At 03:26 PM 16/05/2007,
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net wrote:
>miker was recently lamenting that he had been having
a bad run of books.
>I've been having a particularly good on.
>
>The Follower by Jason Starr
>
>Starr could well be the new Highsmith. Not that I've
read that much
>Highsmith (Strangers and the first Ripley), but Starr
is very good at
>writing sociopaths (or is in psychopaths?). This one,
set among young,
>just post-college singles in NY (sometimes bordering
on the annoying,
>but that's more the characters than Starr's depiction
of them), revolves
>around one such sociopath tracking down and
insinuating himself into the
>life of a young woman he knew a long time ago,
clearing his path of all
>obstacles. Plays out with the inevitability of a car
crash watched in
>slow motion.
Yeah, I liked it too. Struck me as a combination of Manhattan
Manners
(Sex in the City) and New York Gothic (Bonfire of the
Vanities) deftly told with Jason's patented noir twist. We're
going to have to start calling it Starr Noir soon, he keeps
this up.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one annoyed by those young,
well-educated twits running about trying to figure out how to
behave, unable to decide what constituted date-rape, for
instance. Given their confusion it's no wonder the
socio/psychopath moved so fluidly through society. I wanted
to slap them and send them home before the adults came out to
play. But the adults, the cops really hadn't a clue and
couldn't care less they were so engrossed in their own,
high-school politics. There's real corruption. Hilarious, but
not much comfort to those who believe we survive because evil
people are fingered by stern-faced cops to receive their just
punishments from God. Still, in the end, somehow Starr's
civilization carries on, tra la.
Mark, did it strike you as it did me that the
socio/psychopath was as confused as his victims about right
and wrong, but so self-assured he was willing to act on his
own version?
Great stuff, Kerry
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