Slow Down

In the prologue of Goldberg’s frenetic first novel, Noah Spaeth sets out to explain how he was robbed of the best-director Oscar for his film Slow Down. Flash back four years to New York City: actress Nevie Wyeth introduces Spaeth, who dreams of becoming a famous author and filmmaker, to director Dominick Bambach at a Lower East Side bar. Bambach becomes Spaeth’s mentor, and while Spaeth plots to use Bambach, Bambach, a master manipulator, uses him instead. A mysterious yellow-circle tattoo, a deadly new drug called fast, and any number of would-be actresses, actors, and writers figure in the meandering plot. Spaeth twists and turns as he woos Nevie, spars with Bambach, and makes a risky deal with Bambach’s estranged wife, in a tale full of unedifying characters scrambling for the elusive, perhaps imaginary, brass ring. [em]Agent: Sam Hiyate, Rights Factory. (Jan.) [/em]