Totally Killer: A Novel

by Greg Olear

Overview

A young woman’s temp job leads her into a winding and deadly conspiracy in this acclaimed satirical thriller set in 1990s NYC.

It was 1991, the era of grunge music, slackers, and Prozac. Taylor Schmidt had just arrived in the Big Apple—twenty-three, single, and jobless. Through the Quid Pro Quo Employment Agency she found the perfect job and the perfect boyfriend. But perfection has its price . . . and within a matter of months, Taylor Schmidt will be gone.

In Totally Killer, debut novelist Greg Olear offers a fiendishly clever blend of satire and suspense, pop culture and conspiracy. As Taylor makes her way in the big city, she is quickly ensnared in a plot involving assassination, politics, paranoia, Dick Cheney, the CIA, and Duran Duran.

“The title doesn’t lie—Totally Killer truly is.” —Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061959981
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/15/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	292
Sales rank:	965,987
File size:	668 KB

About the Author

Greg Olearis the senior editor of the lit blog The Nervous Breakdown and the author of the novel Totally Killer. His work has appeared in therumpus.net, Babble.com,themillions.com, Chronogram, and Hudson Valley Magazine. A professor of creative writing at Manhattanville College, he lives with his family in New Paltz, New York.

What People are Saying About This

Jerry Stahl

“Greg Olear stands out as one of the few ‘New Voices’ in contemporary fiction whose writing actually deserves the moniker. The title doesn’t lie—Totally Killer truly is.”

Colleen Curran

“I totally loved Totally Killer. It’s American Psycho meets I Love the ’90s. It’s The Firm with an ironic, sexy twist. Flawless writing, funny, sweet, and thrilling, Totally Killer is a fast moving page-turner that had me hooked from the first page.”

Brad Listi

“Smart, unexpected, and wonderfully savage in its humor. Totally Killer nails, without mercy, the mood and minutiae of a weary America at the end of the 20th century. Olear’s characters are perfectly emblematic of their times.”

Bruce DeSilva

“Lock Ted Bundy, Franz Kafka, and Terry Southern in a room with a typewriter and they might produce something like Totally Killer...This darkly comic, beautifully written tale of conspiracy, sex and obsession in 1990s New York City deserves a wide audience.”

Jonathan Evison

“Olear has created a veritable almanac of the 90s. Totally Killer is, well, totally killer. You’ll laugh. You’ll cringe. You’ll weep. You may even find yourself humming Whitney Houston.”

Editorial Reviews

I totally loved Totally Killer. It’s American Psycho meets I Love the ’90s. It’s The Firm with an ironic, sexy twist. Flawless writing, funny, sweet, and thrilling, Totally Killer is a fast moving page-turner that had me hooked from the first page.

Colleen Curran

Smart, unexpected, and wonderfully savage in its humor. Totally Killer nails, without mercy, the mood and minutiae of a weary America at the end of the 20th century. Olear’s characters are perfectly emblematic of their times.

Brad Listi

Olear has created a veritable almanac of the 90s. Totally Killer is, well, totally killer. You’ll laugh. You’ll cringe. You’ll weep. You may even find yourself humming Whitney Houston.

Jonathan Evison

Lock Ted Bundy, Franz Kafka, and Terry Southern in a room with a typewriter and they might produce something like Totally Killer...This darkly comic, beautifully written tale of conspiracy, sex and obsession in 1990s New York City deserves a wide audience.

Bruce DeSilva

… this wacky tale of capitalist aspirations run way beyond amok…[is] a dark, hilarious, and original fable, well worth reading.

Chronogram (Hudson Valley)

Greg Olear stands out as one of the few ‘New Voices’ in contemporary fiction whose writing actually deserves the moniker. The title doesn’t lie—Totally Killer truly is.

Jerry Stahl