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Summary
Summary
In his newest and most distinctive novel, Stephen J. Cannell channels his insider experiences into a tautly drawn noir look at the materialistic Hollywood lifestyle.
Meet Chick Best--a middle-aged, selfabsorbed, disaffected, California dot.com millionaire. Other than his house and high-priced foreign cars, Chick's most expensive possession is his trophy wife, Evelyn. Evelyn is good at spending Chick' money, money that has pretty much run out. Another problem is his drug-addled sixteen-year-old daughter, Melissa. Though concerned about his life and family, Chick has resigned himself to a miserable state of acceptance. That is, until he, Evelyn, and Melissa take a Christmas vacation in Maui. With this, Chick's life changes...
Chick experiences unrequited love at first sight when he observes Paige Ellis emerging from the hotel swimming pool. His obsession, exceeded only by his need to possess her, isn't diminished when he learns that she is happily married. Instead, he befriends Paige and her near-perfect husband, Chandler. A short time later, back from Hawaii, Chick's obsession compels him to drive to Paige's house, where he runs down and kills Chandler in a drugstore parking lot. But this is just the beginning of Chick's nightmare as his life spirals homicidally out of control, resulting in the destruction of everything he holds dear. Will Paige learn the truth about Chick before it's too late?
Fast paced, filled with wry humor, murder, lust, and dead-on L.A. characterizations, Cannell has written his most explosively saleable novel yet.
Author Notes
Stephen J. Cannell is the bestselling author of twelve novels, including the critically acclaimed Shane Scully series, which includes White Sister , Cold Hit , and Three Shirt Deal . In addition, Cannell is the author of Runaway Heart , The Devil's Workshop , Riding the Snake , King Con , Final Victim , and The Plan .
In a highly successful career that spans three decades, Cannell has created or cocreated more than forty television shows, including "The Rockford Files," "Greatest American Hero," "The A-Team," "Hunter," "Riptide," "Hardcastle & McCormick," "21 Jump Street," "Wiseguy," "The Commish," "Profit," and the hit syndicated shows, "Renegade" and "Silk Stalkings."
During the past few years, Cannell has received numerous awards, including the Saturn Award Life Career Award (2005), the Marlow Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Writers of America (2005), and the Writers Guild of America Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement (2006). He lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife, Marcia, and their three children.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This disappointing thriller from bestseller Cannell (Three Shirt Deal) features 55-year-old Chick Best, a failed California businessman whose DVD business has been overtaken by companies like Netflix. While on vacation in Hawaii with his druggy daughter and his unfaithful wife, Chick falls instantly in lust with newlywed Paige Ellis and manages to strike up an acquaintance with Paige and her wealthy husband, Chandler. Obsessed with Paige, Chick later detours from a New York City business trip and drives south to her home in Charlotte, N.C. That diversion proves fatal for Chandler, who somehow ends up run over repeatedly by Chick's rental car. Oddly, Chandler's family displays no curiosity about the circumstances of his death, and the investigation is left to a Bible-quoting local cop. Fans will miss the intelligence and wit typical of Cannell's TV shows The Rockford Files and Wiseguy. 8-city author tour. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Cannell steps away from his Shane Scully series and produces what might be his best novel yet. Chick Best is a dot-com millionaire who has fallen on hard times: his money has nearly run out, his lavish lifestyle is in serious jeopardy, and his marriage is, to put it mildly, stagnant. It's getting very hard to maintain his sense of entitlement in a world that doesn't seem to recognize his importance. Then Chick meets Paige Ellis well, he doesn't so much meet her as see her emerging from a hotel pool and promptly falls in love. So he does what any hormone-infested egotist would do: he arranges to meet the object of his affection/obsession, then murders her husband, and . . . well, let's just say that's merely the beginning. The novel is compulsively and stylishly written, with a protagonist who somehow manages to be both sympathetic and loathsome and a plot that is intricate and suspenseful. The novel may remind some readers of Donald Westlake's The Hook (2000) or, perhaps, The Ax (1997), both of which tackle the theme of ordinary men who resort to murder to solve a problem.--Pitt, David Copyright 2008 Booklist
