Shooters [Hardcover]

Terrill Lankford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1997

A thriller set in the fast-paced world of the City of Angels reveals the twisted truths that lie behind the twin worlds of high fashion and pornography, using high-caliber fashion photographer Nick Gardner as the catalyst. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Fashion photographer Nick Gardner may uncover a lot of models, but he's keeping a dark secret under wraps. Set in glitzy L.A., written by a veteran screenwriter/ producer/director, and optioned by Tristar, this is the perfect Hollywood novel.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Nick Gardner is a hotshot L.A. fashion photographer who's living the high life, driving a black Lamborghini and dating a string of gorgeous models. He has so carefully crafted his hipster image that no one would suspect he used to be a shooter on hard-core pornography films. After attending a sleazy party chockablock with burned-out rock stars and has-been actors, Nick hooks up with a free-basing beauty. Then her mangled body appears in a Dumpster outside his home, and he's arrested for murder. To escape the frame-up, Nick must revisit the old haunts of his porn-film days. The tough-guy patter here never quite works, often seeming more corny than atmospheric, but Lankford's L.A. is suitably down and dirty, perpetually engulfed in a haze of smoke as brushfires rage out of control. Flawed but with enough good bits to please genre fans. Joanne Wilkinson

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312862725
• ISBN-13: 978-0312862725
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,852,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars straight shooting dialogue, March 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Shooters (Paperback)

this was a great, easy read. i am a big fan of murder/mystery books, but find that many of them are just to complicated to follow. characters get jumbled up and you spend half your time sayng ok now who's this guy again and what's he got to do with the story. Shooters is a fast paced, gritty novel with a seemingly unfeeling main character born without a heart. However, Lankford has created a multi-dimensional leading man that is not often found in this genre. this is perfect summer beach reading, when all you're looking for is a few hours of enjoyable reading. I'm looking forward to more from this new author.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unjustly Neglected--One of the Best Thrillers of the 90s, August 9, 2000

By 

Lev Raphael - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shooters (Paperback)

Remember Faye Dunaway in "The Eyes of Laura Mars"? In Shooters, Nick Gardner's the same kind of fashion photographer, producing cool, edgy, erotic work that's steeped in violence and threat.

Arrogant, talented, promiscuous, Nick is the kind of guy who'd "rather have sex with a complete stranger than kiss a friend with meaning." He's at the top of his game, pulling in big bucks from advertisers, never going out with the same woman two nights in a row, showing off on the road in his black Lamborghini. Then the violence in his work turns real, plucking him out of his lush but empty lifestyle.

The nightmare starts at a party when he ditches the woman he came with and picks up Candice, a fantasy-gorgeous blond. Something about Candice warns him to stay away, but he's intoxicated by her technicolor charms and ignores his intuition. After a drug- swamped night of ominously kinky sex, Candice ends up dead in his dumpster.

Her death raises the specter of Nick's ugly past as a pornographer, convincing the police even more of his guilt. Nick of course sets off to find out who set him up and why, but the search leads to an amazing and unexpected climax.

Violent, gritty, cynical, and provocative, Shooters takes you on a wild ride through seamy, narcissistic LA where the threatening pall of smoke from fires in the hills hangs over everything.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a Hollywood script!!, February 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Shooters (Hardcover)

OK I must admit, sometimes a book can be judged by its cover.In the case of 'Shooters' I fell for its shiny glare of a cover.Fortunately,it did not take long for pages to turn as the plot was gripping to say the least.Sure some moments in the book were seemingly far fetched and glossy a la Tinseltown.But hey, it IS Hollywood and the author warns you about the crazy twist of events that lies ahead.Bear in mind Lankford is a producer/writer in Hollywood,it's also obvious in his writing style.Quick, witty, with just enough suspense to reel you in but not so intense that you get confused or lose interest altogether. 'Shooters' is a good read.I found it amusing and yes, I was rivetted:WHO WANTS TO SET NICK UP?? As the plot thickened and the characters grew shallower, I was reminded of '8mm'(starring Nicholas Cage) with the snuff movies and all..I generally don't read books from this genre, but I'm already on the prowl for Lankford's other book. You've got to be pretty good to turn me into a suspense/thriller believer, or perhaps I am just easily amused!