Nk3: (Books That Changed the World)

A Hollywood novel of a very different kind by the author of The Player: A timely and "darkly satirical" dystopian thriller (The San Francisco Chronicle). Michael Tolkin is known as a master chronicler of show business culture. Now, in his new novel, the H LYW OD sign presides over a city devastated by a weaponized microbe that's been accidentally spread around the globe, deleting human identity. In post-NK3 Los Angeles, a sixty-foot fence surrounds the hills where the rich used to live, but the mansions have been taken over by those with the only power that matters: the power of memory. Life for those inside the Fence, ruled over by the new aristocracy known as the Verified, is a perpetual party. Outside the Fence, downtown, the Verified use an invented mythology to keep control over the mindless and nameless. In deliciously dark prose, Tolkin winds a noose-like plot around a melee of despots, prophets, and rebels as they struggle for command and survival in a town that still manages to exert a magnetic force, even as a ruined husk. "Intricate and cleverly constructed."--The New Yorker "Tolkin creates memorable images and searing moments and peppers the text with sly, dark humor, all while raising provocative social and political issues...NK3 is nightmare and satire, thriller and warning. Crafted by a master storyteller, it is a haunting parable about civilization marching forward, while forgetting what it leaves behind."--Los Angeles Review of Books "Remind[s] one of how easily people are turned into commodities, how slippery the grip on identity can be, how there's always someone ready to set themself up as the savior of civilization."--The San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author :
Michael Tolkin is an award-winning writer, director, and producer. His novels include "The Player," "The Return of the Player," "Among the Dead," and "Under Radar." For the film adaptation of "The Player," Tolkin won the Writers Guild Award, the British Academy Award, the PEN Center USA West Literary Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best crime screenplay, and was nominated for an Academy Award. Most recently, he has been a consulting producer and writer for the Showtime series "Ray Donovan."

Review :
Praise for Michael Tolkin: Michael Tolkin is an L.A. Antonioni with a sense of humor. "New Yorker" One of the most wounding and satirical of all Hollywood exposes: dark and mordant . . . A nightmare rendered with icy precision. "Los Angeles Times," on "The Player" A pungently witty and entertaining read . . . A perceptive denunciation of contemporary life . . . Tolkin proves himself a master of black comedy. "Washington Post," on "Among the Dead" So unexpected, so full of startling insights, that it seems to be blazing a fresh trail. At the same time, it reveals a character who is bound inevitably to a disastrous past. "Oregonian," on "Under Radar" Startling . . . There is a fearlessness to Mr. Tolkin s book that remains forceful. "New York Times," on "Under Radar" In its wry, acerbic description of the world behind the studio gates Tolkin s book recalls F. Scott Fitzgerald . . . and the vengeful comedy of Nathanael West s "The Day of the Locust." "Philadelphia Inquirer," on "The Player" "