Why would anybody want to read a novel where the main character is a fiction writer? You could see where a news reporter or journalist could easily get involved in the lives of other people and end up in serious trouble, or even solving a crime (Denise Hamilton’s Eve Diamond comes to mind, among others).
A fiction writer’s work, by contrast, is solitary and self-absorbing — not readily the stuff of interesting stories. But get that author involved in some scam related to, say, the publishing industry, and you might have something. And what you might have, if you’re as clever as Adam Langer, is THE THIEVES OF MANHATTAN.
Ian Minot, the novel’s narrator, makes ends meet working at a coffeehouse in New York, while struggling during his off hours at short stories that, while showing occasional promise, are largely rejected by most publishers. His girlfriend, Anya, a Romanian beauty, is also a writer whose stories based on her childhood show more depth and insight — and hence more potential from publishers.
What really unnerves Ian is BLADE BY BLADE, a current, hot-selling memoir that everybody is reading and raving about. He swears that the autobiography of the supposed former drug addict and gang-banger is all lies and, in his words, a “bogus pile of crap.”
One evening, Ian approaches a regular patron of the coffeehouse — a well-dressed, generous tipper that he and his fellow employees refer to as “The Confident Man” — and strikes up a conversation. Not long afterward, Ian learns that The Confident Man is really Jed Roth, a former editor for a well-known New York publishing company. Roth has had eye on Ian for a while. He’s familiar with his writing, and offers Ian an unusual opportunity to advance his artistic career.
Roth reveals that he was the original editor of the ever-offending BLADE BY BLADE, and recognized the book for the fake it was. But that resulted in Roth losing his job, and now he is out for revenge. Years ago, Roth had written an unpublished novel titled A THIEF OF MANHATTAN about the life and high adventures of a struggling young author. His scheme is for Ian to revise the novel and sell it as a non-fiction memoir which, in Roth’s experienced view, will become a huge success.
Then, in the midst of the book sales and popularity, Ian will admit that it was a fraud. The resulting publicity, adverse at first, will eventually result in more curiosity in and publishing success for Ian’s real work than he could ever imagine. And Roth will revel in the wool he’s pulled over his former employers’ eyes, while enjoying a hefty percentage of Ian’s profits.
Not surprisingly, Ian at first turns the offer down flat. But his otherwise dead-end prospects soon lead him to Roth’s apartment where they set out to re-create the work under Ian’s byline, fine-tune the details of the scheme, and prepare to turn the book world on its ear.
As Ian gets deeper into the project, under Roth’s watchful and reflective guidance, Langer pulls the reader deeper and deeper into the concepts of art and artifice, truth and lies, and even fantasy vs. reality. Potentially heavy stuff, but Langer keeps it playful and humorous with huge doses of ironic wit and glances at how this same type of scam goes on all around us every day.
Literary references and in-jokes abound throughout. Not only is almost every false memoir or autobiography scandal mentioned (with particular reference to the most currently notorious James Frey, whose published titles serve as chapter headings), but Langer even creates a vocabulary of actions and objects using authors’ names (gathered in a glossary at the end — and you’ll no doubt try to gauge how well-read you are by guessing the definition of these terms). They add to the enjoyment of the nonfiction vs. fiction wrestling match carried on throughout the book.
All fine and lots of fun. But then, in the third and final section of THIEVES OF MANHATTAN, Langer suddenly cranks up the volume, elevates the action, and rubs the line separating truth and lies to a blurry smudge. It’s jolting, and yanks the already straining credibility an extra few feet. Some might argue that this was Langer’s intention, especially considering the near-swashbuckling nature of Roth’s original manuscript. Langer himself avoids the argument goes about the business of resolving things in Ian’s life — pretty much like you’d want a good piece of fiction to do.
Book lovers and especially fiction lovers — regardless of the genre — will find lots to enjoy and celebrate in this funny and thought-provoking novel. And from his book-crammed office in Heaven, Donald E. Westlake must be smiling and thinking, “Nice work, Mr. Langer. Bravo.” —Alan Cranis
Related posts:
- Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics
- Wings Over Manhattan
- Ghosts of Manhattan
- The Thieves of Heaven
- The Thieves of Faith
