Customer Reviews

About The Author

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

With "About The Author," John Colapinto has taken the traditional tired old thriller and turned it on its head. In the current climate of cookie-cutter, mass-market, assembly-line novels, this one's a true original. It's been a while since I've been truly excited about the arrival of a new author.

In the book, Cal Cunningham, a struggling, impoverished wanna-be author in New York City is startled and seething with jealousy over the fact that his law student roommate has written a flawless novel of his own. When the roommate dies suddenly in a traffic accident, Cal decides to have the novel published as his own work. Fame and fortune ensue, but of course, we all know that it's going to come back to haunt him or else this wouldn't be much of a story. How the book progresses from this point I won't divulge (unlike some reviewers who insist on putting spoilers in every book and film review they post)-- it's a wild, fun, nail-biting ride, and I wouldn't dream of depriving a single reader of the pleasure.

Colapinto's characters are excellently written, particularly the character of Cal, who has a biting sense of humor and is a refreshing change of pace -- most thillers' narrators are supermen who are daring and unflinching in the face of danger...not Cal, who's a scheming coward but you can't help but love him anyway. The character who ends up threatening to expose him (I won't give that one away, either) is evil, conniving, greedy and impossible to ignore...you keep wondering what kind of fresh hell Cal will be put through next.

Funny, exciting, thrilling, and with the perfect ending, "About the Author" is the best book I've read in a long time. I can't wait to read more from John Colapinto.

When I heard about this book, I assumed it was another non-fiction book by Colapinto. The title alone is suggestive of a non-fiction work. Well, it certainly isn't in that genre. It's a psychological thriller of the very best kind...not a dark thriller but more of a light one. It's like a roller coaster ride -- a trip to hell and back. Colapinto has managed to take all of my favorite book elements and combine them in one story. I couldn't put it down trying to figure out just what would happen next.

The premise is great. Cal Cunningham is a struggling writer who has hopes of one day penning a great novel. It's no surprise that he hasn't been successful since, for the past two years, he hasn't written a thing...not one page. He thinks about it all the time, and imagines himself as a best-selling author, but hasn't been motivated yet to put that pen to page.

He spends his days at his job stacking books in a local bookstore. At nights, he spends his time carousing with loose women in tawdry bars. He shares a cramped NYC apartment with his roommate Stewart Church, a law school student. Stewart is such a bore and spends most of his time typing away on his laptop in the seclusion of his bedroom. When he comes up for air on the weekends, Cal regales him with stories of his ventures into the wild nightlife of New York. Stewart hangs on every word...and that's all I'm going to tell you. What happens next is unbelievable. One little event, one little decision made, one little lapse in judgment will put Cal on the ride of his life. Unfortunately, he might not be able to jump off when he wants to.

This is the story of how Cal Cunningham becomes a best-selling author. It's by far the page-turner of the year for me reminiscent of other favorite page-turners like Scott Smith's A Simple Plan and Douglas Kennedy's The Big Picture. I can't say enough about this book other than "READ IT." I found out something "about the author" John Colapinto - not only is he terrific but he's also found a new fan in this reader.

The cover blurbs and book reviews position Colapinto's first novel as a suspense thriller, but I hate to see it tossed into such an overcrowded, underachieving genre. Likewise, I think the critical comparisons to Hitchcock are only valid insofar as Colapinto's careful attention to character development make the protagonist's increasingly outrageous behavior believable. My primary impression of this book, in fact, is that it is a character study, more akin to books like "A Confederacy of Dunces," "Illywhacker," and "Tomcat In Love" than it would be to an Elmore Leonard or James Patterson "suspense thriller." And what a character Cal Cunningham is! At turns pathetic, sympathetic, despicable and delusional, I thoroughly enjoyed (and related to) his callous rationalization process as he basically steals another writer's work and muse -- and not just any other writer, but his dead roommate! When a woman from his past shows up with proof that he is not the author of the book that has propelled him to literary fame, and subsequently threatens to ruin him, his paranoia goes supernova, and in my opinion that is when this book really hits full stride. Although I thought that things concluded a little too tidily, the story is generally so cynical and the character so depraved that to me it was a comparatively small blemish on an otherwise brilliant book. I'm recommending it to everyone.

Despite having written nothing for several years, Cal Cunningham dreams of writing a novel that will help him hit the big time. But, on the day that he finally finds his inspiration, he discovers that not only does his roommate have literary ambitions of his own, he's already written a novel, a novel that is destined to top the bestseller lists. When a traffic accident proves fatal for his roommate, Cal decides to pass the novel off as his own. After all, it's practically his story anyway. What follows is a thrilling story packed with suspense.

This novel is the story of what happens to Cal Cunningham told in his own words. It's a funny, psychological thriller that was difficult to put down and I would recommend it to anyone whether a fan of the genre or just someone with a few aspirations of your own

Wow, talk about a weird book! But impossible to put down! Cal Cunningham is a novelist wannabe, sharing a cheap studio apartment in New York and working as a bookstore shipping clerk. He lives a wild, womanizing life and glibly retails all his sexual adventures to his roommate, Stewart -- but he's totally unable to put a single word on paper. Stewart, a Columbia law student, has a secret life: He's been writing his own novel, based on Cal's own life. And then, just as a horrified and enraged Cal discovers the manuscript, Stewart dies in an accident. Obviously, since the life lived in the manuscript belonged to Cal, the book itself must also belong to Cal. Right? Any struggling, self-doubting, would-be novelist will wince knowingly at Cal's pouring out of his soul in this supposed memoir of how he deals with the complications of stealing Stewart's work, and then his semi-girlfriend, and will sympathize with him more than one would probably care to admit. The pace is headlong, the characterization is very good, the plot twists are ingenious, and this story would make one hell of a movie!

The idea is simple. Cal Cunningham is a wannabe genius, dreaming of literary fame. He lives his lifestyle accordingly in a shabby Manhattan apartment, which he shares with the seemingly dull law student Stewart Church. It is Stewart however who turns out to be the brilliant writer that Cal aspires to be, as Cal finds out when Stewart hands him a short story of his to read. Worse even, Stewart tells him that he has secretly been working on a novel as well. One morning Cal goes into Stewart's room to read the manuscript. To his horror, he finds that he is reading an autobiographical account of his own life. The same day Stewart dies in a road accident. Cal decides to go to a publisher with Stewart's page turning novel, pretending he is the author. The novel, Almost Like Suicide, turns out to be a literary sensation, bringing Cal fame and fortune. Not only that, he finds loves with the woman that Stewart old girlfriend that he had written the novel for. Soon however, Cal finds out that someone knows about his secret, someone who is threatening to destroy his new life in paradise.

The idea of About The Author is perhaps not the most original in the world. Colapinto however makes the very most of this simple idea and manages to load it with a great amount of suspense, making it read like a thriller. Despite his artistic theft, we develop sympathy for Cal, whose life soon becomes a nightmare as he is desperately trying to keep his dream alive. The ending was much, much better than I had anticipated at three quarters through the book. Colapinto very cleverly manages to hype his own book (making bold predictions that might well come true), but not without sarcastically commenting on the nature of modern media hypes. It reminded me of the ending of Robert Altman's `The Player', leaving the audience with a bittersweet aftertaste. A very good book, which, I am sure, will find and please a large audience.

Journalist John Colapinto's first forray into the world of fiction writing proves that the old adage, "patience is an admirable virtue", has more than a slight ring of truth to it. Having spent over a decade fine-tuning his manuscript, Colapinto debuts with what I think is the best novel I've read in some time. The author takes what is an essentially simple plot premise and magically brings it to life with rich, complex characters, headlined by the protagonist and first person narrator, Cal Cunningham, timely plot twists, and poetic prose. Artfully weaving gripping suspense with deliciously wicked satire is no small task for even the most skilled writer. John Colapinto has pulled it off with the skill of a literary veteran. Do yourself a favor and indulge into About The Author. You won't be disappointed!

I wish I'd written this book, because it's fast-paced and clever and one of those good reads you're loath to put down. But unlike the seriously writer's-blocked protagonist of John Colapinto's About the Author, I don't have a manically productive and unexpectedly talented law student rooming with me. But what if I did? And what if said law student turned up dead one day? The author takes this simple premise (*God*, I wish I'd written this) and runs with it. A great read.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

This book was highly recommended to me and now I know why. What a book! What a story! What a talented and clever author!

Colapinto has written a thriller with a heart, and even some humor. This fast-paced book takes Cal from one disaster to another in rapid succession.

The reader enters the tawdry life of Cal Cunningham and wonders how this loser will ever make it. He says he is an author but he never writes. And when a windfall lands in his lap, he takes full and dishonest advantage of it, never anticipating the downward spiral into which he has now entered. He manages to fully justify what he has done and never foresees the possible consequences of his deception. And just when you think things cannot possibly get worse....they do!

This book was impossible to put down...I read it into the wee hours of the morning. I really admire Colapinto's clever approach to this story and the "slant" that he used.

This is a very good book. From the title, which has multiple meanings, to its skewering of pop culture, I have to say I liked it from beginning to end. Colapinto's writing is very descriptive and the word pictures readily pop into your head. (A movie has to be in the works.) But their is some grit to go along with the entertaining read and for my money that is often the best type of combination.