know those hidden hankerings.
    Linsky was a goddess to venture capitalists and the tech press. Ever since her advisory firm, Barbara Linsky, Incorporated, started the BLINK conferences four years ago, her star had risen higher and higher. Each September, her annual conference in Boston attracted nearly two thousand of the country’s most influential minds. Attendance was by invitation only, and few turned down the opportunity to attend (although their motivation might tilt more toward mingling with the influential guests than being inspired by thought-provoking lectures). People with an agenda would kill for an invitation to speak. And Barbara was here tonight, and he had all evening to work his magic.
    When his primary investor Colby Endicott heard about Linsky’s attendance, the man went crazy. Frankly, Josh found