Heather, the Totality

August 7, 2017
Mad Men creator Weiner crafts a finely honed tale that highlights class conflict. Mark Breakstone, a Manhattan financier, and his charming wife, Karen, may not quite be able to afford a penthouse apartment, but the couple have a wonderful daughter, Heather, who grows to be a beautiful teen, smart and full of empathy for others. Both her parents cherish her, despite the normal disappointments, arguments, and misunderstandings. These dramas play out in their heads or in minor squabbles, rendering the Breakstones as pitiful and mundane as many other families, despite their wealth. In contrast, Bobby Klasky is a pitiless, textbook sociopath, with a drug-addicted single mother and a record of violence toward animals. Convinced of his superiority over everyone, Bobby chooses the alluring Heather, whom he first spots on a Manhattan rooftop from an adjoining building where he’s doing construction work, as the victim of his rape, torture, and murder fantasy, which he plans to carry out in the real world. Weiner somewhat telegraphs his final twist, but the results of that twist may still surprise. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency.

March 1, 2018

At just two hours, Weiner's debut novel is more of a novella, perhaps its length (or lack thereof) reflects his television expertise. Screen aficionados will certainly recognize Weiner's name: he's creator/producer/director of the wildly successful Mad Men and writer/producer of the groundbreaking The Sopranos. Keeping his multihat creative approach, Weiner is both author and narrator here, maintaining clear control of his latest project. His crisp, precise reading is (no surprise) spot-on, as he introduces the haves and the have-nots and asks audiences to witness what happens when their disparate lives intersect. Mark and Karen Breakstone are wealthy Manhattanites in a stale marriage. Their indulged and adored daughter, Heather, is now a teenager, old enough to voice opinions that are dismissive of the family's privilege. She's taken notice of a construction worker hired for the penthouse renovation above: Bobby with his abused and abusive growing up, his prison record, his matricidal past, his disregard for reality. Heather considers him as practice for empathy-tinged noblesse oblige; Mark recognizes him as a trespassing threat. Implosion looms. Who survives? VERDICT Libraries should prepare for demanding pop culture fans with literary leanings who won't want to miss. ["A razor-sharp, fast-paced dark look at the class divide. Fans of Richard Yates will enjoy this chilling addition to noir literature": LJ 8/17 review of the Little, Brown hc.]--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017
Weiner's award-winning writing and producing of such renowned television shows as The Sopranos and Mad Men is neatly evident in his quietly thrilling debut novel. Written in descriptive and illuminating scene-like snippetsthough nearly free of dialoguethis one-sitting read concerns the eerily shared delusions of a privileged Manhattan family and a man who stalks the periphery of their lives. Mark and Karen Breakstone met late in life, married, and had a daughter. Heather, so perfect even now, in her early teen years, makes life complete and is both the cause and the cure for the growing distance between her ever-striving parents. Occupying the floor below their building's penthouse turns out to be much worse than a reminder of the Breakstones' not-quite-there-ness when the top floor's new owner begins a major renovation that fatefully brings Bobby Klasky, newly released from prison, into the Breakstones' carefully constructed lives. The sense of doom is sharply rendered, characters are well developed, and their motivations are finely wrought. Readers will hope for more book-form fiction from Weiner.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Weiner's avid fans will pounce on his fiction debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

Starred review from August 1, 2017

Mark and Karen Breakstone, who live and work in Manhattan, marry later in life and have one child, Heather. As their daughter grows up, strangers continuously comment on her beauty and intelligence, making Karen overprotective. Consequently, Mark feels left out of the intense mother-daughter relationship. Heather is well aware of the escalating tension between her parents, and she is also disconcerted by the socioeconomic gap between her family and the people who work in her family's upscale apartment building. One person in particular, construction worker Bobby, catches Heather's attention as someone she could help, because his unusual appearance causes tenants to ignore him. But when Bobby's gaze lingers a little too long too often on Heather, Mark becomes suspicious of Bobby's intentions. VERDICT In his fiction debut, Weiner, creator of the Mad Men TV series (and executive producer on The Sopranos) delivers a razor-sharp, fast-paced dark look at the class divide. Fans of Richard Yates will enjoy this chilling addition to noir literature. [See Prepub Alert, 4/10/17.]--Russell Michalak, Goldey-Beacom Coll. Lib., Wilmington, DE

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.