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Tough Luck [Paperback]

Jason Starr (Author)
Price: £6.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Jason Starr
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Review

"Mickey Prada is a quiet, unassuming teenager working in a fish market and living in Brooklyn, but by the end of this merciless, action-packed black comedy he might as well be living in hell. Starr delivers a wild ride through a mob-saturated Italian-American community in 1980s New York, keeping the surprises coming up to the last sentence. A new customer, Angelo Santoro, asks Mickey to place a few sports bets for him. Santoro seems to be a Made Guy, so Mickey doesn't feel he can refuse. But Santoro never makes good on his losses. As Mickey quickly plunges into debt, he grows desperate for a way out, even agreeing to go in on a house robbery with his pal Chris and some guys from his bowling team. From that point on, his downward slide is steep and seemingly unstoppable. A couple of dates with Rhonda, one of the first girls he likes who actually seems to like him back, provide a spell of relief, only to become another torment when her father tells Mickey to stop coming around. The neighbourhoods and OTB parlours and other fixtures of the local scene are captured perfectly, and the manic back-and-forth between Mickey and his friends is hilarious. Starr moves deftly through his milieu, twisting expectations and producing a grim comedy, something that may surprise--but shouldn't disappoint those who know him for his earlier, more straightforward Jim Thompson-style lowlife crime novels." - Publishers Weekly "In his psychological thriller Hard Feelings, Starr has plumbed the shallows of his brittle characters and their selfish lives, depicting them in a hard-edged style that is clean, cold and extremely chilling." - NY Times Book Review "A powerful novel of the American Dream turning into American Nightmare that marks Starr out as a writer to follow." Time Out [FAKE I.D.] "Diabolically well-plotted noir thriller" - Literary Review [NOTHING PERSONAL]

Product Description

Mickey Prada is a nice kid, with a nice girlfriend, a close dad, and a job at the neighbourhood seafood market in Brooklyn. But when he gets mixed up with a gambling junkie on a losing streak, Mickey is forced to take up a can't-lose caper with his best friend Chris. But sure-fire schemes have a way of backfiring, and this one is sending Mickey and Chris to fry like fish in uncharted territory of Brooklyn...
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Amazon.com:  8 reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Coming of age in Noir-land 27 Jan 2003
By J Scott Morrison - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Poor Mickey Prada is an 18-year-old shlemiel without a clue. He's just graduated from high school, has no idea what he wants to do with his life. He works at a fish market, is more or less supporting his father who has had strokes and has dementia. He primarily hangs out with his buddies, bowling, betting a little on football, striking out with girls.

And then a guy named Angelo comes into the store to buy some shrimp, complains that his bookie is out of town. Mickey agrees to place a bet for him, Angelo's team loses and he demands a chance to make his money back by placing another bet, Mickey is too frightened to refuse, and . . . well, you get the idea. The kid's life is now careering out of control and we're led into a noirish, frenetic, and, thanks to Starr's skill, funny rush that ends . . . well . . . Read the book!

It's all skilfully done, a nice follow-up to Starr's previous 'Cold Caller.'

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Want a look at unknown Brooklyn? 15 Mar 2003
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Never read anything by this guy before this, but I sure will now! Wow! A master of concise character development, Starr has put together one gem of a fast reading look at the life of a young man trapped in his life in Brooklyn. You can only hang on for the ride as Mickey Prada makes one poor decision after another and watches his life go down the toilet. A likable enough guy, Mickey is not too bright. His inability to size up the situations in which he finds himself leads to the destruction of the limited life he knows. Crisp clipped dialogue and scenes rife with local color and characters give this short novel a stunning vibrancy.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A worthy successor to Jim Thompson 15 Mar 2004
By D. Ross - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The greats of noir fiction had a way of putting you inside the heads of the disenfranchised, the losers, even stone-cold, psychopathic killers. And the most skillful among them -- say, a Jim Thompson -- had the reader gradually empathasizing with these outcasts. Jason Starr can stand toe to toe with any of these authors. His _Tough Luck_ is an expertly written story.

Mickey Prada is a poor kid trying to make good. Working in a fish market while saving for college, he also takes care of his Alzheimer's-ridden Dad. Things are going pretty well for Mickey until a slick-looking mobster walks into the fish shop. Angelo Santoro starts talking football and betting with Mickey. Before long, Mickey's placing 'good faith' bets for Angelo. And Angelo keeps losing. Now Mickey's in the hole to his bookie and Angelo won't make good on his debt.

In order to get out of hock, his lifelong friend Chris proposes a house burglary with a few of their buddies. It'll be easy money, what with the homeowners on vacation. And Mickey will surely be able to pay off the bookie and maybe pick up some nice trinkets for his new girlfriend. It all sounds so simple. But nothing goes quite as you might expect -- and none of the well-drawn characters will ever be the same after _this_ caper.

Starr writes with exquisite attention to detail. The jargon of the early eighties... the fashion... the culture... all are snapshots wrapped around the realistic foibles of each character. I'll definitely be picking up the rest of Starr's books. It's easily some of the best noir fiction going.

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