Too Far by Jason Starr #BookReview #BlogTour

One night. One date. What have you got to lose?

Jack Harper isn’t a bad man, but he’s stuck in a loveless marriage with a mediocre job just trying to keep sober. The only good thing in his life is his son. When an old college friend introduces him to a new extramarital dating website, he tentatively reaches out to find a distraction from his misery. But when he goes to meet up with his steamy online date, he quickly realises it was a dire choice.

Soon, Jack finds himself desperately trying to prove his innocence for crimes he did not commit, and the life he once had – unhappy as it was – is nothing but a dream. Now, he’s living his worst nightmare. . .

Gripping and packed with shocking twists and turns, this intense psychological thriller plays with a basic anxiety we all harbour: What if one reckless decision could ruin your life forever?

It's my pleasure to be hosting the blog tour for Too Far by Jason Starr today. Many thanks to the author and to Katherine Sunderland from No Exit Books for inviting me and for my advance digital copy of the novel.

I don't know if I've ever read a novel with a more infuriating protagonist than Jack Harper in Too Far. If there's a bad decision, an unwise action or a wrong choice to be made then it's highly likely that he'll follow that path. Yet despite his foolhardiness, he's a character who I couldn't help but like and fervently hoped that things would eventually work out for him. Jack is an ordinary middle-aged man whose life hasn't quite turned out as he hoped. He once dreamed of being a musician but now has an unfulfilling job in real estate and his social life mostly consists of attending AA meetings. The one bright spot is his son, Jonah and the relationship between father and son is close and touching but the same definitely can't be said of his loveless marriage to Maria.
It's perhaps scant wonder then that when an old college friend smugly extols the benefits of a website for married people looking to cheat on their partners that he should be at least a little intrigued. Years of a marriage lacking in any passion or affection mean he can't resist having a look at the site. If only he'd stopped there... Instead, he makes a connection with a woman - FUGITIVE_RED - and their exchanges become increasingly steamy. Even at this early point in the novel, I was shaking my head in dismay as Jack makes one poor choice after another but little did I know just how awful things were going to become for him. I don't want to give too much away here suffice to say that what he initially told himself was just a harmless flirtation has deadly consequences.
Too Far is a thrilling crime novel but more than that; it's a book about a life spiralling completely out of control. As things go from bad to worse for Jack, I genuinely couldn't work out how he was ever going to get back on track. The twists and turns as the story progresses are truly surprising and there were parts that left me open-mouthed, particularly the brilliant conclusion. It is packed with drama and tension then but there are some scenes that are heartbreaking too; the speed at which Jack's previously rather ordinary life turns into a nightmare from which it's hard to envisage a way out is just terrifying and really quite upsetting. I thought the focus on Jack's mental health was cleverly and sensitively handled, there are some thrillers where the protagonist seems to bounce back from every setback but that's far from the case here as he eventually reaches his nadir when all seems hopeless. Too Far was one of those novels I was desperate to return to when I had to stop reading for a while and it even disturbed my sleep, waking me up in the night as my slumbering brain demanded another hit of this enthralling story! This is the first book I've read by Jason Starr and I'm thrilled to have discovered a new must-read author, I loved Too Far and wholeheartedly recommend it.

Too Far is published in the UK by No Exit Press, the ebook is available now with the paperback due to be released on 21st February 2019. Purchasing links can be found here.

Don't miss the rest of the blog tour, details are below.

About the Author

Jason Starr is the international bestselling author of many crime novels and thrillers and his books have been published in over a dozen languages. He has also co-written several novels with Ken Bruen for Hard Case Crime and his work, which appears in comics for Marvel, D.C, Vertigo, and Boom! Studios has featured Wolverine, The Punisher, Batman, Doc Savage, The Avenger, Ant-Man and The Sandman. Many of his books are in development for film and TV.

Starr's bestselling crime novels include Cold Caller, Nothing Personal, Fake ID, Hard Feelings, Tough Luck and Twisted City, followed by Lights Out, The Follower, Panic Attack, Savage Lane and his latest novel, Too Far, which will be available from No Exit Press in 2018.

He is one of only a handful of authors who have won the Anthony Award for mystery fiction multiple times. He was born in Brooklyn and lives in Manhattan.

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