Lights Out [Paperback]

Jason Starr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2007

Ryan Rossetti and Jake Thomas were the two Major League-bound rivals on their high school baseball team, heading straight into history as the first two of Canarsie's favorite sons to make it out and make it big. Until Ryan hurt his pitching arm and landed a ten-dollar-an-hour life as a house painter. Lucky Jake made it all the way, and he and his ten-million-dollar signing bonus are heading back for a publicity-motivated homecoming weekend that has all of Brooklyn waiting to explode in celebration.
 
But he's got a nasty surprise in store: Ryan is involved in an intense, addictive relationship with Jake's fiancée Christina, who now faces a choice between love in a Brooklyn tenement or a heartless marriage on Easy Street. Lights Out is vintage Jason Starr, a razor-sharp crime novel that brilliantly combines biting social satire, explosive suspense, and honest, revealing human drama.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this strangely fascinating riff off classic noir, baseball slugger Jake Thomas gets a hero's welcome on a quick trip home to Canarsie. With millions in endorsements on the line, he's anxious to announce a wedding date with his high school sweetheart, Christina, hoping to counteract a statutory rape claim that's about to go public. But his fiancée has been seeing former pitcher Ryan Rossetti, who blew out his arm and now works a dead-end job as a house painter. Insanely jealous of the "J.T. fever" sweeping the hood, the self-involved Ryan is determined to keep Christina for himself. Starr (Twisted City) is a master at portraying Brooklyn as a dark corner of hell (and even gives genre fans a taste of one of the sexual obsessions of past noir master David Goodis), but J.T and Ryan prove almost too unpleasant to take. When the ex-con Saiquan comes into play, riding along for some payback on a gang shooting, the plot jumps into overdrive and heads mercilessly for Starr's always bleak finish line. Author tour. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In high school, Jake Thomas and Ryan Rossetti were two of Brooklyn's most promising baseball players. Jake's natural talent carried him to fame and fortune, and Ryan's love of the curveball led him to elbow surgery and a $10-per-hour job as a painter. The one thing Ryan has that Jake doesn't is the love of Jake's fiancee, Christina--and J. T. is coming home to plan the wedding. Starr's characters, who inhabit unglamorous Canarsie, are capital-L Losers, and it's fun to watch their dimwitted decision making (J. T. thinks that announcing his wedding date will balance the bad PR of a statutory rape charge). They scheme and strive, exerting a remarkable amount of energy to end up, well, pretty much where they were. With his feel for the streets and his diverse cast of characters, this slice of the confused life reads a bit like George Pelecanos or Richard Price without the philosophical heft. Starr sometimes seems like he is coasting, but in his seventh book, he puts it in gear to give us a wickedly entertaining ride down a dead-end street. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031235973X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312359737
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #865,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JASON STARR is the international bestselling author of many novels, including THE PACK which is out in hardcover and e-book from Berkley/Ace on June 7, 2011. Starr's other novels are COLD CALLER, NOTHING PERSONAL, FAKE I.D., HARD FEELINGS, TOUGH LUCK, TWISTED CITY, LIGHTS OUT, THE FOLLOWER and PANIC ATTACK. He has won the Anthony Award and the Barry Award and his books are published in more than a dozen languages. He has also co-written three novels with Ken Bruen--BUST, SLIDE, and THE MAX--and edited BLOODLINES, an anthology of horse racing stories for Vintage Books. He lives in Manhattan and is currently writing the sequel to THE PACK.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars grand slam thriller, September 10, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lights Out (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Ryan Rossetti and Jake Thomas made Canarsie High School's baseball team nationally ranked; they were both sure shot major leaguers. Jake reached the big leagues where he stars for the Pirates having just completed an all star season hitting 351. However, Ryan saw his pitching career snap to a sudden halt when he tore a ligament. Whereas Jake is making the big bucks in Pittsburgh, Ryan paints houses back home in Brooklyn for less than a living wage.

Now the superstar is coming back to Canarsie to celebrate his great success and to change his image from an out of control hedonist to a caring give something back to the community person. His agent warns Jake to behave because he will most likely face a statutory-rape arrest that could end his chances of obtaining the big endorsements. Thus Jake returns to Brooklyn as a hero, but also to ask his high school sweetheart, Christina Mercado, whose surname he cannot remember, to marry him. Christina realizes she is candy to sweeten Jake's image and is seeing Ryan. At the same time the triangle plays out in New York City, other locals have grudges with one another that will violently disrupt Jake's triumphant return to the place where his glory started.

From the start readers anticipate tempers overflowing as jealousy, anger, and resentment explode and not just with the baseball players. The story line is action-packed from the moment that readers understand the paths taken by the two former Canarsie superstars and never slows down until the final violent walk off homer. Readers who appreciate a powerfully character driven urban noir will enjoy the aptly named Jason Starr's grand slam thriller.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gobbled It Up!, January 4, 2007

By 

Vicki Hendricks (Hollywood, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lights Out (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Being a woman who has no interest in competitive sports, I thought I might have less enthusiasm for this Starr novel that centers around a baseball figure, but that is not the case. I ate it like candy. The twisted personalities and dark humor pull you in tight, and the world of the sports star is gripping. My addiction for Starr novels continues.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good story!, October 21, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lights Out (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) (Hardcover)

On one horrible, messy Brooklyn weekend, the lives of Ryan Rosetti and his old high school buddy Jake Thomas intersect with tragic consequences.

Ryan and Jake were rivals on the high school baseball team. Ryan hurt his arm and became a house painter, and Jake went on to play in the major leagues. He is returning home to celebrate getting a ten million dollar signing bonus.

Jake's life is one of orgies, drugs, limos, lawyers, agents and PR people. He is courting his old high school sweetheart, Christina, to plant press stories about an upcoming marriage to quell bad publicity about a threatened statutory rape charge.

Ryan has always loved Christina, and tries to make her see reason--but all she can see is a life in Brooklyn or an easy life for her and her father, although one without love. Her father tells her she can divorce Jake in a few years, with a good settlement. Their lives intersect with some gangster thugs, and shootings, thefts, lies and police investigations follow.

A very dark novel filled with characters caught up in the struggle to survive. They are all trying to make it at different levels: the gangsters, the families in Brooklyn and the wealthy, self-centered sports celebrity.

Armchair Interviews says: A good story of intersecting lives.