The National Truth

Rating:
Summary: The National Truth: Dark Humor at Its Best
Review: Just finished reading The National Truth. I am impressed by Trotter's sense of dark humor, irony, and fantastic descriptive abilities. I found myself thinking about the characters long after I finished the book (which for me, is a hallmark of an outstanding book or movie.) And I felt guilty for laughing in places where it wasn't polite to laugh... like guffawing at mass. I love it.

Ann Zuccardy, writer, Vermont


Rating:
Summary: Is the truth really stranger than fiction? Maybe not....
Review: Or is this actually the truth?

Move over Carl Hiaasen, you've got some serious competition in the dark humor department!

From a giant transvestite nun with a five o'clock shadow to a talking dog, to a real live muffin man, Steve Trotter's "The National Truth" is a laugh out loud, deliciously twisted look at the "tabloid life".

Trotter's dark humor and mind for detail leaves the reader with visual images that range from beautiful to deeply disturbing; but don't look away! "The National Truth" will hold you captive until the last page is turned.

-- Christine Calnin
Author of "Addicted to Sex - Behind the Apron Series: Book 1"



Rating:
Summary: A very entertaining read!
Review: Sharp prose, smart dialogue. Steve Trotter's style brings to mind John Ridley's Love Is a Racket and Everybody Smokes in Hell."

Rating:
Summary: A Dark and Deliciously Funny Thriller
Review: Steve Trotter exposes the sleazy world of tabloid publishing with the authority of an insider and the laugh-out-loud hilarity of a marathon segment of Saturday Night Live.

Rating:
Summary: If You Like Tabloids, You Will Love This Novel.
Review: Steve Trotter's debut novel, The National Truth, set in Montréal, Canada, centers around a former rock musician, Dave Taylor, who decides to give up the world of music and return to his former occupation-tabloid journalism.

A Former staff writer and associate editor of supermarket tabloids, Trotter is very much at home in penning a novel containing some of the most off-the-wall characters, who are involved in even more bizarre dangerous undertakings. No doubt, Trotter is very much up to the task, as a result of his years of experience in writing this genre.

Our story gets off to a flying start, when within the first few days of Taylor's return to the world of scandal mongering journalism, one of his co-reporters is found slain on church steps, a hooker by the name of Angel Moretti stalks him, and bikers try to kill him. In addition, he falls for the boss's daughter, Niki, who is known to the readers of The National Truth as Crystal Ball- the world-renowned psychic columnist.

As the narrative shapes up, all hell breaks loose, as we are informed that our stalker was intimately involved with Dave's boss Dudley. What is even more outlandish is that Dudley, after sexually brutalizing Angel, murders her, or so he believes.
Angel, however, surprises him one day, when she reappears, bites part of his nose off and gulps it down in one swallow.
For her trouble, Angel is locked up in a hospital for the criminally insane. However, she manages to find a way to beat up her security guard and escape. Once again she is in hot pursuit of Dudley, who she is determined to terminate his "manhood."

Throw in a couple of other murders, a crooked lawyer, a careless hit man who botches up his assignments, ample black humour and amazingly you have just the right ingredients for action and dialogue that is hilarious. Occasionally, however, I have to admit, the whole mix of events veers into excessive gory scenes. Notwithstanding, this is the "stuff" that sells tabloids and keeps our interest at the grocery checkout counters with their incredible headlines.
That said, unless you have a very sensitive stomach and a distaste of sensationalism, The National Truth is an impressive debut novel, tantalizing in the unbelievable, that will surely maintain your interest until the last chapter.

Norm Goldman,Editor of Bookpleasures



Rating:
Summary: A sensational page turner
Review: Washed up and saddled with bills after twenty-odd-years of sex, drugs and rock & roll, Dave Taylor gives up his faded dreams of being a rock star once and for all and slinks back to his old job as a reporter for The National Truth, the raunchiest tabloid in the country.
No sooner than he's banged out his first headline, Dave discovers that his co-workers are being knocked off one by one, catapulting the jaded recruit into a nightmare of dead office staff, cross dressing nuns and a talking dog that curses in both English and French. And to make matters worse, he's gone ga-ga over Nicki, the boss's hottie daughter and sweet-natured staff psychic. As the workload increases with every dead employee, Dave is forced to sift through the unsavory lot of suspects before he gets buried alive with deadlines - or becomes the killer's next victim.
The National Truth is a raunchy, hilarious ride through the surreal world of tabloid madness. A sensational page turner peppered with ludicrous humor and told through the bleary eyes of a very human character. Twisted, obnoxious and recommended.