Flinch

by Robert Ferrigno

Book Overview

Frightening, feral, and funny, Flinch is a fast-paced noir set amid the frenzied freak show of Southern California. Tabloid journalist Jimmy Gage and his plastic-surgeon brother, Jonathan, have long... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375401253
• ISBN13: 9780375401251
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

4 1/2* Orange COunty, Painted Noir

"Flinch" is a fast-paced mystery detailing a cat and mouse game between a low-rent journalist and his brother, a high priced plastic surgeon who the journalist suspects of being a serial killer. The title refers to the relatively innocent sado-masochistic games of their adolescence, magnified in the present to deadly proportions.Ferrigno writes in an updated noir style, using crisp dialogue, oversized villains, and the sleazy/glitzy settings in Orange County, California. Although writer Jimmy Gage has the requisite cynicism and a balance of fair play and tough defiance, he's not strictly out of the Sam Spade mode either: His sense of moral outrage is a bit askew, and he doesn't always use the best of judgment. Additionally, the novel contains some very graphic violence, more gruesome than the traditional style.The novel moves briskly, unimpeded by the several minor characters and related subplots. Other than a romance with Detective Jane Holt that develops a little too quickly, the plot twists are both plausible and genuinely surprising. Ferrigno captures the outrages and pretenses of Southern California without stereotyping. Much better than his more famous "The Horse Latitudes," Ferrigno has written a brisk and believable story that grabs your attention from the first page.

Ferrigno's Best Since THE HORSE LATITUDES

THE HORSE LATITUDES (with the accompanying explanation) was one of the best crime titles since THE BIG SLEEP and I, THE JURY. FLINCH is Ferrigno's best novel since his smash debut. A brother vs. brother book, the setting is Babylon, California-style and Babylon is crowded. In addition to the brothers Gage there is a rich mix of subsidiary characters--nearly an ensemble cast--and the narration cuts between individuals and individual time levels, first revealing enormities and then depicting them in detail.The texture is dense and neatly-layered, the plot rhythms are perfect and the triple-climax conclusion is pure genre gold--all in all a lovely mix of pain and pleasure, tears and laughter, instruction and entertainment. This is the Sodom and Gomorrah Express, with all the right stops along the way and a satisfying conclusion.Like Ellroy, the farther Ferrigno gets from Southern California, the greater his capacity for nailing it. This is an up to date cultural tour as well as prime crime fiction.

Terrific Suspenseful Read

While one does become suspicious early in the book regarding "who" done it.....the mix of characters and their ultimate fates is an engrossing read. Ferrigno continues to excel !

An action-packed thriller

Jimmy Gage is a newspaper reporter and movie critic for Slap Magazine, a tabloid on a par with those sold in supermarkets. Amidst his office mail, he receives a letter from the Eggman, a serial killer who has slain six people. The Eggman brags that no law enforcement official has found a link between the homicides. The police conclude that Jimmy wasted their time and made up a story to gain notoriety for himself and his paper. He leaves town under a cloud. Jimmy returns home a year only later to find his brother married to the woman he loves. He also finds a set of Eggman graphic pictures in Jonathan's beach house. By the time the police arrive, the photos are missing. Jimmy and Jonathan begin a rematch of their cat and mouse game that ran the former out of town once before. Robert Ferrigno has written another action-packed thriller that sends chills up and down the spines of the audience. Jimmy is an interesting protagonist who remains likeable even as he rushes into trouble without thinking about the consequences. FLINCH is the ultimate cat and mouse game in which a blink may prove a lifetime for the loser.Harriet Klausner