Hey Nathan, Jeff, Kerry, Mark, and thanks so much for the
amazing, thoughtful comments on THE FOLLOWER. Love the
comparisons to Highsmith, Wolfe, Ellis etc., that's great to
hear!...Nathan, you're right, I think I am expanding my
approach in this book, and it was certainly my intention to
have a different type of character at the center of the story
than I've had in my previous books. I wanted it to be just as
twisted as my previous stuff, but with more morality at the
center...Kerry, the comment about the cops in the book is
dead- on, exactly what I was going for, and has given me a
lot to think about..Jeff, I agree, I think there is a big
difference in a book like THE FOLLOWER (which takes place
most on the Upper East Side), as compared to a couple of my
earlier books (I think the one you're referencing is Fake
ID). But I don't think I've been going up the social strata
from book to book. Actually, I think my last book LIGHTS OUT
was the grittiest one I've written, with all the gang/street
stuff in it. And I'm definitely sticking to my gritty roots
in the books with Ken (Bust and the sequel Slide, which is
out from HCC in Oct). If you want grit, check out Slide. In
that book I think we push the envelope just about as far as
it can be pushed! Thank you again for the comments! Bill,
that's great news about the Derringer. Loved that story. Well
deserved and big congrats! Lastly, if anyone on RA is going
to be at Book Expo, please come to the Hard Case Crime party
at the Dorchester booth on Saturday June 2 at 11:00. Charles
Ardai will be there with me, and they're giving away ARC's,
limited edition cover art, T-shirts, etc and, best of all,
Hard Case cover models will be there!! Would be great to see
you Cheers, Jason
And congrats
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Nathan Cain"
<IndieCrime@...> wrote:
>
> The Follower reminded me of Bret Easton Ellis' work,
but without a
lot of
> the pretension. Starr's work has been moving more
and more toward
having a
> mass appeal. He has specialized in writing about
shallow, callow,
selfish
> characters, and he's done it well, very well, in
fact. For all her
> cluelessness, I think Katie Porter is his most
sympathetic
character ever,
> and I think this novel has the most commercial
appeal of anything
he's
> written. If it does turn out to be a big success, it
will
certaintly be well
> deserved one.
>
>
> >
> > Very well put. The Tom Wolfe analogy is apt and
I've mentioned
here
> > previously. It certainly was true of his last
two books--Twisted
City and
> > Lights Out. Twisted City seemed like Jason
imitating Wolfe and
eventually
> > getting so good at it that Lights Out seemed
like Jason Starr
imitating
> > Tom
> > Wolfe imitating Jason Starr. Like he was
alternating teaming up
with Wolfe
> >
> > as well as Bruen.
> >
> > Aside from the obvious similarities to Bonfire
of the Vanities,
there is
> > another striking parallel to Wolfe in that, as
Jason becomes more
> > successful, he writes characters that are
further and further up
the
> > social
> > strata with each novel. It was like Wolfe
writing from the
perspective of
> > Leonard Berstein's high-rise apartment. I miss
the grittiness of
Jason's
> > early novels--the bars . . . the
racetrack.
> >
> > Jason, feel free to jump in here and defend
yourself.
> >
> > Jeff
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
removed]
>
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