- Paperback: 250 pages
- Publisher: No Exit Press; New edition edition (Feb 16 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1901982998
- ISBN-13: 978-1901982992
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
With his debut novel, Cold Caller, Jason Starr emerged on the mystery scene as heir to the bleakly cynical Jim Thompson (The Grifters) and James M. Cain (Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice). His follow-up effort, Nothing Personal, confirms Starr's position at the cutting edge of the revival of classic American noir, tracing in sharp relief lives of extinguished opportunity and of petty troubles that accumulate, somehow, into major crimes.
Thus it is that hapless Joey DePino, saddled with an incurable gambler's optimism--but even worse gambler's luck--finds himself threatened with the deadly wrath of irate and unpaid bookies. What to do? Drift into an inept plan to kidnap Jessica Sussman, that's what. Joey's wife Maureen and Jessica's mother Leslie were childhood friends, and Joey has endured enough anemic evenings at the Sussman's Upper East Side apartment in New York to feel entitled to a little ransom retribution. Too bad for him that David Sussman, Jessica's father, is currently trying to end an affair with a psychopathic coworker. Hell hath no fury, as everybody knows, and the result is a tangled mess of motive, mistaken identity, and murder. The lives of the Sussmans and the DePinos--so different on their (respectively) gilt-edged and tattered surfaces--form parallel strands intertwining and accelerating toward a dark nadir.
As a genre, noir is an acquired taste: be warned that Starr tends to forsake character development and verisimilitude for an irony outlined in exceedingly broad strokes. You may find yourself getting heartily sick of both the Sussmans and the DePinos--but take comfort in the fact that Starr himself has an equally low opinion of his characters, and is only too ready to offer them up, in the finale, as grist for a bitingly sharp dinner-party mill. --Kelly Flynn --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Noir devotee Starr's jet-black [...] thriller has attitude to spare. Too bad it doesn't have wit and style to match: his all-too-familiar venture into James M. Cain territory is populated by a cast of paper-thin, exceedingly unpleasant characters, all of whom quickly outstay their welcome. [...] In the hands of a master of tongue-in-cheek edge, like Elmore Leonard, or an expert practitioner of the down-and-dirty melodrama, like Donald Westlake's alter ego Richard Stark, [the premise of this book] could provide the foundation for a sharp, caustically funny sendup of marriage, adultery and obsessive behavior. Unfortunately, Starr's approach is much more run-of-the-mill. His dialogue is flat and listless, lacking the necessary staccato, noirish bite; his plotting is mundane and his observations ("Maureen's insecurity was something Leslie could always count on. No matter how bad things got in Leslie's life, Maureen was always a step lower") are uninspired to the point of banality. Although it moves along smoothly and just manages to retain the reader's interest throughout, Starr's novel proves to be a decidedly low-wattage thriller. Film rights to Spice Factory. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Stupid people, behaving stupidly,
By
This review is from: Nothing Personal (Paperback)
Starr's Nothing Personal is a pure crime novel, plain and simple. Less noir and more documentary, it describes the lives of two families, the DePinos and the Sussmans. Joey DePino is a working stiff with a major league gambling problem and a violent loanshark after him. His wife, Melissa, is disenchanted with her life, especially as she sees friends like Leslie Sussman get ahead. Leslie is married to David, an ad exec, and living in a ritzy Upper East Side apartment.But David's life isn't all peaches and cream. A beautiful Asian co-worker, with whom he's had an affair, has turned psychopathic. As Joey struggles to pay off his debts and David grapples with an insane mistress, things go south in a hurry. And, typical of Starr's work, lives are lost in the process. This is Starr's second book and, while not as cleverly plotted as Cold Caller, you'll get diabolical pleasure out of watching some stupid people do irrevocably stupid things. It's realistic, compelling stuff and Starr is a consistently entertaining author.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A one night read for late night male New Yorkers,
By
This review is from: Nothing Personal (Paperback)
Straightforward one night read, probably, say, maybe definitely male oriented(understatement), but really entertaining and a surprise find. Read it over a year ago, but since I've read follow up books wanted to plug this one as the best of his work.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A funny thing,
By LGwriter "SharpWitGuy" (Astoria, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Nothing Personal (Paperback)
Start reading this and pretty soon, you won't be able to stop. It'll definitely start kicking in. Starr's characters in their desperate situations will start gnawing at you and before you know it, you'll be snagged but good. The characters in here have everyday problems and they take drastic measures to try getting out of them. This is noir, and it is great noir.There are two guys with desperate situations. Number one: what am I gonna do about my 10-years-younger-than-me mistress who's threatening to blab to my wife unless I tell the mistress I love her? And the other guy--what am I gonna do about the nine grand Yeah, this is the real stuff. Check it out.
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