Customer Reviews

Totally Killer: A Novel

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sex! Violence!! C'mon, who doesn't dig on that? At least in their pop-entertainment. Read this book on the recommendation of a friend & wasn't disappointed. Kept me up late racing to the finish line. Totally Killer is a fun and warped journey back in time - summer of 1991. I was just in high school back then, but this book evokes that era with smart, funny and spot-on commentary, stuffed with pop culture references and plenty of eerie parallels to 2009. Go out and buy this book today - make sure that you can boast of having the edition with the original cover (which is also like, totally killer) when the inevitable movie tie-in comes out with Scarlett Johansson sporting a denim mini skirt and .44 caliber on the front. And did I mention: Violence! Sex!!

This book is a really fun read. Sex, murder, conspiracies, black comedy, and New York in the early 1990s. Told from the perspective of today, the story straddles both eras really well - the two settings being the end of the two Bush eras make for a lot of interesting parallels. For those of us who remember what the world was like before internet, before the neo-tech era, it's a trip down memory lane with all the awkwardness of the time. For those readers who don't have that experience, the book captures just what the times were like. Olear has a gift for the analogy, and it's great to see someone present the world of the early 90s so well with a mixture of fondness and poison. I think it's the first book I've read that really presents the that era as it was. Except for the thriller element. Nothing in my life at that time was as exciting....

I'm an overeducated escapist reader. TK suits me perfectly, as it's a fun, smart book.

I read a LOT. I'm always looking for new stuff, and sadly, good stuff is hard to come by. Especially if you're looking for a thriller that's above the Grisham lowest-common-denominator style of writing.

Here's an exception.

GO brings a lovingly snarky eye to the 90s in a fast-paced, sexy thriller that makes for a hell of a read. I totally remember being a young professional in 90s NYC, and he's captured that time - and that desperation - and the East Village dailiness (RIP Dojo) - perfectly.

This is one of those books that's bound to have the movie rights snapped up for a summer thriller. Read it now so you can picture the characters on their own, and not how Hollywood will probably show them to you in a couple of years. The characters are memorable and deserve to be learned on their own terms first.

My only regret is that the book was published too late to bring to the beach. Because it is a PERFECT beach read. But whatever - it's also a good subway read, vacation read, or late-night-marathon read (which is what I did).

Spend some time with TK. You won't be sorry.

I devoured Totally Killer in a couple of evenings, and I thoroughly enjoyed it both as a thriller and as a darkly comic rendering of New York in the early 90's. A lot of the things I loved about it have already been touched on by other reviewers, but I wanted to add that I really dug the conspiracy stuff. As a fan of Pynchon and Robert Anton Wilson, I'm a sucker for novels that delve in that territory. And the great thing about Totally Killer--as opposed to say, Gravity's Rainbow or The Illuminatus Trilogy--is that you CAN finish it in a couple of evenings and at the end of it you'll even know what happened.

Also I was particularly taken with the character of Taylor Schmidt, a clever, unexpected spin on the classic femme fatale. When they start casting for the Totally Killer movie, hot young actresses will be lining up around the block to play this role.

Highly recommended if you like your thrillers smart, edgy and funny as heck.

i agree with someone else's review -- i could totally see making this into a movie starring scarlett johansson or evan rachel wood. now, someone go do it!

This book rocks! I loved every page. Fast, dark, nostalgic, and relevant ... I didn't want to put this book down and I'm looking forward to a 2nd read.

Not only did I find this book to be well written, I found the sub-themes to be revolutionary and refreshing - I am stumped as to why I haven't already come across this dark and humorous take on our society (I would love to be specific, but I hesitate out of fear of spoiling a fun ride).

Dare to condescend upon Gen X after reading this book at your own risk ...

fwiw, I find it hard to believe that I am unable to locate other books by this author. I am now disappointed that I dog-eared what might be a first edition of what most likely will be a great up and coming writer. I am tempted to buy another copy.

I can already see this novel as a movie!

Totally Killer is exactly what it says it's going to be - a knockout read. It's got great plot, interesting characters and pop culture references that will leave you feeling as nostalgic as a classic hits radio station after midnight.

It held my attention from page one and I was entertained, enthralled and intrigued throughout.

Totally Killer is a thriller - It's part black comedy, part thought provoking concept of what happens when Generation X finally tires of having to follow in the footsteps of the Baby Boomers. It mixes up sex, violence and 90's music in an original form with humour and wit and leaves you feeling like you really know the characters, even if you don't much like them.

It's a great read for anyone who likes snappy dialogue and slick plot. Totally Killer is so cool, it's hot.

An old college buddy recommended I read this book, claiming "it would take me back to my college days". He wasn't kidding, this book had me totally wrapped up in the early nineties, I even found myself instinctively putting on the Femmes as I would sit down each night to devour more pages. I loved the pre-Starbucks references to "listserv", "swatch" "Hanz and Franz" and "Spy magazine". You can tell this book is well-researched (thank God for Wikipedia, so I could keep up). Well worth the ten bucks and ten hours of page flipping.

Olear is a sly satirist. And this book is a whole lot of fun. I cringed and laughed in turn as it took me right back to my own early nineties experiences in a totally vivid and believable way. Which is particularly impressive given that this is an unabashed entertainment vehicle. So while you're enjoying all the sex and violence, you also get a lot of subversive commentary, perceptive descriptions, and philosophical musings. All while you're in front of the mirror, dressing up for a night clubbing in thriller-town. A great trick to pull off, especially for a debut novel. You really couldn't go wrong buying this for a vacation, or a night alone in a dark corner with some bourbon, or as a whirlwind verite tour to re-live a decade most people would probably rather admit they never attended. I hope there's another novel coming, and it can't get here soon enough.

With only two weeks to go in 2010, I can now easily say this was by far my favorite book I've read in the past year. I burned through this novel page by page so fast I nearly had to put baking soda on the tips of my fingers to ease the pain. Funny, cunning, great narrator, excellent supporting cast, twists, turns -- it had it all. Greg is one of those writers you wish had already written twenty books so you could start the next one as soon as you finish the last. Dear Hollywood: Totally Killer has kick ass movie written all over it. Make it happen.

Twenty-three and jobless, the beautifully flawed Taylor Schmidt arrives to the Big Apple in July 1991 a transplant from the rolling hills of Warrensburg, Missouri with an undergraduate degree in English Lit and aspirations of breaking into the world of publishing. What she quickly finds instead are the shuffling, blistered feet of tenderfoot Gen-Xers like herself stretching for city blocks in the sweltering heat, all with resumes in hand, and the sexually overt up-and-downs of power zealot editorial directors.

The pickings slim and competition fierce due to an economic downturn, Taylor stumbles with high heels from one employment agency to the next until being summoned by the Quid Pro Quo employment agency. Led by the august, cocksure Asher Krug, Quid Pro Quo guarantees its adept applicants "jobs to kill for" but at what price?