Penzler Pick, August 2001: His previous thriller, Heartbreaker, was a smooth slam-dunk of a novel. Now Robert Ferrigno is back with his sixth book--and he's still making it look easy. Those who don't already know Ferrigno's work-- especially fans of Elmore Leonard, Daniel Woodrell, Robert Crais, and Carl Hiaasen looking to broaden their horizons--should check out this tale of sibling rivalry and serial murder in sunny, sinister Los Angeles.

Jimmy Gage, the hero, is a journalist, and a hard-working one. But when he's on the job, he doesn't cover school board meetings, mayoral press conferences, or even Lakers games. If a story doesn't have some angle that can sharpen his skewer, offering new ways to puncture the pompous, satirize the starstruck, or engineer an exposé, he'll move on to the next lurid opportunity. He's also a take-no-prisoners film reviewer, which is the same as being loathed and feared in a town where just about every dental hygienist has a script in turnaround. And in case these responsibilities are not keeping him busy enough, Jimmy writes a column slugged "Media Whore" for his employer, the wholly disreputable SLAP magazine.

Savvy readers probably won't be shocked to find beneath Jimmy Gage's jeering exterior a highly moral guy whose cynicism masks--as cynicism often does--an all-too-vulnerable romantic soul. Unfortunately, when a vicious serial killer calling himself "The Eggman" starts sending Jimmy boastful letters about his crimes, the police see it only as a tabloid tease set up by Jimmy himself.

Flinch is a terrific title for a story in which every character is an antagonist of at least one other. Why is Jimmy Gage sleeping with his brother's wife? And why is his brother making a strange set of Polaroids appear and disappear? Who is going to look away first? Whose self-control is out of control? You'll have to read it to discover the answer. --Otto Penzler


From Publishers Weekly
In this engaging, darkly comic thriller, tabloid journalist Jimmy Gage returns to Los Angeles from a self-imposed exile and finds his ex-girlfriend, Olivia, married to his brother, Jonathan, a polished and philanthropic plastic surgeon. The brothers' absurdly competitive relationship the title of Ferrigno's sixth novel (after The Horse Latitudes) refers to a childhood game in which each tried to make the other flinch is ratcheted up significantly when Jimmy finds Polaroid "splatter shots" of six bodies in Jonathan's possession. Are the people in the pictures the victims of the self-styled serial killer Eggman, who took responsibility for the crimes in a letter to Jimmy? Or are they simply random corpses, part of the "background noise" of contemporary L.A.? A huge cast of quirky, interesting characters, multiple story lines and an indelible setting contemporary Los Angeles with its "blank sensuality and lubricious greed" contribute to the densely patterned mosaic of this always entertaining and often riveting novel. Ferrigno is a great interpreter of L.A., a city of manufactured dreams and unbridled ambition, and an incisive critic of its popular culture. Scenes and characters bristle with energy, and the conflict between the brothers is real and compelling. Ferrigno may bite off more than he can chew at times the tangled plot sometimes obscures the drama, and the mesh linking all the elements could be more tightly woven. Still, the expansive canvas, spot-on characterizations, excellent prose and incisive dialogue will please those readers who like their mysteries more complex and ambitious than the average work of genre fiction. Agent, Mary Evans. 15-city author tour. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Ferrigno's sixth novel (after Heartbreaker) follows an eccentric cast of characters through the gritty underbelly of Southern California. Jimmy Gage returns to Los Angeles after a year in Europe to find that he can't escape his past. Still at large is the Eggman, a serial killer who destroyed Jimmy's credibility as a journalist. The people Jimmy wronged are out for revenge and closing in fast, and Jimmy finds the woman he loved now married to his brother a successful plastic surgeon and Jimmy's main suspect in the Eggman case. It's up to Jimmy to catch the killer while watching his own back and nursing a broken heart. This thriller is slow to start, the plot and subplot have little to do with each other, and most of the action takes place in the past. Yet Ferrigno redeems the novel with his ability to develop memorable characters, believable dialog, and dark humor. His characters crackle with intensity, and fans of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen will appreciate his style. Recommended for large public libraries. Emily Doro, "Library Journal" Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
*Starred Review* Ferrigno's ferocious portrait of L.A. is the linchpin of this riveting thriller featuring the preternaturally cool Jimmy Gage, a reporter for the abrasive tabloid Slap. Here's Jimmy on spotting an insane West Coast trend: "Next month the nasty-cool thing would be cockfighting, and the richies would be pontificating about titanium heel spurs over drinks and yellowfin at the Five Feet Cafe." Jimmy's cynical, knowing patter can't hide the fact that he is a loyal friend and a devoted lover--even when the friend is overextended and always in trouble, and even when the lover is now married to his wealthy brother. Deep-seated sibling rivalry drives the plot--in his brother's secret hiding spot, Jimmy discovers Polaroid shots of the victims of a serial killer dubbed the Eggman. Is his brother a murderer? Is his marriage to Jimmy's ex-girlfriend merely another move in the head games they've been playing with each other all their lives? In many ways, the plot of this novel merely serves as a framework within which Ferrigno crafts superb characterizations of unusual depth; highly intelligent, rapid-fire dialogue; and, most impressively, his apocalyptic vision of L.A., where the rock bands sport names like O. J.'s Knife and even the sunshine seems menacing. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Praise for Robert Ferrigno

“Ferrigno can make you afraid, he can make you laugh, and he can keep you turning the pages.”
—Washington Post Book World

“A hard-swinging Southern California writer . . . Ferrigno has a gift for creating confrontations of high impact and his dialogue bites hard . . . Like other inheritors of the Hammett-Chandler-Ross MacDonald
private-eye tradition, Ferrigno balances the tough doings with a strong sense of moral outrage and compassion.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“What is distinctive about Ferrigno’s gripping action is that it is often set in a natural world whose appeal he makes the reader vividly feel.”
—New York Times

“Every few years another writer is described as the next Raymond
Chandler, but Ferrigno may be the real thing. [He] doesn’t craft elegant thrillers that peak precisely where you figure they’re going to; his just keep blowing up in your face. You can’t second-guess Ferrigno or
predict where he’s going.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Ferrigno’s crime plotting is terrific, but what’s most appealing is his photographic eye for L.A. life.”
—Chicago Tribune


Review
Praise for Robert Ferrigno

?Ferrigno can make you afraid, he can make you laugh, and he can keep you turning the pages.?
?Washington Post Book World

?A hard-swinging Southern California writer . . . Ferrigno has a gift for creating confrontations of high impact and his dialogue bites hard . . . Like other inheritors of the Hammett-Chandler-Ross MacDonald
private-eye tradition, Ferrigno balances the tough doings with a strong sense of moral outrage and compassion.?
?Los Angeles Times Book Review

?What is distinctive about Ferrigno?s gripping action is that it is often set in a natural world whose appeal he makes the reader vividly feel.?
?New York Times

?Every few years another writer is described as the next Raymond
Chandler, but Ferrigno may be the real thing. [He] doesn?t craft elegant thrillers that peak precisely where you figure they?re going to; his just keep blowing up in your face. You can?t second-guess Ferrigno or
predict where he?s going.?
?Entertainment Weekly

?Ferrigno?s crime plotting is terrific, but what?s most appealing is his photographic eye for L.A. life.?
?Chicago Tribune

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"At the center is Jimmy Gage, a tabloid writer for Slap magazine who's been contacted by someone calling himself "The Eggman," a serial killer who has laid claim to six unsolved murders around Los Angeles - except the whole thing is declared a publicity hoax by the police, who've branded Jimmy a publicity hound." "But then a year later, crime-scene photographs of the murders turn up in the possession of Jimmy's brother, Jonathan, a high-profile plastic surgeon. Although Jimmy acknowledges that this makes Jonathan a suspect, he also realizes that this might be simply one more round in the psychological games the brothers have been playing - and Jonathan mostly winning - since they were children. It's a twisted sibling rivalry newly charged by Jonathan's recent marriage to Jimmy's former girlfriend." "Throw into the mix Jonathan's impeccable standing in the community (as compared to Jimmy's lack of one) ... the female detective who can't decide which brother to believe ... and the thugs, con-artists, baby-faced brainiacs, and hard-edged women who are potentially lethal distractions in Jimmy's life." But the distractions will have to wait: Jimmy's committed to discovering the identity of the killer, and no one gets a better pay-off from his obsession than the reader of this edgy, fast-forward, unstoppably entertaining novel.

FROM THE CRITICS

Michael Harris - Los Angeles Times

In Flinch, Ferrigno's prose is as good as ever, and his craftsmanship even better.

Publishers Weekly

In this engaging, darkly comic thriller, tabloid journalist Jimmy Gage returns to Los Angeles from a self-imposed exile and finds his ex-girlfriend, Olivia, married to his brother, Jonathan, a polished and philanthropic plastic surgeon. The brothers' absurdly competitive relationship the title of Ferrigno's sixth novel (after The Horse Latitudes) refers to a childhood game in which each tried to make the other flinch is ratcheted up significantly when Jimmy finds Polaroid "splatter shots" of six bodies in Jonathan's possession. Are the people in the pictures the victims of the self-styled serial killer Eggman, who took responsibility for the crimes in a letter to Jimmy? Or are they simply random corpses, part of the "background noise" of contemporary L.A.? A huge cast of quirky, interesting characters, multiple story lines and an indelible setting contemporary Los Angeles with its "blank sensuality and lubricious greed" contribute to the densely patterned mosaic of this always entertaining and often riveting novel. Ferrigno is a great interpreter of L.A., a city of manufactured dreams and unbridled ambition, and an incisive critic of its popular culture. Scenes and characters bristle with energy, and the conflict between the brothers is real and compelling. Ferrigno may bite off more than he can chew at times the tangled plot sometimes obscures the drama, and the mesh linking all the elements could be more tightly woven. Still, the expansive canvas, spot-on characterizations, excellent prose and incisive dialogue will please those readers who like their mysteries more complex and ambitious than the average work of genre fiction. Agent, Mary Evans. 15-city author tour. (Oct. 16) Copyright2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal