Scavenger Hunt: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "God, I hate blondes," said Tamra Monelli..." (more)
Key Phrases: henna redhead, koi pond, linoleum knife, Heather Grimm, Garrett Walsh, Samantha Packard (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Robert Ferrigno continues to surprise. In 2001's darkly mesmeric Flinch, he not only delivered his usual trove of offbeat bad guys, but finally created a protagonist who was equally arresting: Jimmy Gage, a trouble-seeking reporter for the tabloidish SLAP magazine. The sequel, Scavenger Hunt, takes Ferrigno one evolutionary step further, its tale of ambition and guilt in Southern California driven by dense, circuitous plotting, rather than the familiar emotional tension between a flawed male lead and some treacherously captivating femme fatale.

"I want you to write an article about me, about what I'm working on. I even have a title for you: 'The Most Dangerous Screenplay in Hollywood,'" says Garrett Walsh, an egotistical, Oscar-winning film director who, after spending seven years in the slammer for killing teenage actress-aspirant Heather Grimm, now tells Gage he was set up, possibly by the husband of an unnamed "good wife" with whom he'd been having an affair. Walsh plans to expose this neat frame in a movie script, and wants Gage to publicize his efforts before anyone can stop him. The reporter is dubious--until Walsh is found dead in a koi pond and his "dangerous screenplay" goes missing. Intent on learning whether the director was murdered, Gage will first have to identify the "good wife," swap body blows with an aging action star, resolve questions surrounding a too-helpful retired cop with a doughnut jones, and determine if Heather Grimm was really as innocent as she appeared. Although there are several throwaway scenes in Scavenger Hunt (including one in which Gage and his cop girlfriend try to nab a "lover's lane" rapist), they don't detract seriously from this often edgy, sometimes humorous yarn, composed in a style that's pleasantly less restrained than several of Ferrigno's earlier thrillers. --J. Kingston Pierce

From Library Journal

Jimmy Gage is a reporter for Slap magazine, a tell-all entertainment rag in Los Angeles. He's young, curious, and pushy, with a nose for news that gets him close to the "in people" and even closer to real trouble. A party prank scavenger hunt, devised by his publisher, gets Jimmy face time with Garret Walsh, a has-been director fresh out of prison for murdering an ing nue starlet. Needing to "borrow" an Academy Award statue for the scavenger hunt, Jimmy goes to Walsh's ramshackle trailer and gets caught up in his attempt to break back into the biz with a script he calls "the most dangerous screenplay in Hollywood." Two weeks later, Walsh is floating dead in a nearby koi pond, and Jimmy questions the police report that lists the death as accidental. On the pretext of researching an article on Walsh's rise and fall, Jimmy tails the police and does quite a bit of investigating on his own. His publisher is indulgent, sensing a tantalizing lead article for his next issue until this "scavenger hunt" turns deadly and Jimmy ends up at the top of someone else's list. Ranging up and down the sometimes glitzy, sometimes grubby Southern California coast, this latest noir thriller by Ferrigno (Horse Latitudes; Dead Silent) is slender, fast-paced, and populated by colorful characters who run the gamut from high rollers to the dregs of Hollywood wannabes. Edgy and darkly humorous, it will fit nicely into collections alongside Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, and Jonathan Kellerman.
--Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; 1 edition (January 7, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375421734
• ISBN-13: 978-0375421730
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,067,338 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will be on my Top Ten Best of 2003 list!, February 11, 2003

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

It's just the end of January 2003 as I sit here with snow on the ground and Robin Mink on the CD player, so you have to understand that it's way too early to be making statements like the one I'm going to make. I can't help it, though. I'm going to go ahead and predict that, come December, Robert Ferrigno's novel SCAVENGER HUNT is going to be on my Top Ten Best of 2003 list.

I know, I know --- it's tough to make a prediction like that so early in the year. But SCAVENGER HUNT is the book that Ferrigno's legion of followers has been waiting for. It is not merely a great Ferrigno book or even a great mystery. It is a great novel, period. It has all of the elements: tight plotting, memorable prose and characters that leap off of the page and into your world. It's a book that you swim in and maybe drown in, as opposed to wade through. Readable? Hah! Try to stop!

SCAVENGER HUNT brings intrepid SLAP reporter Jimmy Gage back for another go-round. SCAVENGER HUNT is not a sequel to FLINCH, where we first met Gage; no, SCAVENGER HUNT stands quite well on its own. Ferrigno fleshes Gage out and goes deeper into his character, making him more three-dimensional and ultimately more likable. This time around, Gage is on a Hollywood party scavenger hunt when he encounters Garrett Walsh, a former movie director flavor-of-the-month whose career abruptly came to an end when he was arrested for the rape and murder of an underage girl. Walsh pled guilty and, under the terms of a plea bargain, spent seven years in prison. Newly released, Walsh feels that Gage is just the ticket to help him clear his name. He plans to refurbish his reputation through Fall Guy, a movie script he is working on and that he swears will tell the story of how he was set up. Just a couple of weeks after they meet, however, Gage finds Walsh dead in a fishpond, apparently having drowned while intoxicated. Gage's reporting instincts immediately kick in --- Walsh's story of being set up has the ring of truth to it and his accidental death, while convenient with his unfortunate drug use, is just a bit too convenient. What Gage doesn't know, however, is that his investigation is attracting the notice of the wrong people and putting him squarely in the crosshairs of danger.

Ferrigno does a simply incredible job of misdirection here, yet he plays fair every step of the way. I thought I had SCAVENGER HUNT figured out a number of times and was totally wrong more than once. Ferrigno also does an incredible job of pacing, dropping major and minor bombs throughout SCAVENGER HUNT from the beginning to the end. All of the characters, from the one-page walk-ons to the major players, are interesting and real. And wait until you encounter Sugar. Just wait. This is an unforgettable book, filled with unforgettable characters.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

4.0 out of 5 stars Another strong Gage book..., June 29, 2004

By	Robert Wellen (CHICAGO, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Scavenger Hunt (Paperback)

Ferringon continues to make me a fan of his work. This novel is populated with fewer strange characters than "Flinch" and is a less personal story (I guess any story where you suspect your brother of being a serial keller is personal as in Flinch)...yet it works. The murder mysteries here take some great turns. Jimmy is far more settled in this book and seems happier. I was sad to see Jane Holt and Desmond relgated to smaller roles. Same with Rollo, although he was around. This was much more about the case and less about these wonderful characters. Still, the mystery is a dandy and Hollywood again is shown to be a place of murder and redemption.

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!, February 24, 2004

By	nobizinfla "nobizinfla" (Windermere, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

Robert Ferrigno's "Scavenger Hunt" is a subtle, darkly mesmerizing Hollywood tale of murder, ambition, frame-ups, set-ups, double-crosses and clever sleuthing.

After serving seven years, Oscar winning producer Garrett Walsh is determined to prove his innocence. His vehicle is what he terms, the "most dangerous screenplay in Hollywood." Walsh wants SLAP magazine's cynical, skeptical, irreverent, high profile reporter Jimmy Gage to publicize the screenplay, before someone attempts to silence him permanently.

Jimmy fails to buy in. But, when Walsh is found floating in his koi pond and the screenplay missing, Jimmy doubts it was the accidental death the police claim.

No one shares Jimmy's thesis except his nefarious pal Rollo. Together they work their way thru a colorful cast of quirky Hollywood types, and around the cops who consider the case closed.

The plot is superb: sophisticated, solid, circuitous and overflowing with scintillating dialogue.

Mr. Ferrigno withholds enough info to keep surprises coming and the pages turning. The pace never slackens, and the accelerating danger of the killer keeps the tenseness at a high pitch.

A delightful read. Hooray for Hollywood!