Panic Attack

This book is a terrific read, it show how one decision can affect a family dramatically. Very suspenseful and mind altering. Tough to put down.

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 th

Jason Starr's "Panic Attack" opens with psychologist Adam Bloom awakening from a recurring nightmare in which he is being chased by a large black rat. He gets up with a start in the middle of the night when his twenty-two year old daughter, Marissa, yanks his arm in fear. She whispers to her father and mother that an intruder has entered their home. While Adam's wife, Dana, calls 911, Adams impulsively decides to take out his gun and confront the criminal. This unwise decision is the first in a long line of mistakes made by Adam and his family. The Blooms have more than their share of troubles: After twenty-three years of marriage, Adam and Dana are no longer emotionally or physically close. Dana, who is a bored housewife, believes that her husband is too self-absorbed to care about her feelings and that that he is more interested in his practice than he is in her. She also detests Adam's condescension and frequent use of psychobabble to put her in her place. Although Adam loves Marissa, he is fed up with her. After completing her studies at Vassar in art history, she returns to her parents' home, acquires tattoos, puts pink streaks in her hair, and spends most of her time hanging out with friends. She has made no realistic plans to find a job that would enable her to live independently. Her father constantly squabbles with Marissa, ordering her to get her act together. Starr has written an electrifying and well-constructed novel with a sociopathic villain who is all the more sinister because he is so handsome and charming. He finds a way to insinuate himself into the lives of this troubled family with disastrous consequences. However, "Panic Attack" is more than an excruciatingly suspenseful and fast-paced thriller. It is also a distressing portrait of a father, mother, and daughter who can no longer speak to one another without rancor. Bloom may have some talent as a clinician, but he is a deeply flawed husband and father with a hair-trigger temper. Dana makes serious errors in judgment that come back to haunt her, and to round out this dysfunctional trio, Marissa's selfishness and irresponsibility complete her family's descent into free fall. As imperfect as they are, however, these three people do not deserve to have a vicious and sadistic killer manipulate them and use their vulnerabilities against them. Reading the exciting and unpredictable "Panic Attack" is like watching a terrible car crash. We know that we should not stare, but it is difficult to look away.

FROM [...] 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 ev

Starr writes in a kind of urban noir, his novel seemingly predictable; meanwhile, he slyly twists and turns both characters and plot to deliver a tale of human nature run awry in the modern world. When psychologist Adam Bloom's daughter wakes him one night, whispering that there is someone downstairs, Adam grabs his gun against his wife's advice, shooting and killing a burglar. In full panic mode, Adam unloads his weapon on the intruder while the man's accomplice escapes. When the family housekeeper is murdered the next morning, the repercussions endure long after that violent night. The Bloom's are a contemporary family caught up in the usual distractions, self-absorption and too little time to pay attention to one another. Adam's wife, Dana, is chronically unhappy, now furious with her husband for not listening to her warnings and resorting to his gun, the marriage showing visible cracks. And twenty-two year old Marissa, a recent college graduate, has yet to find a path in life, resenting her father's suggestions that she get a life, hiding from responsibility by spending her nights drinking and partying with friends. Marissa reflects her parents' disharmony, in full rebellion as she pours her feelings into a blog, acting out as only the young and disenchanted can do. The shooting incident shakes this family from their already weak foundations, their lack of communication exacerbated by isolation. Starr writes of a family floundering in the wake of notoriety, the news media hounding Adam with endless questions. Nearing fifty, Adam has created no niche for himself professionally, his fifteen minutes of fame turning from opportunity to nightmare as he is labeled the next Bernie Goetz. As the pressures mount and a new danger threatens the family, instead of pulling together, the Bloom's nurture private grievances in a society beset with technological distractions and the availability of too much information, making them the perfect target for a particular predator. In this ragged journey from one impulsive moment of violence to a final confrontation, events are set in motion that have shocking consequences. In spite of advanced technology, the beleaguered Bloom family cannot relate to one another, each finding solutions elsewhere, setting the stage for a diabolical plan for revenge, as unexpected as it is clever plotting. Starr writes with a bite, his characters defined by their circumstances and limited expectations, products of an environment where consequences are ignored for the sake of a news cycle, a mosh pit of self-interest and rage, where action trumps thought, guns are ubiquitous and the Golden Rule but a memory. Luan Gaines/2009.