RARA-AVIS: The Follower

From: Jeff Vorzimmer ( jvorzimmer@austin.rr.com)
Date: 15 Jun 2007


Just finished Jason Starr's The Follower and I have to agree with everything that's been said here about it to date. It's definitely Jason's best novel so far and the most with potentially wide commercial appeal. I hope his publisher really gets behind this one and does a good job of marketing it.

It represents yet another shift in style for him. Mark nailed it perfectly when he said that Jason could well be the new Highsmith. The Follower is a Highsmith-style, psychological thriller, which reminded me not so much of Ripley, but of books such as This Sweet Sickness and Cry of the Owl.

Although it has a complex, alternating perspective, Jason pulls it off effortlessly and it's easy reading. A dramatic tension builds gradually throughout the story, starting almost from the first page. The two main characters are probably his most sympathetic characters ever, enough at least that you care what happens to them, especially in contrast to the rest of the characters.

Jeff



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