Hard Feelings

The first ever Vintage Crime original novel in a brand new edition!

Things aren't going so well for Richie Segal. His prospects at the job are pretty miserable and, what's more humiliating, his wife's prospects at her job are pretty good. Richie knows he's a good salesman, but he just can't seem to land an account. And he's starting to drink again. And worry about whether Paula's seeing that old high school flame, or maybe someone new. It's a little early, at thirty-four, for a mid-life crisis, but that's pretty much what it feels like. And there're those unwelcome memories of the neighborhood bully, Michael Rudnick and what he did to Richie when he was thirteen. Richie Segal's feeling, well, abused.

Just when Richie's about as low as he can get, he runs into Rudnick on the street and knows exactly what he needs to do. And suddenly things seem to be going much better. That is until they get much, much worse. In the classic tradition of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain, Hard Feelings is novel that lets us into the mind of an ordinary guy capable of things that even he couldn't have imagined.

"Jason Starr is the first writer of his generation to convincingly update the modern crime novel by giving it provocative new spins and HARD FEELINGS is his most accomplished thriller yet.." —Bret Easton Ellis

" HARD FEELINGS dances a mesmerizing tango between reality and its menacing shadow." –Time Out New York

"Starr captures the madness of vengeance and deftly portrays a marriage that's all rough edges in this dark and disturbing novel." — The Detroit Free Press

"Starr has a hard edged style that is clean, cold and extremely chilling." – New York Times Book Review

"A throwback to the spare, snappy crime writing of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain." - Entertainment Weekly