Within a relatively short time, Jason Starr has become a supernova
among thriller literary lights, penning dark, gritty novels on his
own such as TWISTED CITY and collaborating with the equally
brilliant Ken Bruen on BUST. But LIGHTS OUT, Starr's latest novel,
is not so much a thriller as it is a dark, brooding character study
that falls somewhere between THE WANDERERS by Richard Price and
Dennis Lehane's MYSTIC RIVER.
Starr's narrative in LIGHTS OUT possesses an immediacy that
simultaneously unsettles and propels. Reading the book is like
walking aimlessly and slightly inebriated through a strange city
with the only certain knowledge being that each step takes you
further away from your hotel and closer to hostile territory. You
trust your guardian angel to protect you, even as you know it has
flown the coop long ago. So too in LIGHTS OUT; almost from the
first pages when we meet the romantic triangle of Ryan Rossetti,
Jake Thomas and Christina Mercado, it is obvious that things are
going to end badly, despite the good if misguided intentions of
some.
Jake is the conquering hero of the novel, the local boy who breaks
out of the lower working class Brooklyn neighborhood to become a
baseball superstar. LIGHTS OUT begins with Jake's triumphant return
to his old Brooklyn neighborhood for a weekend visit, one that he
is making more out of a sense of duty than desire. Jake enjoys the
trappings of his life --- the limos, the money, the fame, and most
of all, the women --- but he only reluctantly fulfills his
obligations to his fans, without whom none of the benefits would be
happening. Christina, Jake's erstwhile fiancée, is waiting,
but she has some news for him, an announcement she is hesitant to
give even as she welcomes the opportunity.
In Jake's absence Christina has become involved with Ryan, perhaps
the most complex chara