Reviewed by Charlie Williams

I worry about Jason Starr.

There. I've said it. I've fallen for the old tabloid hack's proposition that a fictional character's motivations and prejudices are the author's own. "How can he write such a thing without being sick in the head?" is how it usually goes. I mean, come on... There's only so much you can make up. Right?

Firstly, before I scare off anyone who got burned by American Psycho, Fake I.D. is not a "sick" novel. It is a novel in perfect health, if a healthy novel means one you cannot put down, one which drags you a yard further into a place you really shouldn't want to go with every page you uneasily turn. Yes, it's a healthy novel, if such a term can be applied to this kind of pure noir. Noir as in the grime of the city air that only shows up when you blow your nose. Noir as in a struggle for something good that is only ever going to turn out bad.

The struggle here is that of Tommy Russo, an astonishingly unsuccessful actor who works as a bouncer at a Manhattan bar while he's waiting for the dream to come true. When a chance meeting in a racetrack car park leads to the offer of a place in a horse-owning syndicate, Tommy's yearning for fame and status is brought to the fore. If he can't get it via Hollywood (just yet), he'll achieve it in the "glamorous" world of horse racing - a world Tommy knows from the till at the OTB to the bottom of his wallet. Only catch is that he needs ten grand to get in. And he's just lost his last dollar to a nag. The answer comes - inevitably - via the safe his fatherly boss keeps behind the bar.

Starr's noir heroes are always delusional. Reckless hope is a requirement of the genre, as is the downward spiral that unwinds the hero's spirit or sanity (or both). But Tommy Russo goes beyond that - his entire life is a construct, concealing the confused, inadequate, violent loser beneath. Even his last chance at an acting career - an audition for a dog food commercial - ends in blows when the dog takes an (understandable) aversion to him. But nothing gets Tommy down for long. Tommy is a true hero - a man who will bend but never break.

Fake I.D. asks us to sit a few rows further back than Starr's other novels. While the likes of Cold Caller and Hard Feelings have us right next to the screen, trusting the protagonist before he goes bad on us, we're always at one remove from Tommy Russo and able to laugh at him more freely (sorry Tommy).

OK, so I don't worry too much about Jason Starr. Anyone who can write dirty urban noir and make it so entertaining has got to have a handle on himself. Even if every single one of his novels is a case study in outrageous fortune. I trust you, Mr. Starr. Keep those slings and arrows flying.

Copyright© 2003 Charlie Williams

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CHARLIE WILLIAMS was born and raised in England, and educated in Wales and France. His short stories have appeared in The Third Alternative, Time Out Neonlit, and other publications. His debut novel - Deadfolk - is out from Serpent's Tail in 2004.

Read an extract from Fake I.D.