PANIC ATTACK
Jason Starr
Minotaur Books
Thriller
ISBN: 9780312387068
It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of what Jason Starr has done within the pages of PANIC ATTACK, his latest novel. The book garnered some pre-publication attention when he and Minotaur Books opened a two-week window during which one could obtain and read the work for free. Such a move requires a certain degree of confidence that what you are giving away is good enough that it will be purchased in more permanent form. That confidence is met --- and rewarded. This is a work that transcends genres and puts into collision the moral ambiguity of the characters of Richard Prather, the seedy underbelly of humanity recorded by Nelson Algren, and the fatal foibles of the well-to-do and chronicled by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
PANIC ATTACK begins with a simple enough premise. The Bloom residence --- inhabited by Dr. Adam Bloom, a psychologist; his wife Dana; and their daughter Marissa, a recently graduated but still unemployed 22-year-old --- is the object of a home invasion. Bloom does the honorable thing in defending his family and fatally shoots one of the intruders as the man is coming up the stairs; the other, unobserved, barely escapes with his life. Problems begin almost immediately. The intruder turns out to have been unarmed, the couple had frequently quarreled about Adam having the firearm in the house, and both Dana and Marissa are horrified that Adam has killed someone.
Though they are living in a mental fairyland --- it is an immutable law that when seconds count, which is the case during a home invasion, the police are there in minutes --- it is almost immediately obvious that there is much going on beneath the surface of the Blooms’ family life. Dana and Adam keep secrets, each from the other, which could easily tear the family apart. Marissa, degree notwithstanding, is aimless and drifting, spending her evenings drinking with friends who have begun their own lives in the world of work while she spends her days writing a blog and listening to her iPod.
The Blooms are not bad people; it is, in fact, a direct and proximate if unintended result of their kindness that has led them to be the targets of what was supposed to be a simple burglary. While being full of oneself is not evil, it is a character flaw, and what Starr shows us in bits and pieces is that both Adam and Marissa are choking on their overstuffed egos. Adam considers himself a hero and begins giving impromptu press conferences to the press assembled on his front lawn following the shooting. He is puzzled when he finds his words taken out of context, his intent misinterpreted. Marissa is embarrassed for herself, not for her father, whose actions were initiated, at least in part, for the purpose of protecting her. For Adam and Marissa, everything is about them, individually.
As we observe them constantly at loggerheads throughout the course of PANIC ATTACK, we can only marvel at how much alike they are. Dana is jaded and unhappy, a condition that was present even before the Bloom household was breached. It is her unhappiness --- a state of mind that exists notwithstanding the fact that she has everything she wanted --- combined with her own sense of post-menopausal entitlement that provides the means by which the blocks that comprise the Bloom family come tumbling down.
While the family individually plays out their respective aftermaths to the shooting, the second Bloom household burglar --- the one who got away --- plots a twisted revenge. His skewed morality demands a pound of flesh for the death of his accomplice, even while it did not require that he stay and see to his friend after he was shot, or wonder about the circumstances that found them in another person’s home with bad intent to begin with. His plan for retribution starts with research, followed by a skillful and fascinating manipulation that results in his insertion into the very lives of the Bloom family. This time, instead of breaking in, he is invited in, with only one even remotely aware of what is occurring until it is far too late. The book plays out to a stunning and horrifying conclusion, one that will leave you wondering who among the cast of characters is the greater villain.
PANIC ATTACK is Starr’s best work to date, combining a flawless plot with a pitch-perfect sense of storytelling that never fails to surprise. He introduces the smartest character within its final 60 pages, even as he sets up a climax that will make you forget to breathe. You will remember to breathe again, but you will never forget this book.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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