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The Foul Matter of the title refers to the early versions of a manuscript that are made obsolete by editorial changes. In this book, the title also refers to the underhanded methods a publisher employs in an attempt to entice a best-selling author to join his publishing house. A wildly popular suspense novelist, Paul Giverney, is shopping for a new publisher. With his sales record, it is a safe bet that any publisher he chooses will be pleased to have him, so Giverney decides to test the limits Bobby Mackenzie at Mackenzie-Haak will go to in order to sign him. His demands are simple. Mackenzie-Haak must break its contract with Ned Isaly, a brilliant literary writer who garners only modest sales. In addition, Ned's legendary editor, Tom Kidd, must now become Giverney's editor. In response to this outrageous proposal, Bobby Makenzie decides that the only possible course open to him is to have Ned Isaly murdered, and he hires two hit men to do it. The plot twists and turns as bizarre circumstances unfold. Readers, writers, wanna-be writers, editors, and publishers are all spoofed as Grimes settles a personal vendetta against Knopf, the publisher that dropped her some years ago. Egos run amok. Posh restaurants are the arbiters of worthiness, hit men decide literary merit, and it's all a mad, mad, mad, mad romp through the hallowed cubicles of literary and commercial ambition. If you know the publishing world really well, you'll probably love this book. I'm sure many of the book's references were lost on me, and, at the risk of revealing my own lack of insider coolness, this book disappointed me. I found the characters caricatures and the plot slapstick. Most of all, I found myself wishing that Donald Westlake had written this story. He would have made it funny.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, September 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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