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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blood Chilling, June 13, 2009
This review is from: Fake I.D. (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
I don't know that much about crime author Jason Starr, but I'm confident he's turned over rocks at midnight in dark alleys most people wouldn't go at high noon. Starr has a real knack for getting into the twisted and brutal psyche of fringe dwellers, like the one he introduces in his latest novel, FAKE I. D.
Tommy Russo is a sometime actor, a full-time bartender, and a gambling addict that never met a losing horse he wouldn't bet on. Or anything else that would lose for that matter. Starr presents this character almost sympathetically in the beginning, showing that maybe he's just had some bad breaks, and probably he has.
But the novel picks up right as those fissures in the character become gaping chasms and boost Russo to the point of no return. Despite his faults, everyone seems to like Russo, and I believed it. I've met guys like Russo who are likeable yet deeply flawed. Starr manages to show both sides of his character, and his first-person voice detailing Russo's thought processes and rationales for what he's doing is fantastic.
While I turned the pages, Russo was a living, breathing person for me. I hung out with him at the track, felt his frustrations at the commercial audition, and got to know everyone at O'Reilly's bar where he worked. But even as I got to know him, I became afraid for him and of what he was going to do.
Starr really puts the pressure on his character and piles up bad luck as well as bad choices till it all hits the fan. The last half of the book is tightly written and keeps the reader on his toes, like watching a car wreck happen in slow motion.
The dialogue is great, and Starr demonstrates that he has a fantastic ear for listening to other people speak. So many of the characters in the book that surround Russo are defined by their conversations with him and how they treat him. The relationships, especially the one with bar owner Frank O'Reilly, are especially well done. Guys like Tommy Russo attract the crowd he runs with, and no one is safe.
The plot hangs together well, and there is a lot of side action taking place on the table as well. It's Russo's temptation to own 20 percent of a racehorse that really spurs the story on to the finish line. As everything falls apart around him, he becomes convinced that owning that horse will change his luck and his life.
The book is spare and lean, and the story is actually a small one, but Starr throws it at his readers like a vicious left hook that will leave the audience reeling, turning pages late into the night.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Shockingly good, May 22, 2009
This review is from: Fake I.D. (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
I didn't have any expectations going into this month's Hard Case Crime release, since I'd never heard of Jason Starr before. What I've been missing!
"Fake I.D." begins innocuously. Tommy Russo is a part-time actor & building superintendent, small-time gambler, and full-time bouncer, living & working on the Upper East Side while looking for his Big Break. One December morning, while sitting in a parked car, Tommy is approached by a casual gambling acquaintance and is invited to buy a piece of a racehorse for $10,000. Tommy gets other big breaks that same week -- he lands an audition for a TV commercial that might finally get him national exposure, and he meets a string of pretty girls who frequent his bar. But first he just needs $10,000. What could possibly go wrong?
Having the surname Russo, for one thing. This is the second Hard Case novel in a row, following last month's Casino Moon (Hard Case Crime) with a main character named "Russo" trying to make the big-time by buying into the sporting world. Compare the two Russos and see which one fares better.
It's hard to think of a character in modern crime fiction who's started in a decent (though far from lofty) place and fallen so far so quickly. The only other comparison I can come up with, and this is a big one, is William H. Macy's character in the Coen Brothers' Fargo (Special Edition). Both men seem to be lacking even the tiniest shred of morality, and manage to squander every advantage that they're given, however modest. Of course, Tommy probably has more fun along the way, and by the end of the lightning-fast 251 pages, much like Jerry Lundegaard before him, still doesn't seem to realize what's gone wrong.
"Fake I.D." is a blast to read. Told in Tommy's unreliable first-person voice, Starr doesn't resort to many literary tricks to get his point across -- Mr. Russo is certainly no Humbert Humbert -- but clearly this is a work of great sophistication. You will want to take an extra long hot shower when you're done, though.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fake I.D., August 4, 2009
This review is from: Fake I.D. (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
Tommy Russo is a 32-year-old bouncer at a bar on the Upper East Side of Manhattan who, "after over 13 years of trying to make it as an actor and not getting anywhere," is offered a chance to buy into a syndicate intent on purchasing a racehorse. Since he is also a degenerate gambler, what could be better? The only obstacle: He doesn't even have enough money to by his next meal, much less the requisite $10,000. What he does to achieve his goal [he has consistently shot himself in the foot in all endeavors to this point] is whatever he thinks it will take, to a shocking degree.
In complete denial in general in his life, he thinks of "when I was at the bar, checking IDs, or at auditions with all those phony pretentious wannabes, I felt out of place," failing to see himself in those around him, and completely oblivious to how pathetic he is. The reader is presented with a classic scenario of schadenfreude.
From the first line, the book's dialogue is so pitch perfect I would think I was on the streets of New York City [if I was not already a resident thereof of course]. But that was only the first thing that got me hooked in this terrific newly published novel by Jason Starr - the characters - each one more desperate than the last, and the plot - fast-moving and skillfully woven, kept the pages turning. Thoroughly entertaining, and recommended.
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