I’ve mentioned before that I am interested in true crime. One of the first books I ever read in the genre was Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss. I’ve read pretty much read every book he’s written since then. His style works for me.

So, when I received a copy of The Delivery Man by Joe McGinniss, Jr - son of true crime author Joe McGinniss - I was intrigued. Joe Jr. writes literary fiction. There’s a great deal of buzz for his book. The movie rights have been optioned for big money and the book is getting terrific reviews, including a recent one from the New York Times. And, from what I’ve read and the few emails we exchanged, Joe Jr. seems like a good guy. We also share a history of working in politics and wanting to get out of careers we didn’t love.

He was interviewed in Washingtonian this month. He says:

Unsure about a new career, he started a Master’s in public policy at American University.

“Every semester, I’d tell my wife, ‘I gotta get out.’ he says. “So I started writing short stories in the mornings before class.”

After graduation, he took odd jobs - from academic counselor at AU to working in dog daycare - but kept writing. Now he writes full-time.

I’m betting that trajectory sounds familiar to a bunch of people out there. It’s also a good lesson in wanting something and going for it. You make the time and put in the work. It’s that simple.

Now let me tell you a bit about The Delivery Man. The idea is this:

The Delivery Man is an exhilarating debut—a fast, frightening, and eye-opening portrait of today’s lost generation. It is a love story set against the surreal excess of Las Vegas—and the artificial suburbs, gated communities, and freeways that surround it—where broken lives come to seek new beginnings and casinos feed the lust of tourists and residents alike. Ultrasophisticated local kids grow up fast and burn out early. After attending college in New York, Chase returns to Vegas and is drawn into the lucrative but dangerous world of a teenage call-girl service with his childhood friend Michele, a beautiful Salvadoran immigrant with whom he shares a tragic past. Over the course of one extraordinary summer they will confront the violence and emptiness at the heart of the city and their generation. At once stark and electrically atmospheric, horrifying and hopeful, The Delivery Man is a powerful indictment of a society in which personal responsibility has been abandoned, lust is increasingly mistaken for love, and innocence is an anachronism.

Works for me. Has anyone else picked this one up?

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 11:58 am and is filed under About Authors, About Books, About Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.