The Shooting Script: A Novel of Suspense

by Laurence Klavan

Following his critically acclaimed novel The Cutting Room, Laurence Klavan returns with The Shooting Script. Establishing New York City, present day. Zoom in on a run-down tenement building, somewhere west of Times Square, the home of Roy Milano, a thirtyish, divorced typesetter who lives for the movies. In fact, by pursuing the legendary uncut print of Orson Welles’s The Magnificent Ambersons, Roy has become something of a minor celebrity among the fellow misfit film fanatics he caters to in his homemade newsletter, Trivial Man. But there’s nothing trivial when Roy’s old rival Abner Cooley shows up with a check in his hand and the words “Someone is trying to kill me” on his lips.

With his mother ailing, Roy needs the money as badly as Cooley needs someone to head off a trigger-happy stalker who’s determined to put both him and his controversial new screenplay into permanent turnaround. And though Roy does his best, like many a private eye before him, he quickly finds his head turned by an enticing distraction. Not a femme fatale, but a flick.

Roy is all but powerless to resist an e-mail from a mysterious fan that lures him with the promise of an elusive treasure as fiercely sought after by the celluloid cognoscenti as the Ark of the Covenant was by Indiana Jones. It’s Jerry Lewis' famous unreleased drama, The Day the Clown Cried. But when he arrives at a rendezvous too late to save a dying man, Roy realizes he’s stumbled into a dangerous race to possess a piece of cinema history. To catch up, he’ll have to match wits with a rogues’ a bored and bitter superstar comedian, a hot-shot producer turned drugged-out has-been, a ferocious German actor who likes to role-play off-camera, a mercurial director with a scary sense of humor, and a hard-bitten cop who’s mad about movies.

Meanwhile, Roy will be tempted by the wiles of three fetching females–and tormented by a single-minded psychopath with more faces than Lon Chaney. He’ll even go on location, pursuing and being pursued from the mansions of the Hamptons to the harbors of Maine, the boulevards of L.A. to the canals of Amsterdam. No one’s ever gone to this much trouble just to see a movie. But for Roy, the reward far outweighs the risk. And a chance to glimpse the Big Picture might just be worth coming face-to-face with the Big Sleep.

Genres: Mystery

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

Playwright, novelist, and librettist Laurence Klavan is the author of a number of plays, as well as of mystery novels centering around Hollywood.

Reviews

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering the subject matter, the sub-text and the whole theme of this book you would think I would have loved it. Roy is a "trivial man", he is an expert in movies especially old movies. Now I also love old movies so this sounded like just the book for me because it combined two of my loves; old movies and mysteries.

Roy is trying to find a movie that was partially completed then abandoned. No one has seen the footage except for the man who was the star, Jerry Lewis. Once Roy starts on his quest for the tape he starts having problems. He is followed, attacked (several times), robbed and almost killed. There are some very weird people involved in this shadowy world of abandoned movies and all of them are against every other person on the same quest. One man is totally ruthless and will kill to get the film.

Now, why didn't I like this book? Well, Roy is a nice enough guy but has no sense of self preservation. After the first attempt to kill him he just keeps on going and looking for the film. It seems like most of the time when I encounter a TSTL (to stupid to live) character it is a female. I might have encounter a male or two before but none that reach the levels of this one. Mugged, robbed, beaten up, having knives and guns pointed at him and he still isn't smart enough to say "enough is enough" and let it go. Obsessed people can be pretty persistent but threat of death normally makes them at least be more cautious. Roy is also terrible at picking his friends and confidants in this one. All in all it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Why did I finish the book? Because there was enough movie trivia and interesting tidbits to keep me reading. However it became almost like watching a train wreck. If you can overcome this TSTL behavior it might be a good book. I couldn't.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Shooting Script is a light, quirky mystery about a film trivia expert, Roy Milano, who's hot on the trial of the unreleased Jerry Lewis film, The Day the Clown Died. Unfortunately for Roy, he's not the only one searching, and when the elderly man who owns the only known copy dies, the race is on. And a deadly race it is, but not so deadly that Roy can't make time for a variety of trysts with more than one comely woman, each of whom has ulterior motives. More of a romp than a serious mystery, filled with snippets of movie trivia, it's probably best not to take the book too seriously and just enjoy the wild ride from Philadelphia to Hollywood to Europe and back.

[Raghav Khanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

30 pages in, I had the strong urge to fling this sorry excuse for a book out of the window. How it reached NY times top bookshelf is beyond me. Klaven needs to find a substitute for "said". Jesus Christ. Story was painful to get through. But the protagonist was an interesting character, I'll give him that. Character collected lost/ incomplete films to share with fellow film buffs. He recounted actors who were replaced in famous films as a coping mechanism when stressful situations. A memorable character. Book was a simple easy read, mainly because Klaven has a very limited vocabulary palette. Thank Allah it's over. Nothing worse than leaving a book partially read.

[Jeanne Lawrence]

Funy, enjoyable read

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you haven't read it yet, tackle The Cutting Room: A Novel of Suspense first, as characters and events from that one play a part here. Honestly, this sequel was a bit weaker for me as the plot went all over the place, and certain events required suspension of disbelief - for example, Roy gets himself into a multi-car accident driving without a license, yet is able to walk away without any charges filed, nor lengthy paperwork (statements) involved. Another reviewer has described him as "Too Stupid to Live", well ... let's just say that there's very little common sense exhibited by anyone in the book (with a single, notable exception).

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good. Looking for lost rare movies.

[Gloria Plourde · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read better. Disappointed!!