Turnpike Flameout

by Eric Dezenhall

When a private jet crashes in the New Jersey Pine Barrens on the Fourth of July, the search begins for faded rock and roller, Turnpike Bobby Chin. The singer suspiciously survives and turns up wandering in the haunted woods. Soon after, a celebrity sculptor vanishes after unveiling his unflattering statue of the star. The cops say it's homicide, and make plans to bust Turnpike Bobby.
When the media circus begins, gangland-bred pollster Jonah Eastman is hired to devise a "P.A.S." (Plausible Alternative Scenario) for the sculptor's death. A beautiful au pair vanishes from Atlantic City, and it's all the media want to talk about - not Bobby. Which angers Bobby because he hasn't gotten this much attention since the Reagan Administration. As he works to vindicate the rocker, Jonah enters the inner-sanctum of the celebrity icon, a world so seductive and lethal that Jonah waxes nostalgic for his days working for the Mafia.
TURNPIKE FLAMEOUT is a black comic ride through the underbelly of mega-stardom and the spins employed by handlers to ensure that crime pays. Quite well, actually.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published December 27, 2005

About the author

Eric Dezenhall is a journalist and author of twelve books, including three non-fiction texts on crisis communications. Other areas of expertise include organized crime and the intelligence community. He is the Chairman and co-founder of Dezenhall Resources, One of the country's first crisis communications firms. He lectures in academic and business circles and appears in international media including NPR, CNN, FOX, CNBC, MSNBC and the History Channel. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today.

Eric’s work is widely cited in business, media, and academic circles. His book, Best of Enemies with Gus Russo, is being made into a feature film. He is also the author of seven novels, including The Devil Himself, based on the true story of the U.S. Navy’s collaboration with organized crime in WWII. His latest non-fiction book, Wiseguys and the White House, documents when mobsters and presidents traded favors -- and double crossed each other. Eric graduated from Dartmouth College and lives near Washington, D.C., with his family.

Reviews

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I finished the book, which was a bit of a challange. Still, there was a mystery of sorts to it, and I wanted to get to the end to have it revealled. I think one barrier to enjoying the story was that it was difficult to have much empathy for the main character. Dezenhall presents a couple of situations that try and build such empathy, but they just didn't work for me. The person narrating the story was also a bit hard to get close to. He's a family man, with wife and child, but, while he describes his interactions with his family, these seem relatively unimportant and disconnected from the rest of the story. I guess I'm saying that the story was not very credible.

[Zora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very funny snarky lines about popular culture made me laugh aloud several times, but the story didn't engage me.