Last Night at the Viper Room

<p>In <em>Last Night at the Viper Room</em> acclaimed author and journalist Gavin Edwards vividly recounts the life and tragic death of acclaimed actor River Phoenix--a teen idol on the fast track to Hollywood royalty who died of a drug overdose in front of West Hollywood's storied club the Viper Room at the age of 23.</p><p><em>Last Night at the Viper Room</em> explores the young star's life including his childhood in Venezuela growing up under the aegis of the cultish Children of God. Putting him at the center of a new generation of leading men emerging in the early 1990s-- including Johnny Depp Keanu Reeves Brad Pitt Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio--Gavin Edwards traces the Academy Award nominee's meteoric rise couches him in an examination of the 1990s and illuminates his lasting legacy on Hollywood and popular culture itself.</p>