Book Review – New York City, Fall 2001. And David Stevens should not be alive.
In the summer of that year, David was about to start a well-paying job, straight out of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, with a top New York investment firm called McTier and Longley Investments (MLI), which is located on the 80th floor of the World Trade Center. It looked like David was sitting on top of the world.
…And then the September 11 terrorist attacks happened, when two airliners slammed into the Twin Towers. David had the misfortune of getting caught when tower #2 collapsed while he was inside, and was supposed to be as good as dead. But, miracle of miracles, he was rescued from the pile of rubble, cheating death.
David eventually recovered physically from the tragedy at the World Trade Center; however, the emotional scars remained. He got PTSD, and lost many of his friends and future work colleagues during the attacks, especially his girlfriend Shawna. All he has left are his small apartment in Manhattan, his pet cat Chuckles and his high strung landlord Gigi, who is also an unlikely mother figure to him.
Socially, David’s life will take a surprising, yet quirky, turn. He ends up on the email list of Zulu, a rather odd, mysterious figure whose exclusive mailing list allows his selected recipients regular invitations to the most hot, swankiest parties in the city. That means cocktail receptions, product launches, top drawer boutique openings and the like. For David this means free quality swag, free drinks and free food, which he mostly stuffs the latter into the pockets of his jacket to take home for him and Chuckles to dine on. It also means connecting with female companionship, especially Trish, with whom he develops a rather tempestuous relationship with.
But when he spots a duo named Remy and Eren at one Zulu party stealing money and valuables from a number of the party’s guests, David gets suspicious of Zulu and his motivations for the parties he throws. And like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, David unsuspectingly becomes involved with Remy and Eren’s theft ring. At first he reluctantly enjoys the monetary rewards that comes with his involvement. But when another party theft scheme involves a much coveted Blackberry device, it becomes more dangerous and life threatening for himself and the few people he is close with.
Reisler, who also writes under the pen name “Stick”, has produced a highly readable novel of personal survival with elements of a spy thriller and a police crime novel with its share of surprises and plot twists. The character of David Stevens offers a rather bizarre approach to the tragic hero. He is rather sympathetic for what he went through on 9/11, but his sense of cynicism and loud, vocal reactions to every situation that is thrust upon him is like Larry David in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but taken up a notch or two. He’s pathetic, irritating and annoying, but the reader develops a sense of empathy for why he ended up that way.
So before you accept an email party invitation, read I Love A Good Party and proceed with caution afterwards.
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