Rating: 
Summary: Nice character, but farfectched plot and crude sexual detail
Review: I bought this book after I read Starr's new novel, Nothing Personal (which was also great), and I enjoyed this one just as much. Really dark and really funny. Bill Moss is one of the most memorable characters I've read in a crime novel in years. Very highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: If Jim Thompson were a Yuppie...
Review: If Jim Thompson were a Yuppie, he might have written this book.Bill Moss is a failed advertising exec living in Manhattan. Restarting his career as a telemarketer (for a lot less money), he and his co-workers are routinely humiliated by a petty and racist supervisor. But things get more tolerable for Moss when a chance lie he tells to the company's President results in a surprise promotion. Then he gathers enough courage to live out his long-time fantasy of an encounter with a 'lady of the evening'. Feeling guilty afterwards, Moss batters the woman. Then, when his boss threatens to fire him over an unrelated manner, Moss snaps. Now he's got a dead body in his office and a bunch of violent p imps chasing him. And things go downhill from there. _Cold Caller_ is a seductively easy read that has several exquisite plot points. If you liked Thompson's _The Killer Inside Me_, I can almost guarantee you'll think as I do about _Cold Caller_: it's deliciously good.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent but not particularly noteworthy
Review: The book's subtitle "A White-Collar Noir" neatly captures the gist of this decent first novel. A former advertising executive, now working as a wage-slave telemarketer suddenly snaps under the numbing banality of his work and kills someone. Actually, this doesn't happen until over halfway through the book, so there's quite a bit of waiting around. It doesn't help by page 10, anyone with any brains will have picked out the victim. The remainder of the book details his attempt to cover-up his crime and the consequences thereof. It should be noted that this is "noir" only in the loosest sense of the term. Noir is a term which has been appropriated from film criticism and haphazardly used to categorize all manner of books. Certainly there are a few elements of noir in this book (notably the notion that a criminal lurks within us all, and a totally selfish protagonist), but almost any thriller contains elements which could be called noir. In any event, it's a fairly pat story, almost everyone reaps what they sow. There are no real surprises along the way, but it's a fairly diverting read. Not bad, not great.
Rating: 
Summary: Great psychological thriller!
Review: The book's subtitle "A White-Collar Noir" neatly captures the gist of this decent first novel. A former advertising executive, now working as a wage-slave telemarketer suddenly snaps under the numbing banality of his work and kills someone. Actually, this doesn't happen until over halfway through the book, so there's quite a bit of waiting around. It doesn't help by page 10, anyone with any brains will have picked out the victim. The remainder of the book details his attempt to cover-up his crime and the consequences thereof. It should be noted that this is "noir" only in the loosest sense of the term. Noir is a term which has been appropriated from film criticism and haphazardly used to categorize all manner of books. Certainly there are a few elements of noir in this book (notably the notion that a criminal lurks within us all, and a totally selfish protagonist), but almost any thriller contains elements which could be called noir. In any event, it's a fairly pat story, almost everyone reaps what they sow. There are no real surprises along the way, but it's a fairly diverting read. Not bad, not great.
Rating:
Summary: Great psychological thriller!
Review: This book chronicles the rise and fall of Bill Moss, an ex high flying ad exectutive, who has lost his job and now works as a telemarketer. It's one of the best crime novels I've read in years. It's dark, tense, suspenseful and--at times--hilarious. Starr really knows how to write crime fiction, and the characterizations and dialogue are great. I once had a boss from hell like Bill's and, well...I hope they make a movie of this one and get Johnny Depp to star. Very highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: THIS IS NOT NOIR!
Review: This book is somewhat reminiscent of the movie "A Shock To The System" starring Michael Caine. Isn't it terrible the way supervisors can thwart our ambitions to get ahead in the workaday jungle? In this instance our hero (?) takes the bull, or boss, by the horns, and shows him that he just won't take it any more. Life is indeed tough in the boiler rooms of the telemarketing industry. Not an outstanding book, but if you like noir novels this is a good one to add to your collection.
Rating:
Summary: A quick and gripping read that is fun and scary!
Review: This is Jason Starr's first book and it's great. It's pure noir that keeps you trapped and wanting more, but makes you feel guilty about it. If you like New York and you don't like yuppies, you'll love the book. Like a good roller coaster ride I wanted to get off after the first drop but also wanted to know what was next. The main character Bill Moss is sympathetic and manipulative and the great fun for me was being duped by his warped sense of reality and justice. The fiendish acts unfold so quickly that by the time they are all done you feel like they make sense. Then after a while it just gets downright scary. I think this is good noir because the plot is both attractive and repulsive at the same time. I believed the story was plausible and that main character represents a good part of the dark side of many young, white, upwardly mobile men. It's a quick read that's gripping, unpredictable and disturbing. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book by Jason Starr.
Rating:
Summary: A quick and gripping read that is fun and scary!
Review: This is Jason Starr's first book and it's great. It's pure noir that keeps you trapped and wanting more, but makes you feel guilty about it. If you like New York and you don't like yuppies, you'll love the book. Like a good roller coaster ride I wanted to get off after the first drop but also wanted to know what was next. The main character Bill Moss is sympathetic and manipulative and the great fun for me was being duped by his warped sense of reality and justice. The fiendish acts unfold so quickly that by the time they are all done you feel like they make sense. Then after a while it just gets downright scary. I think this is good noir because the plot is both attractive and repulsive at the same time. I believed the story was plausible and that main character represents a good part of the dark side of many young, white, upwardly mobile men. It's a quick read that's gripping, unpredictable and disturbing. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book by Jason Starr.
Rating:
Summary: dark humor
Review: This novel is at the same time humorous and dark, a good book in the tradition of Noir. Sort of a tamed down version of American Psycho. Follows the life of an ex ad executive into the world of telemarketing and NYC life. His temporary job as a telemarketer turns into a long term stint and when instead of getting promoted, he gets fired, well as the back of the book says "he snaps...now he's got a dead supervisor on his hands". The book is evenly divided between leading up to this, and events afterwards. A good ending awaits you...
Rating:
Summary: dark humor
Review: This novel is at the same time humorous and dark, a good book in the tradition of Noir. Sort of a tamed down version of American Psycho. Follows the life of an ex ad executive into the world of telemarketing and NYC life. His temporary job as a telemarketer turns into a long term stint and when instead of getting promoted, he gets fired, well as the back of the book says "he snaps...now he's got a dead supervisor on his hands". The book is evenly divided between leading up to this, and events afterwards. A good ending awaits you...
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