The Pack: A NovelJason Starr
Ace, June 2011
ISBN: 978-0441020089
"Jason Starr is hypnotically good." -Lee Child
Simon Burns is a successful New York advertising executive who feels he is in line for a promotion, thanks to a big account he just landed. Instead, he discovers that his position has been eliminated, and his former boss refuses to answer his phone calls and e-mails. Simon is devastated, but his wife, Alison, sees his unemployment as an opportunity for Simon to get closer to Jeremy, their 3-year-old son.
Things take a turn when he meets a tight-knit trio of other dads at the playground: Michael, Charlie, and Ramon. They are different from the other men Simon has met - stronger and more confident - and soon he is lured into their mix. What starts off as an ideal playdate situation starts to take a strange turn when the guys ask Simon out for beers one night. His once safe, if sometimes boring life, becomes a nightmarish reality.
The beginning pace was smooth and well defined. You get an instant feeling for what Simon is going through; experiencing with him his anger at his company’s betrayal and his feelings of inadequacy when it comes to dealing with his wife and child. When he meets the dads at the park, you see gradual changes come over him.
The Pack features a unique and imaginative take on werewolf mythology. Rather than the traditional transformation brought on by a full moon, Starr elongates Simon’s evolution into wolf over most of the novel main section. It has to do, we learn, with how werewolf power is passed on, and is perhaps the most strikingly original ingredient Starr brings to the legend.
Jason Starr is one of the most talented and imaginative writers to appear on the literary scene in a long time. He has proven his versatility with both crime fiction thrillers and lately with thrillers laced with a touch of the supernatural. He is masterful at creating mood and a sense of presence in his descriptions of places and people. His characterizations are thorough and believable and his plots can swiftly sweep up the reader and not let go until the last page is turned. I highly recommend The Pack.
JASON STARR is the international bestselling author of many novels, including The Pack which is out in hardcover and e-book from Berkley/Ace on June 7, 2011. Starr's other novels are Cold Caller, Nothing Personal, Fake I.D., Hard Feelings, Tough Luck, Twisted City, Lights Out, The Follower and Panic Attack. He has won the Anthony Award and the Barry Award and his books are published in more than a dozen languages. He has also co-written three novels with Ken Bruen--Bust, Slide, and The Max--and edited Bloddlines, an anthology of horse racing stories for Vintage Books. He lives in Manhattan and is currently writing the sequel to The Pack.
ISBN: 978-0441020089; ISBN10: 0441020089; Imprint: Ace; On Sale: 6/7/2011; Format: Hardcover; Pages: 336; $25.95
