My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Salinger Contract by Adam Langer is a September,2013 release, published by Open Road Integrated Media. I received a copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Conner Joyce had enjoyed a long career as a mystery/thriller writer. Now, however, only a handful of people show up for his book signings. Instead, the lines are out into the street to have the latest vampire/wizard book signed. Conner's work has become stale and clichéd. When Connor is approached by a rather eccentric person and offered a great deal of money to write a book just for this one person, Connor feels like he has nothing to lose and a whole lot money to gain. Conner confides all this to his friend, a man that has one published book, and once interviewed Conner. Now, he is a house husband raising two children. But, when Connor confides in him, telling him that the man that hired him to write a book for him, also commissioned some of the biggest names in literature to write for him as well. Truman Capote, Harper Lee, Norman Mailer and of course J.D. Salinger. The stipulation of course is that Connor must never tell a soul about the book, including his wife and son. Connor is so intrigued at the opportunity to write without judgment, it opens up his creative juices. Finally, he decides on a plot, and begins to write at a feverish pace. He turns in his manuscript to his benefactor and waits for a response. The outcome of his novel is something he never saw coming. This is a story that is part mystery, part tongue in cheek satire. Wry humor and a searing portrait of the publishing industry as it is today, makes this story unique. If you want to just focus on the mystery, you may, but, you would be missing out on the underlying message. A very clever plot and commentary combined. That's not an easy task. It works out here quite well. I loved the authors names that wrote books for the mysterious "Dex". Most of these literary giants had the one huge book and then faltered at releasing another novel of it's success. Many became reclusive. There are several major plot twist that you will not see coming. I highly recommend this book for all book lovers. It is a lot more than just a mystery thriller. Overall this one get an A.
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genreLiterature & Fiction, Plays & Drama, Biographies & Memoirs
About this author
Adam Langer is a journalist, author, playwright and filmmaker.
His work has been featured most recently on NPR's Selected Shorts, in The Best Men's Stage Monologues 2000, and The Best Women's Stage Monologues 2000, as well as in the Chicago Reader's Fiction Issue, and in the literary magazine Salt Hill. His plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and numerous other cities throughout the United States. His 2000 play, Coaster, received rave reviews from numerous publications, including the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune.
He is the writer and director of the film The Blank Page, distributed by Troma. In addition to his novels, Crossing California, Ellington Boulevard, The Washington Story and The Thi...more Adam Langer is a journalist, author, playwright and filmmaker.
His work has been featured most recently on NPR's Selected Shorts, in The Best Men's Stage Monologues 2000, and The Best Women's Stage Monologues 2000, as well as in the Chicago Reader's Fiction Issue, and in the literary magazine Salt Hill. His plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and numerous other cities throughout the United States. His 2000 play, Coaster, received rave reviews from numerous publications, including the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune.
He is the writer and director of the film The Blank Page, distributed by Troma. In addition to his novels, Crossing California, Ellington Boulevard, The Washington Story and The Thieves of Manhattan, Langer is the author of three nonfiction reference works: CitySmart Guide to Chicago, Film Festival Guide, and The Madness of Art. He also wrote a memoir about his father, My Father's Bonus March.
As a journalist, he worked as a features writer and theater critic for the Chicago Reader and has had his work published in numerous newspapers and periodicals, including Mother Jones, the Chicago Tribune, Men's Journal and Rolling Stone.
Langer holds a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.A. from the University of Illinois. He was a playwright-in-residence at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and was a winner of a National Arts Journalism fellowship at Columbia University (2000-2001). He has lectured on writing and journalism at Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia College, and Pace University. He has been a frequent radio and television guest in Chicago and New York and has been featured on such stations as WGN-TV, CNN Headline News, Fox News, E! Entertainment Network, and National Public Radio, among others.
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