The Trigger Episode: A Novel [Hardcover]

Tom Straw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 2007

Hardwick, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, falls from a grace, and to survive he's now part of the Hollywood paparazzi. Television star Bonnie Quinn disappears (before the taping of the 100th episode The Trigger Episode) and Hardwick's hired to find her. As Hardwick searches for Bonnie, he runs into old girlfriend Meddy, who treats him with disdain. But a suspicious death re-teams him with Meddy and Hardwick grapples with his feelings for both women, his hope for redemption, and the solving of The Trigger Episode.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in contemporary Hollywood, Straw's slick debut opens with a promising setup. Bonnie Quinn, the difficult star of TV's Thanks for Sharing, goes missing just before shooting the show's 100th episode, which will ensure a fortune in syndication. For help in finding Quinn, the program's producer turns to a Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist named Hardwick, who has taken to the sordid world of paparazzi journalism with gusto after getting in hock to loan sharks. Hardwick is surprised to discover that pictures he takes of Quinn's "dressing room–cum–residence" show lots of books by such authors as Dickens, Tolstoy, Joyce, Hemingway and Faulkner ("Most I recognized as the first editions I drooled over in the rare book shops near the Beverly Center"). But despite a hero with excellent literary taste, Straw, himself a Hollywood writer and director, delivers a routine thriller that reads more like a screenplay than a novel. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The popular sitcom Thanks for Sharing is about to tape its one-hundredth episode, the number that triggers a series' lucrative syndication run (hence the book's title). There is only one problem: the show's notoriously temperamental star, Bonnie Quinn, has vanished. The producer hires Hardwick, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer now scratching out a living as a paparazzo, to find his wandering star and get her back in time for the taping. It should be a simple assignment for a guy who makes a living finding stars who don't want to be found, but it quickly gets complicated. And before he knows it, Hardwick is playing detective, with deadly consequences. The author, a veteran sitcom writer, keeps the proceedings moving along at a nice, light clip, and he obviously knows his way around a television studio and its assorted personalities. Pitch this one to fans of mysteries set in the entertainment world, who will love taking a trip behind the scenes of a TV series. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; First Edition edition (March 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786718781
• ISBN-13: 978-0786718788
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,219,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Graet summer read, April 21, 2007

By 

MALIBU READER "Malibu Reader" (Malibu, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trigger Episode: A Novel (Hardcover)

I just finished this book while on vacation. I couldn't put it down. This guy can really write. I always buy books by Micheal Connelly, James Ellroy, Jonathan Kellerman, and I am putting Tom Straw on that list. Hardwicke is a hardboiled character with a twist. characters are great, the writing is top notch, and it kept me guessing until the end. i am hoping for a sequel soon.

Put this one on your list, summer reading or whatever.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic new author!, April 5, 2007

By 

J. Parry "avid reader" (Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Trigger Episode: A Novel (Hardcover)

The only thing I love more than a thriller is a thriller based in Hollywood. This book has it all, Suspense, smart humor, and a rare glimpse into the workings of Hollywood. Hardwicke is a new gumshoe with attitude. It's one of those books you truly can't put down...I couldn't.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mystery Writer in the Richard Castle Style, April 27, 2011

By 

Alan Houston "alanhouston-texas" (Houston, Texas, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Trigger Episode: A Novel (Hardcover)

If you enjoy the light, fun to read mystery writing of Richard Castle,yo will enjoy "The Trigger Episode". In the episode of "Castle" where Richard Castle is signing his latest book, Castle shakes hands with...Tom Straw. And of course, Richard Castle's first novel received the "Tom Straw" award for the best mystery written under a pen name.

Of course, for every person who will claim that Tom Straw is the REAL author of Richard Castle's books, there is a person who will claim that Richard Castle is the real author of Tom Straw's book.