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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9781933354538
ISBN number: 1933354534
Label: Akashic Books
Manufacturer: Akashic Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 330
Printing Date: July 01, 2008
Publishing house: Akashic Books
Sale Popularity Level: 387971
Studio: Akashic Books
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Product Description:
Hollywood, the City of Dreams. Jack had one ambition: to become famous, a star--in exactly what way he didn't care. He just wanted to be like the people whose lives he followed in the tabloids: Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Tom and Nicole. Instead he entered a world much seedier than anything he could have imagined, a world of drugs and crime, whores, snuff shows, incest, deceit, and despair. His wife, Karen, a hooker, is found dead--murdered and disemboweled. During his search for her killer he meets Bella, a woman of immense wealth, and sees a chance to make his dreams of money and fame come true. As it turns out, though, his nightmare is only beginning.
With a new introduction by Dennis Cooper, Stokoe proves himself a worthy heir to the great tradition of California noir. High Life is an unholy hybrid of Raymond Chandler's best work and Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho.
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Rated by buyers 
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Wow, this is an amazing story line of living vicariously through the eyes of the other side, the kind we don't talk about but love to listen too...Just imagine doing and seeing all you have ever dreamed of or having all your wicked thoughts come true in the worst way...pretty scary to say the least. It puts a whole new spin on morbid grieving and searching for your own soul, only to find out you were capable of enduring the unspeakable...The style of writing is so well written, takes you places you love to be (High Life) and places you wish didn't exist like (Low Life) reality...Must read...
Rated by buyers -
The dreams of Hollywood - bright lights, money, fame, women, it attracts so many to pursue it. "High Life" follows Jack, one who wants it so much, so much that he'd be willing to do anything to have it. But it's not as glamorous as television makes it out to be; it turns out to be a dark world of drugs, sexual deviancy, treachery, and a dead hooker, who just happened to be his wife. Looking to vengeance for her death, Hollywood only looks to get worse from there. An intriguing tale of the seedier side of Tinsel town, "High Life" is highly recommended for community library thriller collections.
Rated by buyers -
After reading a number of mainstream novels I find myself searching for novels that meet the criteria for being truely disturbing. I'm talking about underground/so far outside of the mainstream that you wouldn't find this book anywhere near a bookstore & could only be bought online. After searching long and hard I came across this title as well as Matthew Stokoe's other title "Cows". Cows is equally as disgusting/twisted but I would say High Life was better written, more entertaining & moved along more like a mainstream novel but with unflinching detail. It felt like this book was an endeavor to disturb the reader and then disturb the reader some more; treat them to something that most likely wasn't experienced before. Like I said before, after reading a number of mainstream novels it feels good to read something of this nature, it's like breath of fresh air.(Alright, maybe not fresh)
When I very first read this, I was surprised their were actual books like this out there. There out there, you just have to look.(preferably with a magnifying glass)
Rated by buyers -
Jack wants to be famous and will do ANYTHING to get there. he encounters a few difficulties along the way. his prostitute wife is murdered and he's being stalked by a cop named ryan, who has a secret. he takes jack to a secluded location to watch what initially seems to be a couple engaging in consensual sex until a chainsaw is included in the act, which then turns into a live "snuff" show. he sees this as an opportunity to frighten and control jack and keep him under his thumb. "high life" is a fun-filled sordid journey through LA's gutter, if your idea of fun is murder, necrophilia, bizarre s&m sex, torture, and drug addiction. featuring a cast belonging in an triple x rated fellini [or tarantino] film. matthew really has a flair for the grotesque, with a twisted outlook on all of the denizens of LA.
jack hooks up with bella [ who's sexual appetite is the most deranged in a book filled with deviant sex] who has connections to the entertainment industry, which jack covets and is so obsessed with being a part of. what jack is willing to do seems to have no limits, as his search for fame and the world he becomes a part of becomes stranger and stranger. he has an encounter with an individual with an unusual hobby of photographing a very specific body part. there really are no likable characters in "high life", just varying graduations of decadent and amoral players, along with our anti-hero jack [even his endeavor at helping a desperate friend fail].this is pulp fiction noir at it's best. and I can't wait to see what matthew does next.
Rated by buyers -
This is the type of book that i will read and then want to read ten more like it. It has gratuitous sex= and violence, and it is about what we are all obsessed about: making it big in hollywood. Lush stylized writing takes the reader on a journey. Jack isnt the best guy in the world, but through a series of strange events, he gets what he wants in the end...this is a book that will appeal to fans of arthur nersesian, charles bukowski, carlton mellick and company and just about anything that is different...it is powerful and hard to forget
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