No Exit Press - Hard Feelings by Jason Starr

ABOUT THE BOOK

For computer-networking salesman Richard Segal, life has been tough lately. He hasn't made a sale in months, his wife might be sleeping with an old boyfriend, and he's starting to drink again. On his way home from work one evening, he spots a familiar face across Fifth Avenue -Michael Rudnick, a guy who grew up across the street from him in Brooklyn. What seems like a harmless encounter becomes anything but when Richard is haunted by a terrifying memory. As the stress in Richard's life builds, he becomes obsessed with two questions: What exactly happened in Michael Rudnick's basement twenty-two years ago? and What is he going to do about it now?

In the classic tradition of Jim Thompson and Patricia Highsmith, Hard Feelings is a gripping, original novel of paranoia, obsession, and revenge.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

'Jason Starr is the first writer of his generation to convincingly update the modern crime novel by giving it provocative new spins and Hard Feelings is his most accomplished thriller yet. It might be new-school noir but like the classics of the genre it has a brutal escalation of tension, pungent dialogue, a hardboiled simplicity and grace, and a whopper of an ending. It's also darkly funny and a pure pleasure to read. As you race through it you realize that Jim Thompson has just moved to Manhattan.' - Bret Easton Ellis

'a tale that reads like James M Cain modernised by Bret Easton Ellis' - Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian Unlimited [read the full review]

'a gripping novel of paranoia and obsession that's damn near impossible to put down' - Jim Driver, Time Out [read the full review]

'a powerfully written, thoroughly involving novel of paranoia, obsession and revenge.' - Brian Ritterspak, Crime Time [read the full review]

'Starr has plumbed the shallows of his brittle characters and their selfish lives, depicting them in a hard-edged style that is clean, cold and extremely chilling.' - Marilyn Stasio, New York Times [read the full review]

'Convincing and entertaining . . . Hard Feelings dances a mesmerizing tango between reality and its menacing shadow.' - Time Out New York

'one of the best things about a Jason Starr novel is the ending: it never quite goes the way you think, and this novel is no exception' - J.A., The Barcelona Review [read the full review]