Stardust
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Review
""Stardust" is sensational! No one writes period fiction with the same style and suspense - not to mention substance - as Joseph Kanon. A terrific read." -- Scott Turow
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
Product Description
Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier returns from war to the news that his filmmaker brother Daniel has died in mysterious circumstances -- the papers say it was an accident, but others suspect suicide. Daniel was a heroic figure who helped many prominent German intellectuals escape Europe before the war and then settled in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife, Liesl. Why would a man with such a bright future take his own life? Could he have been murdered? Beneath the surface shine of the movie business lies a darker world where even the biggest stars and star-makers are vulnerable to old secrets being exposed and old loyalties tested...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel which marks a great return to form by Joseph Kanon after the disappointing "Alibi". The setting of Hollywood immediately after World War 2 with the first rumblings of the coming McCarthy witchhunts amid the German colony of exiles is brilliantly drawn. Ben Collier returns from the war to California to investigate the mysterious death of his film maker brother and becomes embroiled in the politics and tensions of Hollywood as it emerges into the post-war world of new challenges,threats and Unamerican activities. Collier is a masterful creation as he digs deeper into the apparent suicide of his brother andcome to terms with conflicts between old loyalties, the mystique of film making and the new politics. The beautiful and fascinating Liesl, his brother's widow, is only one of the range of complex protagonists he encounters in his search for the truth.
A superbly written, gripping and profound novel of the unreal world of 1945 Hollywood and the realities of the new American Century.
A superbly written, gripping and profound novel of the unreal world of 1945 Hollywood and the realities of the new American Century.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The setting of the story is Hollywood at the end of the second World War. Ben Collier,a serving soldier dealing with film and news coverage of the internment camps in Germany, is travelling to Hollywood on The Chief,to visit his estranged brother Danny, who is lying in a coma in hospital after falling from the balcony of his hotel room. On the train he makes the aquaintance of Sol Lasner an independent film producer who runs a small Studio called Continental. He assists Sol when he suffers a slight heart attack, resulting in Sol offering him the facilities of the Studio to cut and shape the film reels he has into a structured whole for showing. Danny dies while Ben is visiting at the hospital and Ben gets involved with his wife, Liesl, and her family and friends, Germans and Jews of the literary set, who fled Germany before and during the War with the assistance of Danny who lived in Germany at the time. After some initial queries, Ben looks further into Danny's death, did he fall or was he pushed? There are rumours of spies and communists, Ben meets a senator looking for information to start a witchhunt exposing communists working in the film industry, perverting films to show the Russians in a favourable light. Glamorous film stars make fleeting appearances, there is a film columnist, a la Hedda Hopper and some of Lasner's one-liners are reminiscent of Samuel Goldwyn's more famous quotes. Ben stumbles through half truths, red herrings, some actions not fully explained but he gets there in the end. Maybe not one of Joseph Kanon's best but still well worth reading.
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Slightly wordy Kanon. He's always thoughtful but in this book, he's inclined to draw out conversations about the political climate in the post-war early red-hunting period rather too much.
But it's still better than most other books of the genre and he's still a really impressive writer.
But it's still better than most other books of the genre and he's still a really impressive writer.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Exciting but Confusing Hollywood-Set Thriller
"Stardust," is an exciting new Hollywood-set thriller by Joseph Kanon, who apparently learned to write best sellers during his long tenure as a book publishing executive. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Stephanie DePue
Got as far as page 112 or thereabouts....
I'm sorry to say I have to agree with Katrien (nothing against Katrien, it's just I don't like giving a poor review! Read more
Published 7 months ago by Pigturion
the consequences of war
I came across this as part of a group of novels from various authors I read relating to the consequences of war. Read more
Published 9 months ago by simon says sew
Not his best (but still better than most)
Joseph Kanon is a wonderful writer. Apparently the New York Times thinks he's "fast approaching" Le Carre, Graham Greene and George Orwell, but that's the New York Times for you. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Lethiavan
I threw this book in the bin
I can't believe how positive people are about this book. I bought it because I liked the setting and time but as I kept reading the book got more boring. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Katrien
A long read, but worth it
I've read and enjoyed all this author's novels, but found this one a long haul. He has touched on the same subject in 'the prodigal spy'. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Chris Rawlings
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