Product Description
THE ACCLAIMED, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OFTHE GOOD GERMAN AND LOS ALAMOS RETURNSWITH HIS MOST ABSORBING AND ACCOMPLISHEDNOVEL YET -- A MESMERIZING TALE OF HOLLYWOOD,POSTWAR POLITICAL INTRIGUE, AND ONE MAN'SDETERMINATION TO LEARN THE TRUTHABOUT HIS BROTHER'S DEATH.Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier has just arrived from wartorn Europe to find that his brother, Daniel, has died in mysterious circumstances. Why would a man with a beautiful wife, a successful career in the movies, and a heroic past choose to kill himself?Determined to uncover the truth, Ben enters the maze of the studio system and the uneasy world beneath the glossy shine of the movie business. For this is the moment when politics and the dream factories are beginning to collide as Communist witch hunts render the biggest stars and star makers vulnerable. Even here, where the devastation of Europe seems no more real than a painted movie set, the war casts long and dangerous shadows. When Ben learns troubling facts about his own family's past, he is caught in the middle of a web of deception that shakes his moral foundation to its core.Rich with atmosphere and period detail, Stardust flawlessly blends fact and fiction into a haunting thriller evoking both the glory days of the movies and the emergence of a dark strain of American political life. It brilliantly proves why Joseph Kanon has been hailed as the "heir apparent to Graham Greene" (The Boston Globe).

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 42 reviews)

Richly atmospheric by Jody (Northwest Ohio)

5 Stars
November 16, 2009
When Daniel Kohler is fatally injured in a fall in 1945, his brother Ben is just arriving in Hollywood to make a film for the Army documenting the death camps. This is a subject close to home as Ben served in Europe at the close of the war. As he investigates the circumstances surrounding Daniel's death and works on his movie, the two are related in ways he never imagined. Mr. Kanon deftly weaves a number of stories into the whole--a small group of ex-pat intellectuals under FBI scrutiny, a camp survivor transplanted to the home of a film mogul, the subterfuge required for alternative lifestyles, tabloid journalism, being Jewish in post WWII America and the studio star system. This beautifully written book is sprinkled with real and fictional characters based on real ones and this world is skillfully evoked. As Ben navigates the maze of clues leading to the truth about his brother, his path is made murkier by complex relationships, loyalties and lies. Stardust is a literary thriller of the highest quality. Thought provoking and entertaining at the same time, it's a brilliant commentary on illusion and truth and what patriotism means.

Not quite up to past performances... by Barbara McArthur (Scottsdale)

3 Stars
November 12, 2009
I liked Los Alamos so much that the plot and characters are still vivid in my memory. I think that's what spoils Stardust for me. The plot plods and the dialogue is unending - I really can't conjure up much concern for any of the characters, either. After reading the back cover, I was anxious to get back stage in Hollywood at a tense time in history - and the added lure of a brother who may have committed suicide, or was it murder - gathered me in hook, line and sinker. Soon, I realized that I had some really heavy sloughing to do to get to the solution of the case. I whipped through The Good German and Los Alamos, so I was disappointed to find myself reading a bit, putting Stardust down - and not finding myself that anxious to pick it up again. And, isn't that a true test of a good reading experience? This wasn't a good one for me.

Thrilling/Mysterious Historical Fiction by Beth

5 Stars
November 10, 2009
It's post-World War II, and Ben Collier, on leave from the U.S. Army Signal Corp in Germany, has come to Los Angeles. His brother Danny, a director there, has fallen from a balcony and is now in a coma and near death. Danny dies soon after Ben's arrival, almost immediately after Danny awakens to beg Ben not to leave him. Ben discovers that this was not an accident and not attempted suicide. Danny was somehow involved in the beginnings of the "witch hunt" for Communists in Hollywood, and someone wanted him dead. Now Ben tries to be Danny and hunt for Communists, hoping he will learn who murdered him . At the same time, Ben is putting together a documentary. He wants the world to see what had been going on in the concentration camps during World War II. He has convinced an owner of one of the Hollywood movie studios to provide him with what the Army could not so he can produce this. Therefore, he is intimately involved with the goings on at the studio and with the people who worked with Danny there. Joseph Kanon, who has written four previous novels of historical fiction (THE GOOD GERMAN, LOS ALAMOS, THE PRODIGAL SPY, and ALIBI), once again presents historical fiction as thriller/mystery. So this book is action packed and hard to put down while the reader learns about this historical period. And once again I give Kanon's novel an A.

compelling human drama by Karen Dubinsky (New York, NY United States)

5 Stars
November 02, 2009
In his latest book, Stardust, Joe Kanon, the master of the historical thriller, adds a new chord to his work, transcending the genre and creating a compelling and exciting human drama. Stardust explores how people cope with love and loss; success and failure; the past and the future in the glamorous yet dangerous and morally ambiguous world of 1945 Hollywood. German emigres, movie stars, and studio heads are all implicated in a mysterious death that involves the world war just ended and the cold war just beginning; and, like the movies themselves, it's hard to know what's real and what isn't. Joe Kanon's craftsmanship as a writer, his historical knowledge of this unique time and place, and his compassion for and understanding of good people caught in bad times, makes Stardust one of the best books of the year.

A good mystery yet a rather slow building story by Archie Mercer (Yorba Linda, CA)

4 Stars
October 29, 2009
This was the first novel of Joseph Kanon that I have had the opportunity to read. I've heard great praise for his previous works, especially The Good German. So when I had the chance to read his latest novel, Stardust" I grabbed it. To be up front, I came away with mixed feelings. On one hand I found the characters well developed and interesting. On the other hand, this might possibly be the slowest, most dragged out development of a plot I've read since James Clavell's Noble House. The first half of the book is very slow and snail-like in its progression. There were times I had a hard time just staying interested. The story takes place in Hollywood right after the end of World War II. Ben Collier has found out his brother Danny has been gravely injured in what was presumed to be a suicide attempt. Just as Ben arrives at the bedside Danny wakes briefly from his coma, utters "Don't leave me" and then dies. Ben doesn't believe his brother tried to kill himself and is determined to uncover the truth. What follows is a mystery interwoven around all the political intrigue of the film industry in the 1940's, with both the communist witch hunt and labor union strife as main issues. What made this a hard book to enjoy initially was the much dragged out first half. To say the author takes his time to develop the plot would be an understatement. Each scene, each conversation, each introduction of a new character is stretched out over many pages. One example is Ben's first meeting with ex-FBI Agent Riordan. The conversation was no less than 10 pages long, most of which was Ben making smart-aleck and sarcastic comments every time Riordan answered one of his questions. That's another issue I had with the book. In the first half of the story our hero for the most part is just not a likable character. He's at times whiny, then sarcastic and offensive. There were times I wished someone would just smack him upside the head (which of course actually happens in the second half). As we get into the second half things begin to heat up. As Ben begins to determine the truth of what happened to his brother and why, he starts to morph into a more sympathetic character. Starting with an attempt on Ben's life the action begins to heat up as he must walk a narrow line between the political power of Senator's Minot's anti-communist committee and the loyalty he has for Sol Lasner, the head of Continental Studios. Somewhere mixed up in all of this is a murderer and Ben has vowed to find out who it is, even at the cost of his own life. As we move closer to the end of the book it truly becomes a page turner. Where the first half was hard to keep reading, the second half more than made up for it by being impossible to put down. Overall, I would have to say I ended up enjoying the book. It was a hard story to plod through at first but finally the pace picked up enough to keep my interest long enough to get to the good stuff. I would recommend this to most mystery fans. A good story with many surprises!

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