Nothing Personal

Another classic Starr: violent, funny and nerve-wrecking.

I felt compelled to write a review for this book after reading it, not because I thought it to be any good, but because of the reviews that others have been submitting about this book and it's author.There is clearly some very biased reviews concerning this man, and his work, I have my suspicions as to why this is but will forgo the reason for this here.This book is honestly a pathetic, generic, run of the mill predictable waste, to even label it a crime noir is to cause insult to some of the literary greats in this field.The plot centers around a handful of main characters linked by their friendships. David Sussman, his wife Leslie (and their daughter Jessica), and Leslie's friend Maureen and her husband Joey.Joey is a pathetic character with a compulsive gambling addiction that seems to be some leftover attempt to connect with a long dead father, hindered by the fact that he routinely places the most ridiculous bets and gets himself in further debt. Cue the loan shark, beatings, threats etc and others that he owes money to. To make him as cliched as possible he also loses his job due to his pervasive gambling habits and begins wondering how to pay of his debts, cue a plot set up which can be seen a mile off.His wife Maureen is a drab unhappily married woman, putting up with her husbands gambling and quietly bitching to herself through a series of whiny inner monologues, through which we also discover that she is only with Joey because she was more educated than he was. The character of Maureen is really difficult to even find plausible and it feels like she is only there to link her to Leslie.Leslie is supremely annoying, an oblivious woman, content with giving relationship advice to others, while being completely unaware of her own husband's infidelities. All she does is spend her husbands money and summarily raises their daughter Jessica. Both characters, Leslie and Jessica, had the potential to be really interesting but are not developed beyond a thin surface layer. Leslie has self confidence and image issues and a history of eating disorders, but these are not explored in any great detail and the chance to make her appear interesting is passed up on. Jessica is portrayed as a smart girl, but it does not go any further than this. It would have been far more interesting to see the impact that her parent's lives were having on her as a formative and growing child. Her father is almost never home and Jessica is smart enough to pick up on the fact that her mother is always throwing up, but it never develops beyond this, and the little spark that could have maybe made this drivel slightly more bearable is quickly fanned out by it's stifling predictability.David is a past-middle aged Ad Exec having an affair with his co-worker Amy Lee, who becomes 'crazy' when David tries to end their affair. Amy then begins blackmailing David with threats to tell all to Leslie. Again, the author fails to properly provide Amy with a convincing back story, briefly touching on a few details and then moving forward with the plot. The reason the author gives, that Amy does not handle the rejection of David, and him wanting to end the affair as the catalyst for Amy then blackmailing David is flimsy at best. She then becomes a run of the mill antagonist, donning disguises and generally dogging the Sussman family. Amy never really manages to be seriously threatening at all and even at her 'craziest' you fail to take her seriously in the slightest, I mean mailing a blank cassette to Leslie hardly qualifies as 'a diabolically well plotted noir thriller' (Literary Review).Cue the story coming to a head, as Joey enlists an unhinged and mentally slow, childhood friend, Billy to kidnap Jessica in order to claim a ransom that will pay off his debts once and for all, or until he gambles himself into further debt.As David tries to deal with Amy without Leslie finding out, he takes a step that causes more problems then he knows how to solve and the 'interweaving' stories collide.Jason Starr is a sub-par author, and I found myself skipping some of the pages as they were just plain boring and served no purpose in actually making the book interesting or advancing the plot. Without reading any of his other works, it obvious that Starr creates characters which on the surface appear content, but as his work progresses and he 'explores' them further they develop cracks and flaws where you begin to discover that they are not what they seem. Starr tries to make characters that are relatable by picking up on things that we as humans are at heart all unhappy with at some points in our lives, whether that be appearance, marriage issues, financial trouble and so on. These are all themes that are serious and relevant but Starr does it in such a generic manner that you find yourself not caring about the characters and their plight. Leslie being self-conscious about her appearance and having an eating disorder is so terribly predictable, it is as if that is all Starr's female understanding of a character can stretch too.She also flips out when she finds out that her husband has been having an affair but as a character see's no dichotomy in encouraging best friend Maureen to pursue the affections of another man, which ultimately ends in another affair.The ending after such a tedious build up is too quick and does not wrap up some of the loose threads, David and the fallout of his actions, ditto for Leslie. The effects of a kidnapping on Jessica is barely even touched upon, these are more opportunities that Starr fails to capitalise on.One of the reviews on the blurb of the book describes Nothing Personal as 'The King of Noir is back. It doesn't get any darker, or funnier that this...The best novel of the year' This is out right lies, when on Earth was Starr given the title King of Noir? The genre must be in the doldrums if this is to be its king, the plot is generic, the cast of characters dull and formulaic, and the author seriously in need of some literary help and some honest reviewers.Please avoid wasting your time with this crap, and do not be swayed by other reviewers claiming they read this book from Starr and immediately went out to buy the rest of his work.If you're looking for great noir, I'd recommend some classic Raymond Chandler of if you're looking for something more modern in terms of noir then some Craig Clevenger.Avoid Starr at all costs.If I could give less than one star for this work than I would unhesitatingly do so. Drivel.

Ich habe das Buch meiner sehr Thrillererfahrenen und -affinen Mutter geschenkt. Sie hat es gelesen und fand es so schlecht dass sie es gleich ins Altpapier geworfen hat - das gab es noch nie. Von daher ist das wohl eher etwas für eingefleischte Fans des Autors.

This was a fantastic book! Couldn't wait to get to next page ! Highly recommend it!

This was not one of my favorites by Jason Starr..the story line was interesting at first but it kinda just lost me towards the end

this is perhaps the most dreadful book i have ever read...improbable from the word go/ its a TOTAL waste of time and money, not to mention the trees or pulp that went into the printing... totally unbelievable and DREADFUL