Fake I.D. in Hard Case Crime

May 15, 2009 Dan Schwent rated it liked it

Shelves: hardcase, cool-covers

Tommy Russo, an out of work actor with a gambling problem working as a bouncer in a bar, gets a chance to be part owner of a race horse. Only, he doesn't have the ten thousand dollars he needs to buy in. What depths will he sink to to get it?

While the story entertained me, I hated Tommy and couldn't wait for him to get what was coming to. He's a slimeball. Lying, stealing, lying, etc. I actually felt dirty reading the story. Finding a protagonist that you actually like in a Jason Starr book is l ...more

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Aug 16, 2009 Kemper rated it liked it

Shelves: crime-mystery, hard-case-crime, noir

Between this one and the other Hard Case Crime novels that Jason Starr co-wrote, I think that he may be the king of creating unlikeable self-absorbed, delusional criminals as main characters. He's a little too good at it because reading an entire book featuring one of these morons makes me feel like my own IQ has dropped about 20 points, and I start worrying that I'll commit a crime out of sheer stupidity like Tommy Russo.

Russo is an aging actor-wannabe working as a bouncer while losing every di ...more

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Nov 11, 2011 James Thane rated it liked it

Shelves: noir

This is another fine entry in the Hard Case Crime series. Tommy Russo claims to be an actor, but he rarely gets even an audition, let alone an acting job. While waiting for his big break, he works as a bouncer in a New York bar. Tommy is also a degenerate gambler with all of the character flaws that one would anticipate in such a person.

But Tommy dreams of bigger things, and his main chance arrives when, from out of the blue, he is invited to join a syndicate that is going to purchase a race hor ...more

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Dec 08, 2009 Timothy Mayer rated it really liked it

Tommy Russo is one of those people you casually meet at a bar or work. He's a sometimes actor, a full time bouncer, and a compulsive gambler. He's down on his luck lately, but that all changes when he meets a man named Pete one cold winter's day. Pete is also a small-time gambler, but he makes Tommy an offer he can't put away: for just ten thousand dollars, buy into a syndicate of investors and become the owner of a race horse. Tommy would nothing better than to join this group, but there is thi Tommy Russo is one of those people you casually meet at a bar or work. He's a sometimes actor, a full time bouncer, and a compulsive gambler. He's down on his luck lately, but that all changes when he meets a man named Pete one cold winter's day. Pete is also a small-time gambler, but he makes Tommy an offer he can't put away: for just ten thousand dollars, buy into a syndicate of investors and become the owner of a race horse. Tommy would nothing better than to join this group, but there is this small issue involving his lack of funds. No problem, the safe at the bar where he works has all the money he'll need and he has memorized the combination. And one other thing: Tommy is a clinical definition of a sociopath.
Jason Starr lists Jim Thompson as one of his influences and it's not hard to see The Killer Inside Me as an inspiration for this book. A friend once wrote that reading Killer was like having a conversation with a psychopath. Reading Fake ID turns you into a prison psychologist trying to figure out where this nice young man went wrong. But soon you discover the nice young man isn't such a good person. Not since KW Jeter's Mantis have I felt so trapped inside the brain of a seriously disturbed individual.
What makes the book outstanding is how everyone around Tommy can see him going over the edge. At one point he casually tries to hit on a police woman and the brief conversation is wrong on so many counts. Any fool can see the pick-up line is out of place and only going to put him into deeper trouble. Of course, from Tommy's point-of-view, a pretty woman is fair game and anyone opposed to him is an asshole. Tommy has had such a string of success with his natural acting ability and good looks, so he can talk his way out of any bad situation. But that luck is starting to run thin. It doesn'thelp that he's violent prone.
If I have one criticism of Fake ID, it would be the lack of background material on Tommy. How did he end up this way? Since the book is told from his POV, we don't get a lot of asides. There is some reference to child abuse as he remembers being knocked down the stairs by his father, but not much more.
Still, an excellent book and another fine production from Hard Case Crime. ...more

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Jun 07, 2010 Chris rated it really liked it

The best part about this book is that, from the first person narration, it is impossible to tell just how awful the main character is until about halfway through. You keep listening to his reasons for what he is doing and it takes a while before it sinks in that he is really amoral. He is also far stupider than he appears at the very beginning of the novel. Every time he makes a mistake, you can tell it's a terrible mistake and you want to groan at him a little. Overall, a fairly enjoyable book. ...more

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May 15, 2009 David rated it liked it

Shelves: noirboiled

I love Jason Starr, but Fake I.D. (2000) did not quite work for me. The cover of the Hard Case Crime reprint asks, "How far would you go to get what you want?," but I found it difficult to relate to (or feel sympathy for) the novel's protagonist, Tommy Russo, who is pretty much a pathetic creep right out of the gate. As well, I was not convinced by Tommy's character arc, either as a descent into some kind of psychosis or as the erratic behavior of a man with a metal plate in his head (which Tomm ...more

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