Lights Out is Jason Starr’s seventh novel (written in 2006), although it’s the first book of his that I have read. It’s a tight thriller with a hard-edged, modern noir feel to it.
The story takes place in Brooklyn over the course of a few days. Jake Thomas is a famous baseball star, rich, a celebrity, and he returns home to announce his engagement to his childhood sweetheart, Christina. However, one of Jake’s old friends, Ryan Rossetti, himself once a promising baseball talent until a serious injury destroyed his career, is in love with Christina, and he is unwilling to give her up to Jake. Christina loves Ryan, but Jake Thomas is, well, rich – staggeringly, incomprehensibly, partying with A-list celebrities, rich, and so she is faced with having to make a difficult choice between minimum wage Ryan, whom she loves, or rich Jake, for whom any romantic feelings she once had have long since died out.
The novel also introduces the character of Saiquan Harrington, father, sometimes gang member, who is on parole and down on his luck, and who is trying to make a better life for himself and his family, but is finding that life just won’t give him the breaks that he needs. Saiquan gets sucked into taking part in a gang related revenge hit, however, events escalate beyond his control, and he soon fears retribution from other gang members, or attention from the police that would see him returning to prison for a long stretch of time.
Initially the two stories play out separately – the Jake/Ryan/Christina love triangle and Saiquan’s world of gang warfare – but ultimately the two stories collide in a moment of violence that leads to unexpected consequences and repercussions for all of the main characters.
This is a gripping, tightly plotted and darkly comic book. Starr creates a rich cast of diverse characters, whose volatile and conflicting emotional states propel the narrative forward in a compelling and exciting way. The writing style is lean and cool throughout, and Starr also has a great ear for dialogue and street slang.
Money, fame, love, jealousy, resentment, and the American dream gone bad – it’s a potent cocktail that serves to make this a fast paced and exciting thriller. I was utterly engrossed by it.
