Headlock

One of the best debut works I've encountered since Thomas Harris' Black Sunday. In Headlock, Berlin confronts the human condition head-on through the realistic depiction of the hungers, needs and various foibles of his two protagonists, Dess and Gary. He skillfully exposes our deep collective need for 'connection', whether through family, relationships (however flawed), money or gluttony. Berlin's first novel is a fun and fulfilling romp across the internal and external terrain of our Nation. I highly recommend this great work of fiction.

I have read many books in the past few years, and even some debut novels, but none have struck a cord in me like Headlock has. It is a powerful and riveting story that grabs you by the heart and mind in only the first few pages. It is a simple story of two cousins finding the truth about themselves and their family out on the road to Las Vegas, but tucked into the simple storyline is dialogue that makes you smile and cry because it is so real, violence that shocks you, yet feels familiar in it's rage and characters that will be alive in your mind for a long time after you put down the book. For anyone out there who hates how much books cost these days, I strongly recommend this one because as soon as you finish it, you are going to read it again. Congratulations to Adam Berlin for debuting with a novel that impacts the mind, heart and soul. I look foward to reading anything he puts out in the future.

If this is Adam Berlin's first novel, I can only say that we have a lot to look forward to. The book reads like no debut. It is a tight narrative that shows Berlin is a master of the written word. There is nothing wasted here, not a word, not a phrase, not a sentence. Headlock is a well-crafted whirlwind through contemporary America -- the money, the violence, the loss of innocence. But this novel is not simply a good read. It's a heavyweight demanding its place within the best tradition of American literature. Witness this passage from p. 35: "He described the coil, the spring, ready for action as soon as it was touched, how it took on an energy of its own once it was put into play, and Gilmore told us that was how all classical tragedies began. Once the spring was set into motion there was no going back. That was fate. That was life. That was why Antigone never made it out of her play." Thanks to Algonquin and Berlin, the American literary tradition is clearly in good hands.

Berlin has done agreat job with his first novel, although I doubt that it will be on Oprah's recommended reading list. A hard-hitting, no-holds-barred look at life, it captures you, entertains you , and then takes you home. Though the content is quite masculine, this is not just a book for men, it is a narrative for all of us.

Headlock rates up there with The Naked and the Dead (Mailer) and Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) and The Adventures of Augie March (Bellow) as one of the great first novels. The book's action and its memorable characters grab you as much as the title, so don't start this book unless you have a couple of free hours, because you won't want to put it down. But it is more, much more, than simply a fast-paced novel. It is a story with depth, a story about coming of age, about self-realization, and about family. Without giving anything away, the drama of the book's action moves inevitably toward a perfect conclusion. This is a novel you won't soon forget!