A Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Original A Penzler Pick Editions available: U.S., U.K., German, French, Italian (forthcoming), Polish (forthcoming), Russian (forthcoming) In the classic tradition of Jim Thompson, Hard Feelings lets us into the mind of an ordinary guy capable of things that even he couldn't have imagined. Richie Segal's prospects are pretty miserable and, what's more humiliating, his wife's career is looking pretty good. Richie knows he's a good salesman, but he just can't seem to land an account. And he's starting to drink again. And worry about whether Paula's seeing that old high school flame, or maybe someone new. It's a little early, at thirty-four, for a mid-life crisis, but that's pretty much what it feels like. And there're those unwelcome memories of the neighborhood bully, Michael Rudnick, and what he did to Richie when he was eleven. Richie Segal's feeling, well, abused. Just when Richie's about as low as he can get, he runs into Rudnick on the street and knows exactly what he needs to do. Then suddenly things seem to be going much better. That is until they get much, much worse. BRET EASTON ELLIS: "Jason Starr is the first writer of his generation to convincingly update the modern crime novel by giving it provocative new spins and HARD FEELINGS is his most accomplished thriller yet. It might be new-school noir but like the classics of the genre it has a brutal escalation of tension, pungent dialogue, a hardboiled simplicity and grace. It's also darkly funny and a pure pleasure to read. As you race through it you realize that Jim Thompson has just moved to Manhattan." ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: "A throwback to the spare, snappy crime writing of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain." MARILYN STASIO, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW: "In his psychological thriller Hard Feelings...Starr has plumbed the shallows of his brittle characters and their selfish lives, depicting them in a hard-edged style that is clean, cold and extremely chilling." TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL: "Black Lizard has kept the flame of Jim Thompson alive, and this excellent gritty book is a perfect example. Starr has an ear for language and an eye for images; hardboiled suspense in the grand tradition." LIBRARY JOURNAL: "Starr knows how to deliver straight-ahead pulp fiction with the best of them, and here he does it again as efficiently as in his earlier Cold Caller and Nothing Personal. The fact that Vintage Crime/Black Lizard is publishing a new novel as a paperback original for the first time in its ten-year history may help boost the already healthy interest in this writer. Highly recommended." PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: "[An] effectively bleak successor to Jim Thompson and David Goodis....fans of noir bump into another author who can bring them down and cut loose with a savage kick to the ribs." TIME OUT NEW YORK: "Convincing and entertaining . . . HARD FEELINGS dances a mesmerizing tango between reality and its menacing shadow." THE DETROIT FREE PRESS: "Corporate life in Jason Starr's relentless "Hard Feelings" is as full of back stabbing as Neal Labutte's "In the Company of Men."... Starr captures the madness of vengeance and deftly portrays a marriage that's all rough edges in this dark and disturbing novel." Available as a PDF. Available in text format.