Deadline: A Novel

by Steven Cooper

Book Overview

Investigative reporter Damon Fitzgerald is hot on the heels of the story of his career when he is strangled to death in his own apartment. But what kind of reporter lets a little thing like death keep... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0739456946
• ISBN13: 9780739456941
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Alyson Books
• Length: 295 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A new author on my must read list

Given that Steven is a "local boy", I was excited to see his book at Urban Think downtown. After reading it, I went out and bought his first two. Such an enjoyable and entertaining read. While the main plot is fun, fast moving and a pleasure to read, the "subplot" of life in heaven as a star is what made me stop and really think... I think the concept of what a shooting star is was worth the price of the book... This is one of those books that is a great read on more than one level.

Original, clever and thoroughly entertaining light mystery!

After reading his first two works, I knew Steven Cooper had a rather witty, offbeat approach to mystery novels. In his "With You In Spirit," the mystery revolved around a dead drag queen whose messages from the afterlife were often accompanied by a chorus of "I Will Survive," while his "Saving Valencia" was even stranger, taking the old saying "Think with the head on top of your neck, instead of ..." to an extreme. So, in "Deadline," I was expecting something original, clever and entertaining. What I wasn't expecting was the fun including a murder mystery among the best I have ever read. It not only kept me laughing and entertained throughout, but the ending revelation came as a complete surprise. Damon Fitzgerald is the openly gay investigative reporter at a Boston television station, who longs to free himself from writing what he considers to be commercialized "junk" journalism and instead tackle his lifelong goal of writing a great novel. His few false starts on the latter will never pay off, since Damon managed to get himself murdered just before he was to present a career-making expose' about how a bank failure is connected with a criminal conspiracy which resulted in the death of a young female attorney. His dry sense of humor intact, the deceased Fistgerald serves as the narrator of the novel, mixing a chronological telling of what happened, along with various musings about what things are really like after death. Those "insider" reports are especially original and insightful, often amusing, such as revelations that those "hang up" phone calls you get may be a deceased acquaintance messing with your head, and relating how he decided to have some fun with his best friend, acting as sort of the spirit "director" of one evening's sexual fantasy! Although obviously not meant to be serious, I'll admit the theories have me looking differently at the stars in the sky, to see if I "recognize" anyone.