Suicide Casanova

Bookmunch

Suicide Casanova is very New York, perverse and filthy, funny and charming, and utterly compelling. Nersesian may have taken some of his cues from a few disparate starnds of literature such as crime and the existentialists, but he fuses them in a new unique way. His writing is convincing and controlled, but never too uptight. I kept expecting the characters to turn unrealistic or the plot to unravel, but there was never any danger of that happening. The only thing I don't like about this book is the way it comes packaged with a video box for a cover, which just makes it look like it needs a gimmick to sell. In fact, this is one of the best new novels I've read in a long time.

Any Cop?: Arthur Nersesian is a truly engaging and fresh writer who's got things to tell you that are worth knowing. Especially if you're into porn flicks and S & M.

Philadelphia City Paper

A tight, gripping, erotic thriller.

Publishers Weekly

Nersesian (Dogrun) starts this erotic thriller with a bang when rich, middle-aged lawyer Leslie Cauldwell accidentally strangles his wife during a bout of rough sex, but the novel degenerates into a long, labored account of Cauldwell's obsessive relationship with a porn star named Sky Pacifica. The protagonist's creepy intensity builds in the chapters immediately after the death (which takes place during his youth in New York City in the early '80s), particularly when he hooks up with a gorgeous dominatrix named Cecilia and the lovers concoct an extortion scheme to blackmail a libidinous judge. But the tight, tense narrative unravels in a hurry when Nersesian turns his attention to Cauldwell's relentless pursuit of Sky, and the story becomes downright listless when the author describes their brief but tumultuous midlife affair. Nersesian has some solid moments in which he nails the noir elements of his whacked-out story line, and his characters have more than enough erotic foibles and flaws for a gritty suspense story. But Cauldwell's twisted neediness devolves into a series of rants about sex, aging and the marketing of beauty in the world of pornography. The subplot in which he pretends to be a fashion photographer and stalks Sky and her daughter proves to be little more than a lurid tangent. Nersesian has developed a cult following based on the underground success of his previous books, but this flaccid, erratic effort is forgettable despite some promising characterizations and plot lines. (July) Forecast: Quirkily packaged in a videocassette case, this novel should do best in New York City, Nersesian's hometown and the setting for all his books. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Literary shock-jock Nersesian (The Fuck-Up) returns with his true muse-pre-Giuliani New York City. Leslie Cauldwell, a wealthy lawyer, is a porn-obsessed geek- turned-insatiable sadist. We discover that Leslie killed his dominatrix wife, Cecilia, during a rough sex act. But Leslie doesn't wallow long and goes in search of the girl who set him on the path of decadence and excess-adult-film sex-kitten Sky Pacifica. Sky, now a suburban mom, is just as bewitching as when the two met 20 years earlier-and Leslie will stop at nothing to get her back. Leslie is a signature "suicide casanova," a man who will risk success and security by giving in to his baser nature. Unfortunately, Nersesian's keen psychologist's eye for deviance and his native's grasp of the gritty city can't save a plot held together by smutty talk and sexual interludes. Not recommended.-Misha Stone, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.