Turnaround Hardcover – Special Edition, May 28, 2013

I've been reading Craig Spector since he was partners in crime with John Skipp. Since they've parted ways, he has produced such works as UNDERGROUND, TO BURY THE DEAD (both of which I have read), and now this one.To be honest, I haven't finished it. I had to put it away for awhile. Not because it is a bad book, but because it's just the opposite. It's too well written. The main character, Eric Best, is a man in a marriage coming to its fiery end. It is this part that hits closest to home. He paints -- all too well -- the disintegration of a relationship. The little ways that words and actions can tear things apart.Eric is a man whose life is on a downward spiral and that he does what we all wish we could do. He dreams of a better life. And in this particular case, it's escape into the very movie he's writing.There is a comfort in this novel, though. A reminder that we all go through the same things. That we all have the same fears, challenges, and dreams.Edit: Finished the novel. It's definitely optimistic. It's about reclaiming dreams. Reclaiming our lives. Becoming what we want to be instead of what someone else wants from us. What they want us to become. There is a lot of metaphor in the story.

Being a Craig Spector fan since the Skipp & Spector days, I was happy when I received this novel. I bought the Cemetery Dance edition, which is put together beautifully on heavy stock paper and signed by Craig. I also bought the Kindle version, because I couldn’t “mess up” the CD edition. The book revolves around a struggling has-been writer, Eric. He is trying to re-re-re-write a screenplay for a bi-polar studio exec while also trying to make ends meet. On top of that, he is in a failing marriage. As if that isn’t enough for a novel in and of itself, Craig has thoughtfully added a little caveat; as Eric works on his rewrites, he enters an alternate world of his own creation. I am not going to tell anymore, as you MUST read this book. Aside from the story, the writing is fast paced and the mood of the book is tense and keeps the reader off kilter. The blending of “worlds” is smoothly done and keeps you wondering where, when, how, why but most importantly, What’s Next?Buy this book and explore another great world thanks to Craig Spector.

A superb summer read! From the first moment "Eric" first enters "Scriptworld" I was hooked! Well done Craig Spector. These are characters we can all relate to, and when the unthinkable happens, we want to go with them on this bizarre journey.

TURNAROUND By Craig Spector 212 Pages Cemetery Dance $35.00 B- This one’s a tale that wouldn’t have been out of place on any incarnation of The Twilight Zone, albeit a more-than-typically profane installment of that anthology series. The title is a reference to the maddening movie-industry phenomenon of the project that falls through a trap door into limbo and is abruptly removed from the plans of everybody with the purse-strings, regardless of how many versions of the screenplay have been painstakingly written, and revised, and revised again, by some unfortunate wordsmith trying to get to the magical version capable of getting the final result produced. Normally, screenwriters are supposed to be paid for that work, every step of the way. Some producers hold out for the magic buyable version, forcing the scribe deeper and deeper into the hole for a payday that continues to recede into the distant and imaginary future. This is the dilemma of Eric Best, a once-successful screenwriter whose career , finances and marriage are falling apart, and whose endless go-rounds on one script for a producer who keeps asking him for “one more change” have him waltzing the edge of despair…until he finds that he can actually enter his creation, and for short periods live a live like the ones in the movies, far more glamorous and successful than his own. Meanwhile, a love story with a very needy neighbor ensues. The lean prose is uneven in spots, but Best’s increasing desperation and the personal stakes of his Zoney miracle keep ratcheting up the tension throughout.

Do yourself a favor and get this straight from the Cemetery Dance website (where, although signed and limited, is still very reasonably priced).If you come to Craig Spector's work expecting the bombastic shenanigans (yes, I said that--deal with it) of his work as part of Skipp & Spector (THE LIGHT AT THE END, THE BRIDGE, ANIMALS, etc), it's not going to go quite the way you think. Spector--in this tale of missed chances, reinvention, subversion, and acceptance--is still interested in pushing his characters and stories to the extreme, but on a smaller scale and, in his third solo novel, he's turned inward, into the head of his protagonist. It's a trippy, excruciating, grueling...and, ultimately, satisfying story that blends the fantastical with the psychological perfectly.So come get some.(This is an informal, freeze-dried version of the review, written by me, of the Editor's Choice review in the upcoming issue of JAMAIS VU, Issue 3, from Post Mortem Press.)

I first read this book a year ago and reread it just recently. There are few books I read twice and Craig Spector has perfected his craft. As a writer you can completely feel empathy for the main character. This is a story that reminds me that in reclaiming our dreams we can create a better future. This is the most poetic of Spector's work and I highly recommend reading it, and perhaps even reading it again.

this book was very easy to read, very fast moving and interesting, lots of twists and turns, interesting characters. This book would make an awesome movie!!!!!!!I think I'll purchase another book by Craig Spector.

A must own for any Spector fan! The writing style is brisk , delivering sharp cracks in the face with almost every page. Not a word seems wasted meaning you are not going to find any filler here. If you are having problems in your marriage I would recommend you not read this book. It will not help matters. Enjoyed it Mr. Spector, hope to be seeing more soon.