Stardust: A Novel [Hardcover]

Joseph Kanon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2009

THE ACCLAIMED, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF
THE GOOD GERMAN AND LOS ALAMOS RETURNS
WITH HIS MOST ABSORBING AND ACCOMPLISHED
NOVEL YET -- A MESMERIZING TALE OF HOLLYWOOD,
POSTWAR POLITICAL INTRIGUE, AND ONE MAN'S
DETERMINATION TO LEARN THE TRUTH
ABOUT HIS BROTHER'S DEATH.

Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier has just arrived from wartorn Europe to find that his brother, Daniel, has died in mysterious circumstances. Why would a man with a beautiful wife, a successful career in the movies, and a heroic past choose to kill himself?

Determined to uncover the truth, Ben enters the maze of the studio system and the uneasy world beneath the glossy shine of the movie business. For this is the moment when politics and the dream factories are beginning to collide as Communist witch hunts render the biggest stars and star makers vulnerable. Even here, where the devastation of Europe seems no more real than a painted movie set, the war casts long and dangerous shadows. When Ben learns troubling facts about his own family's past, he is caught in the middle of a web of deception that shakes his moral foundation to its core.

Rich with atmosphere and period detail, Stardust flawlessly blends fact and fiction into a haunting thriller evoking both the glory days of the movies and the emergence of a dark strain of American political life. It brilliantly proves why Joseph Kanon has been hailed as the "heir apparent to Graham Greene" (The Boston Globe).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. James Ellroy fans will find a lot to like in this gritty look at post-WWII Hollywood from Edgar-winner Kanon (Los Alamos). Ben Collier, recently returned to the U.S. from service in the Signal Corps in Europe, travels to California after his sister-in-law, Liesl, informs him that his director brother, Danny, has suffered a serious fall from a hotel window. Was it an accident or a suicide attempt? Ben arrives in time to witness his brother briefly emerge from a coma, but soon afterward Danny dies. While Liesl believes the suicide theory, Ben suspects someone pushed Danny out the window and turns amateur detective to identify the culprit. In a noirish twist, the widowed Liesl comes on to Ben. The stakes rise after Ben learns Danny was playing a part in an anticommunist crusade a congressman is launching against the film industry. Kanon perfectly balances action and introspection, while smoothly integrating such real-life figures as actress Paulette Goddard into the plot. (Sept.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine

Stardust could very easily have fallen victim to the cliches that plague lesser noir fiction (picture busty dames, gruff detectives, and smoky bars). Fortunately, critics thoroughly enjoyed Kanon's expert recreation of midcentury Los Angeles and were particularly entertained by the cameo appearances made by Hollywood notables. Although the Washington Post noted a "lack of dimension" surrounding protagonist Ben Collier, other critics praised the complexity of Kanon's secondary characters. Overall, reviewers hailed Stardust as a terrific read as well as an intelligent and engaging historical mystery.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 143915614X
• ISBN-13: 978-1439156148
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #750,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joseph Kanon is the author of four other novels, Los Alamos, The Good German, The Prodigal Spy and Alibi. Before becoming a full-time writer, he was a book publishing executive. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Times Were Better Back Then, or Were They?, June 15, 2010

By 

Tracy Oshima (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stardust: A Novel (Hardcover)

It's 1945, the war is over, but Ben Collier is still in the Army. He's been charged with making a documentary about the concentration camps, because people should see it, they should know, they should remember. However, he has to find a studio to make it. As fate would have it he meets Sol Lasner, head of Continental Studios on the train going west. Lasner has a heart attack, Ben saves his life and earns his undying gratitude, because he helped Lasner keep his heart problem a secret.

Lasner agrees to make the documentary and installs Ben in an office on the studio lot. But Ben has more on his plate than just making a documentary for the Army, no matter how important. His brother Danny took a swan dive off the balcony of the Cherokee Arms and is in a coma. Ben visits, Danny comes to, says, "Don't leave me," but Ben does for a second and when he comes back, Danny is dead.

Ben refuses to believe his brother committed suicide. The studio hushes it up, makes everybody believe it was an accident, but Ben believes it's murder. Of course Ben is right. Ben has an affair with his brother's wife, meets a girl who survived the camps, learns more about his brother than he wanted to know and he gets a killer on his trail. Add to this a publicity seeking congressman who could easily be Joe McCarthy in disguise, with a movie industry in his sights and maybe Ben too and you have quite a story.

Joseph Kanon Won me over with Los Alamos, kept me in his camp with The Prodigal Spy & Alibi, after this I am a devoted fan (well I guess I really already was). I just wish he would write faster. Though he played around with history, made a hero where none existed, he also made a book that will take you back to a time when Hollywood was young, a time when things were better, or were they? And he made a book that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lacking in fizz -- just a little bit too flat to be compelling and engaging, September 21, 2009

By 

Peter G. Keen "rabidreader" (virginia usa) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stardust: A Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I have little to say about this book, pro or con. Many Amazon reviewers found it exciting and powerful. For me, it was flat and lethargic. The story is convoluted, unnecessarily so, and takes too long to unfold and gather momentum. It's very heavy on dialog, which usually adds pace and immediacy but here lacks any vibrancy and variety. I had to push myself to stay with the plot and felt that the dialog and limited sense of characterization distanced me from it; it was labored and demanded labor from me to keep my attention focused.
It's well done but without any fizz. I can see that it will appeal to readers who enjoy getting into the flow of a story and are interested in its background themes of post-World War II Hollywood and the film making community. The red-baiting, union busting of the time that created the McCarthy period is well presented and at times evocative. It's definitely not a thriller or mystery story within the genre conception of the form. The solving of the murder of the hero's brother that is assumed to be suicide is not in and of itself central to the plot. It is not a Who dunnit? story so much as a Why dunnit?
The book has its virtues and is certainly well-crafted. My comments here are just a personal reaction that despite these merits, it is dull. I can see why some reviews compare it with Le Carre, but while the tone and leisuredly unfolding are comparable, the writing lacks the little extra something that gives Le Carre's work so much texture and moral complexity. This is more a complicated than a complex novel. I enjoyed Kanon's earlier work - The Good German and Los Alamos in particular, so if you too liked them, then Stardust is probably worth buying. I would expect a number of readers coming newly to his work would be disappointed or apathetic about it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Richly atmospheric, November 15, 2009

By 

Jody (Northwest Ohio) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Stardust: A Novel (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

When Daniel Kohler is fatally injured in a fall in 1945, his brother Ben is just arriving in Hollywood to make a film for the Army documenting the death camps. This is a subject close to home as Ben served in Europe at the close of the war. As he investigates the circumstances surrounding Daniel's death and works on his movie, the two are related in ways he never imagined. Mr. Kanon deftly weaves a number of stories into the whole--a small group of ex-pat intellectuals under FBI scrutiny, a camp survivor transplanted to the home of a film mogul, the subterfuge required for alternative lifestyles, tabloid journalism, being Jewish in post WWII America and the studio star system.

This beautifully written book is sprinkled with real and fictional characters based on real ones and this world is skillfully evoked. As Ben navigates the maze of clues leading to the truth about his brother, his path is made murkier by complex relationships, loyalties and lies. Stardust is a literary thriller of the highest quality. Thought provoking and entertaining at the same time, it's a brilliant commentary on illusion and truth and what patriotism means.