Tabloid City
Pete Hamill, Little, Brown, $26.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-316-02075-6
Hamill (North River) forays into Dominic Dunne society crime territory before veering uncomfortably into a far-fetched terrorist plot. Just as the last ever edition of the New York World is getting put to bed, veteran editor Sam Briscoe stops the presses for a sensational murder: socialite Cynthia Harding and her personal secretary are found stabbed to death in Harding's Manhattan town house. The story unfolds in time-stamped, you-are-there bursts that follow a large cast, including several journalists; Cynthia's adopted daughter; a disgraced Madoff-like financier; a media blogger; the murdered secretary's husband, a police officer assigned to a counterterrorism task force, as well as their son, a convert to radical Islam; and best of all by the weary and worldly Briscoe himself. Hamill is at his best in the Briscoe portions, rich in print anecdotes and mournful for a passing age, but as both the initial murders and the closing of the paper play into a larger plot and the young extremist becomes the driving force of the novel, the quality slides precipitously, and, as if sensing defeat, the book is brought to a too abrupt conclusion with most of the principals gathered for a group of scenes that strain credulity. Hamill nails the dying newsroom, but gets lost on the terrorism beat. (May)
Details
Reviewed on: 02/21/2011
Genre: Fiction
Compact Disc - 978-1-60941-069-8
Downloadable Audio - 1 pages - 978-1-61113-586-2
Downloadable Audio - 978-1-60941-072-8
Hardcover - 416 pages - 978-0-316-17808-2
Open Ebook - 978-0-316-17492-3
Open Ebook - 162 pages - 978-0-316-17495-4
Paperback - 304 pages - 978-0-316-02076-3
Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-61113-942-6