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Twisted City

3.63 of 5 stars 3.63 · rating details · 101 ratings · 12 reviews

From the acclaimed noir novelist Jason Starr comes this savage portrait of a misanthropic man stuck in a New York nightmare. Written in caustic, streamlined prose, Twisted City is a chilling depiction of how quickly one's life can take a turn for the worst.

Times are tough for David Miller, a journalist for a second-rate financial magazine who hates his boss, is tired of su...more

Trade Paperback, 243 pages

Published July 2004 by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

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Jun 10, 2010 Greg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, fiction, chosen-by-the-air, crime-fiction

I'm thinking of adding this term to urbandictionary.com. Bel Canto : Inspired by the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award winning novel. To ruin an otherwise fine book with an out of left-field last chapter; to jack on one last unneeded chapter to a book causing the internal stability of the book/narrative to collapse on itself.

Example: Dude, Twisted City, totally Bel Cantoed!

The last chapter was great and all, but it didn't fit in this book. I would have liked to read more of what was going on in that chapt...more I'm thinking of adding this term to urbandictionary.com. Bel Canto : Inspired by the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award winning novel. To ruin an otherwise fine book with an out of left-field last chapter; to jack on one last unneeded chapter to a book causing the internal stability of the book/narrative to collapse on itself.

Example: Dude, Twisted City, totally Bel Cantoed!

The last chapter was great and all, but it didn't fit in this book. I would have liked to read more of what was going on in that chapter, but not in the book that I had just spent 230 pages reading. But even without the dismal, or what the fuck!, last chapter this book may not have earned another star.

For what it was, an entertaining crime novel, this was entertaining but nothing that made me wet myself. The writing was a lot cleaner than other some other genre fiction I have read, but there was nothing bordering the brilliance of James Ellroy, or even the great writing / storytelling of George Pelecanos or Richard Price. It was kind of a modern adaptation of a James Cain type novel, with a little bit bigger of a plot and some modern pop-culture name dropping for color. But not in a bad way. Actually the author does a fairly decent job capturing the East Village / Thompkins Square Park area (although it's not nearly as dirty in 2004 as he makes it out to be, unless I'm the most oblivious white boy in the world to drug dealers and hookers and stuff like that (which is possible)). But this book doesn't try to ever show off how 'with-it' the author is, so the pop-culture coloring works fairly well at adding to the overall picture of the city. The one place where he does fail in this respect is in the way he has the protagonists girlfriend use hip-hop language. It's sort of the same way your (well mine) tried to use the 'slang' the kids were saying in the mid 90's, and if white middle aged parents are using the words then it's probably not being used any longer by kids on the street, so this part I thought was a little bit of a failure, but that might have been the point. But I'm not sure, and it's not really that important.

If like me you inexplicably* have this book on your shelf at home it's worth the few hours it takes to read. For a dollar or two at a book sale it might be worth picking up. But it's nothing I'd go out of my way to recommend or pick up to read.

* I have no idea where this book came from. It has no markings of being bought at a used book store. It is in almost brand new condition, except for a weird blood looking stain about 3/4's of the way through it (yeah that is kind of gross), and until last night when the air*^ picked out the book for me to read I didn't even realize I owned this book.

*^ According to www.random.org, a website where I have random numbers chosen for me that then correspond to which shelf I will choose the first unread book from to be the next book that I read, their numbers are chosen by atmospheric noise, which for many purposes is better than the pseudo-random number algorithms typically used in computer programs. So the air is picking out books for me this week. It's like magic or god or something.*^*

*^* Karen, aren't you glad that for the second time today you get to hear about how the air picks my books out, and this time with more details?

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Jul 07, 2008 Travis Leamons rated it 4 of 5 stars

Every time I read a Starr novel I'm almost grateful that I don't have a sixteen-fifty a month apartment in the Big Apple or work in advertising or for a business journal. Twisted City is no different. A slim 242 pages, Starr's novel is about a man who loses his wallet at a bar and from there gets entangled with dope fiends, a girlfriend who has way more baggage than she leads on, and the police. Nearing the end of the novel I wasn't sure as to why Starr called this novel Twisted City, but the la...more

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Mar 27, 2010 Ed Armstrong rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Well, I guess anyone.

Recommended to Ed by: No One, picked it up in the library

OK, I accepted the "weird" ending on the first three of Starr's books that I read but I think the ending on this one is the weirdest of all of them. I'm sure that Starr has a purpose in doing this, who knows, maybe it's his trademark, his signature. For some reason though the books are compelling and I would not discourage others from reading them.

I "Twisted City" David Miller is a writing for a business magazine and he is eventually promoted to associate editor though I'm not sure if that reall...more

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May 13, 2012 Betsy rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one

I can't believe I read this whole book. This character was totally unbelievable and I had no patience with him or his situation. I've read plenty of books in which the characters lives went completely downhill, all the way to the bottom, and I developed sympathy and understanding for them. But this guy made one stupid, unlikely decision after another which required a complete suspension of belief.

The ending was fitting, and my own punishment for reading the book all the way to the end.

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May 31, 2011 Electric Funeral rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, read-in-2011, library-books

leichtfüßiger thriller der einen jungen mann in den abgrund begleitet. manchmal trifft es eben doch die richtigen. schnell erzählt, grandioser spannungsaufbau, tolle charaktere.

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Apr 22, 2010 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars

Entertaining noir detective thriller about a journalist who finds himself in trouble with criminals in New York.

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Apr 12, 2011 Debra added it

Couldn't put it down. It was about things that could happen to anyone.

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Nov 17, 2008 Randall rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book leads you along and then punches you in the mouth. Then when you are about to get back up it kicks you in the gut.
A story of bad things that happen to, well not so good people.

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Nov 10, 2008 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very good pacing and crisp story. Quick read, good cover art. Sells books.

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Oct 16, 2012 Kristen Shinn-shinn rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was so frustrating! And what a WEIRD ending!

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May 01, 2008 Sammy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Quick reading, typical Jason Starr style. Good twists.

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Feb 27, 2008 B Mch rated it 5 of 5 stars

great noir fiction

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May 20, 2013 John Wilkins rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 23, 2013 Stefan Böltes added it · review of another edition

Apr 21, 2013 Sheri added it

Apr 10, 2013 Rachel marked it as to-read

Apr 07, 2013 Bryn Swartz rated it 2 of 5 stars

Apr 07, 2013 Jordan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 05, 2013 Holly marked it as to-read

Apr 05, 2013 Philipp rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 13, 2013 Orangereader rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mar 20, 2013 Benediktdorweilerhotmail.com marked it as to-read

Mar 07, 2013 Col rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, s

Mar 07, 2013 Tjeerd Elias-van der Heide rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime

Feb 25, 2013 Duncan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Jan 22, 2013 Danfunk marked it as to-read

Jan 22, 2013 Mike Gettel marked it as to-read

Jan 14, 2013 Bill Marder rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jan 06, 2013 Wiebke rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jan 02, 2013 Tor Steinar rated it 4 of 5 stars

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