Streetsmart [Paperback]

Nicholas Coleridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

Saskia Thomson is the most glamorous, successful, talked-about magazine editor in the world. Her creation, STREETSMART, is on a roll, building a circulation that exceeds even VANITY FAIR or VOGUE, with its combination of celebrity gossip, glossy fashion and serious investigative journalism. Then Saskia is found dead. Her brother Max is left holding the babies - STREETSMART and Saskia's nine-year-old hyperactive son Cody. As a war photographer, neither of these duties are ones he feels particularly qualified to fulfil. But before long Max finds himself fighting to save the magazine. The predators are closing in - and Max soon discovers that Guerrilla warfare in Eritrea is nothing compared to this ...

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At once an international whodunit and a glimpse into the glitzy high-end fashion magazine industry, this glossy novel by Cond? Nast U.K. executive Coleridge (With Friends Like These) offers murder, sex, advertising conspiracies and one six-page chapter devoted almost entirely to cologne. After attending a star-studded Park Avenue soir?e, Saskia Thompson, "the most famous magazine editor in the world," is found dead in her Manhattan apartment. Saskia was not only StreetSmart's editor, but also its founder and president, and both the New York and London offices of the magazine are paralyzed by the news of her murder. In blunders Saskia's distant older brother Max, a rough-hewn photojournalist just back from Afghanistan, who is apparently named in Saskia's will as custodian of the magazine until her illegitimate young son, Cody, is old enough to take control. Meanwhile, three sharks are circling for ownership of StreetSmart: ?tienne Bercuse, head of a luxury-goods business conglomerate; predatory Caryl Fargo, head of StreetSmart's main competitor, Town Talk; and Freddie Saidi, a shady Lebanese financier reputed to be an arms dealer. Desperate to find his sister's killer and keep her magazine alive, MaxAwith a little help from Saskia's lawyer, a sexpot junior staffer and some beer-swilling photographer comradesAprovides content for the magazine, squares off with his competitors and investigates Saskia's death. Readers will enjoy Coleridge's depiction of magazine workplaces, as well as the white-collar ferocity of Max's foes. But there is a certain amount of condescension inherent in the author's descriptions of the well-meaning but bumbling Max and his brave but obviously lower-class combat colleagues. Still, for all of StreetSmart's satire of the fashion world, it is the novel's soap opera-ish glamour that will keep readers turning the pages to the bravado finale. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

The tony world of high-gloss international fashion magazines is the setting for this wonderfully trashy if slogging thriller by Condé Nast UK director Coleridge (With Friends Like These, 1997, etc.).When Saskia Thompson, editor and publisher of the hot, hip lifestyle magazine StreetSmart, is found dead in her posh New York apartment, few believe she's committed suicide. It's up to her brother, Max, an erstwhile photojournalist who scarcely knew her, to sort things out and keep the magazine afloat. Though Max would be more comfortable dodging bullets in Rwanda or Chechnya, he soon learns that the world of international publishing is not all that dissimilar. He quickly makes allies (Kitty Marr, the beautiful and sexy fashion assistant who was with Saskia the night she died; Philip Landau, Saskia's polished attorney) and enemies (the conniving deputy editor at the London office, Bob Troup, whom Max summarily dismisses; and Racinda Blick, the fashion editor who throws a hissy fit over her poor seating at the Milan show). Saskia was murdered, of course, and it could been have one of her “boy toys.” In addition to all the hunks she dated for the tabloids, such as Kiefer Sutherland and Leonardo DiCaprio, Saskia made frequent use of the escort services, not to mention her employees. Max can’t figure out if she was murdered by the mysterious, unknown father of her neglected son, Cody, or by one of her many jealous rivals who are now trying to buy StreetSmart. His chief suspect is Freddie Saidi, an oily, cruel former arms-dealer who also had a thing for the deceased. Etienne Bercuse, head of an international luxury goods empire, is another possibility. Could these competitors also be behind the attempts to sabotage StreetSmart’s latest issue, the one with the exclusive cover photo of Madonna and her new beau?Overlong and overplotted, but not without its moments of high entertainment. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co; New Ed edition (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0752825976
• ISBN-13: 978-0752825977
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,521,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Whodunit, April 19, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Street Smart : A Thriller (Hardcover)

The book seemed to barely scratch the surface of character description, although the behind-the-scenes activities of the glamourous life were greatly elaborated upon to make up for this. If the ending had somehow tied up the ends a little nicer and not put Max back at square one, I think I wouldve liked it better. The ending just seemed bittersweet and stuck with nowhere else to go. Furthermore, greater description about Saskia growing up might have made it easier to see why she developed so differently from Max. Its an easy read and predictable, but is still enjoyable.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Well Written Mystery; Insider's View Of TheFashion Mileu, April 3, 2003

By 

Joseph L Burke - See all my reviews

This review is from: Street Smart : A Thriller (Hardcover)

I would have given this book 5 stars except for the ending, which I found disapointing. Yes, the novel's mystery is solved but the hero ends up where he started. That is not my idea of the ending this book deserved. The look into the world of a major fashion magazine was terrific. Good characters and a plot that kept me guessing. The author writes very well. If only the ending showed some progress or some promise for the main character! Glad I read it, anyway.

1.0 out of 5 stars Street Smart, July 19, 2001

By 

DONIVEE BARZOLOSKI (BERKELEY, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Street Smart : A Thriller (Hardcover)

I wasn't at all impressed. The writing style is shallow with poorly developed characters. The main character's sister dies as an apparent suicide which everyone who knew her can't understand and he never calls the police who are invetigating the case to question them. Even when he learns she was strangled he barely reacts and doesn't take an interest in the investigation. Incident after incident occurs to which any normal person of average intelligence would react. He and his new main squeeze just stroll through the story barely paying attention as their world comes apart around them. The only reason I finished the book instead of quitting in the middle was curiosity as to weather the author ever got these two to do something! It sure was a fast read because all I had to do was skim the pages. The writing wasn't interesting enough to bother reading every word. I sure am glad I didn't waste my money buying this book ( I checked it out of the library)