Jack and Susan in 1913

Jack & Susan #2

by Michael McDowell

Regardless of what the calendar says, Jack and Susan are always, eternally, 27 years old. They are destined for each other like Hepburn and Tracy, Dagwood and Blondie, Nick and Nora. They always acquire a shaggy white dog. In 1913, the world is thrilling to that fabulous invention, the motion picture. When the movies move West, Jack and Susan (and Tripod!) decide to go along with them, only to discover that not all of the bad guys are on the silver screen.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 1986

About the author

Michael McDowell is a prolific horror writer who has distinguished himself with a varied body of work within the genre. He was born in Enterprise, Alabama, in 1950 and died of AIDS-related illness in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1999.

His first horror novel, The Amulet, relates the tragedies that befall various individuals who come in possession of a supernatural pendant in a small town.

In McDowell's second novel, Cold Moon Over Babylon, a murdered woman's corpse is dispatched into a river, but her spirit roams the land, and in the evening hours it seeks revenge on her killer even as he plots the demise of her surviving relatives.

Don D'Ammassa, writing in the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers, noted that McDowell's ability to maintain a sense of mundane normalcy against supernatural activity provides the novel with "a fine balance between reality and unreality," and he called Cold Moon Over Babylon "one of the best ghost stories ever written at novel length."

A similarly disturbing tension between dull reality and the supernatural is produced in The Elementals, wherein a host of visitors come to stay at a secluded house occupied by embodiments of elemental forces.

McDowell's Katie, meanwhile, concerns a clairvoyant serial killer whose powers of perception enable her to evade her trackers. The attractive but deranged heroine of this novel manages to conduct her murderous activities despite the awareness of her parents, who are content to derive financial gain from their daughter's crimes.

Madness is central to McDowell's Toplin, which details the vile imaginings of a man who suffers from mental illness but nonetheless determines to conduct himself within society. D'Ammassa praised Toplin as "perhaps the best novel ever written from the point of view of a schizophrenic."

Among McDowell's other writings is the six-part serial novel Blackwater, a chronicle of a southern family drawn to the supernatural. In addition, McDowell has also supplied the screenplays for various films, including director Tim Burton's horror comedy Beetlejuice and his animated production The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Stephen King called McDowell one of the "finest writers of paperback originals in America today." Tabitha King was asked to complete McDowell's unfinished novel Candles Burning, which was published in 2006 to good reviews. Concerning his career, McDowell never tried to be something he wasn't. "I am a commercial writer and I'm proud of that", he said in the book Faces of Fear in 1985. "I am writing things to be put in the bookstore next month. I think it is a mistake to try to write for the ages."

Reviews

[Amos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enough silliness and snappy dialog to be enjoyable, but I really wasn't expecting a straight-up love tale from Mr McDowell. I figured there would at least be a ghost, or SOMEthing, in the mix seeing as the book's description said the two lead characters are "eternally 27" and meet repeatedly over the course of many lifetimes....but, t'was not to be.
Oh well- I've certainly had far worse surprises in my time.
NEEEEEEXT!!

3 Passable Stars

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Women were like puppies in a shop window. They could frolic in their cages; they could gaze moonily at passersby; they could be adorable and irresistible. But they weren't allowed to choose with whom they'd go home. Like puppies in a shop window, women were chosen.

I've now read the bulk of Michael McDowell's novels - and this might very well be the lightest (and, in a number of ways, the most refreshing) piece of entertainment he ever concocted.

Keep in mind that this is a writer mostly known for whipping up horror. Yet here he is in polar-opposite territory. When a major character in this 'J&S' entry says

"We've tried you in melodramatic danger, and now we'll stick you into a comedy and see if you come up breathing."

it's as though the author is speaking to himself.

Unlike the other two 'J&S' installments, there is very little crime going on here. There's *some* but it's rather firmly on the periphery. McDowell's focus here is romance - yet it's not at all sappy. It plays out in the atmosphere of Hollywood's early days of moviemaking. The author's love story is in direct proportion to his preoccupation with the madcap nature of the birth of the movies.

For the most part, the novel is simply a lark; it reads as though the author was having a marvelous time. Much of it is quite humorous. (As a reflection of the period, it's consistently pleasing if not laugh-out-loud funny.)

Like the other two 'J&S' books, '1913' also has a marvelous sense of place and time. Clearly, McDowell did his research homework. (This is also noticeably evident in his terrific gothic revenge drama 'Gilded Needles', set in New York City in the late 1800s.)

The unique aspect of McDowell's 'J&S' conceit is that the two main characters are always the same man and woman, they're always the same age regardless of what decade they're in, and they're always ultimately destined to be together. But the plots differ wildly.

Perhaps my favorite supporting character here is Junius Fane - the somewhat-Orson Welles-like figure who heads the Cosmic Films Company and produces and directs all of the company's features. Fane is a tireless workhorse, the kind who lets production difficulties slide off his back without much thought to setbacks (which are at times considerable). He is basically a slave to his demanding audiences:

"You don't know the public, Jack. They're fickle. ... The American public has a hard heart, Jack. I know the American public. My mother was part of it."

If one of your favorite films is 'Singin' in the Rain' - which is also largely about the early days of motion pictures and in many ways is just as zany as what McDowell has come up with here - this could easily be the book for you.

I prefer the other two 'J&S' books - but that's not meant to slight this one. It has a real charm that is undeniable.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple reviewers have pointed out that this book was marketed as a suspenseful mystery, but I'd describe it more as a madcap farce. More Tracy & Hepburn than Dick Tracy to put it another way. Very enjoyable read as long as you know what you are getting into, and don't expect much beyond having your spirits lifted en route to a happy ending. What is amazing to me about this book is that it was written by Michael McDowell, who has written some of the moodiest, broodiest, attitude-iest horror novels that I have ever read. This book is a showcase for his versatility and goes to show that his early death deprived us of one of the best writers of his generation.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was marketed as a mystery—well, at least the publisher called it a suspense novel. However, there's hardly any mystery in this book until a bit at the end. It's mostly a romantic comedy, not all that gripping, but a pleasant way to spend a few hours, as were the other two "Jack & Susan" novels.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is about two people who meet in New York City in 1913. One is an actress who gets injured and loses the best job she's had to date and the other is a young man who gets up to absurd shenanigans to win the girl's heart.
Reading the book was reminiscent of a Clark Cable and Carole Lombard madcap film. Yes, that is the best description of the book -madcap and not mystery.

[Tracett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love McDowell's atmospheric horror novels. I think they are among the best in horror fiction. Imagine my surprise to find he has a series of Nick and Nora-esque writing, even including the Asta-like canine companion. This was a light hearted beach read, perfect for when you want a non challenging escape from the world. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of McDowell's books are among my favorites, especially The Elementals, Blackwater and Cold Moon Over Babylon. This, however, was a great disappointment.

Although not the first in his planned series of Jack and Susan books, I began with this since it was the earliest in terms of when the story happens. I found most of the plot preposterous and thought no one has a mouth wide enough to get that much of a tongue into a cheek.

I thought Susan was an ass, and the whole thing was like a burlesque skit -- possibly that was what McDowell had in mind. If so, he succeeded, but I expected more depth and less craziness.

[Martin Denton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I actually did. It's part of a series of three books that place the same two characters at the same ages in different decades of the 20th century--I was hoping I'd enjoy this so that I could see what the author did with this intriguing premise. Unfortunately, I didn't like either Jack or Susan enough in 1913 to want to spend any more time with them.

The first chapters detail how the two characters meet up--it's a "meet cute" taken to extreme, with some real surprises along the way. He's a young inventor, living in a cramped tiny apartment in New York cluttered with his experiments; she's an actress who runs afoul of her leading lady on Broadway. They find each other and eventually find their way to Hollywood (Jack in hot pursuit of Susan), where they find quick success in the still nascent silent film industry. They have many adventures and throughout the story the question of whether they're meant for each other, meant to be together forever, is constantly dangling.

The problem I had with this book is that, much as I wanted to root for Jack and Susan, I found it impossible to do so. Jack's actions constantly feel like contrivances invented by the author for the sake of plot-spinning (as opposed to something organic this man might actually do). Susan, meanwhile, comes off as just plain nasty when she's not capricious. They're ultimately an unlikable pair, and I was disappointed in the last third of the book as the author pushed them into an unbelievable situation that I just couldn't care about.

[Nicholas George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light and enjoyable quasi-mystery concerning a young man and woman falling in love amid the birth of the movie industry in Hollywood. The plot is essentially boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl--and the "boy loses girl" part quickly wears out its welcome--but the dialogue is crisp, the details clever, and everything is nicely tied up at the end.

[Cristiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second Jack & Susan novel to appear among the romantic/detective “Wild Card” titles published by Felony & Mayhem Press. It is definitely the best of the three because McDowell had an interest in the history of Hollywood. He was working in Hollywood as a scriptwriter for cinema and television at the time he published this novel.