The Delivery Man: A Novel | 
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Product Description
The Delivery Man is an exhilarating debut—a fast, frightening, and eye-opening portrait of today’s lost generation. It is a love story set against the surreal excess of Las Vegas—and the artificial suburbs, gated communities, and freeways that surround it—where broken lives come to seek new beginnings and casinos feed the lust of tourists and residents alike. Ultrasophisticated local kids grow up fast and burn out early. After attending college in New York, Chase returns to Vegas and is drawn into the lucrative but dangerous world of a teenage call-girl service with his childhood friend Michele, a beautiful Salvadoran immigrant with whom he shares a tragic past. Over the course of one extraordinary summer they will confront the violence and emptiness at the heart of the city and their generation. At once stark and electrically atmospheric, horrifying and hopeful, The Delivery Man is a powerful indictment of a society in which personal responsibility has been abandoned, lust is increasingly mistaken for love, and innocence is an anachronism.
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Customer Reviews:
• An Impressive Debut 21 August, 2008
I really liked this little slice of Vegas. I think McGinniss showed Chase as the most subtle addict in the room, so subtle that I'm not sure anyone, certainly not Chase, knows exactly what he's addicted to. Not the simple stuff, the drugs or the sex. Maybe it's "home." Maybe it's Michele. Maybe the links to his sister. But, just like an addict, he can only stay on the wagon awhile before he starts breaking promises and going backward. For more of my rants and (mostly) raves on books, visit my blog at allthepage.today.com
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3FA9MUYT5D2C8
• Everyone Loves Watching The Downward Spiral 07 May, 2008
First of all, this book is filthy, pulpy, trashy, voyeuristic, morally ambiguous, violent, and sleazy. The characters are ruthless, unscrupulous, sex-addicted, drug popping, money hungry, reprehensible, irresponsible, dangerous and unpredictable. Yet, we love them because they have the two characteristics that make all sin eminently forgivable. They have youth. They have beauty.
And not one thing else matters. Oh yeah, except for the money.
Add in a character who is supposed to be the moral center of the book's universe and you can just see where this is going to go. But getting there with him is half the fun. Like watching Nicholas Cage drink himself to death, we get to see a talented artist who is in love with a beautiful prostitute try unsuccessfully to get past a tragedy in his life. We get to bear witness to the swath of destruction that he hacks across multiple lives by agreeing to be a part of her savage plans to make big money fast. It doesn't matter that his intentions are good, the fact that he can't quit this poisonous girl will be his destruction. That he is supposed to be the moral center means that his downfall will be swift and terrible.
Only at the end do you see a glimmer of hope, of recreation in the name of hate and revenge. He is finally transformed into something else, a monster with an eye for payback, his youth and his beauty gone but maybe a lesson learned and a hint of the coming revenge...but now I'm getting too close to writing a spoiler, so I'd better stop.
The plot is fast and the book isn't a towering force of literature. It is however a provocative read that will get you through a couple of airport stops or a boring vacation back home. It has good twists and insight into a world that we all hear about but that most of us won't ever really know. It promises Nabokov but delivers Tarantino, which isn't so bad.
I will say this though, the book had one scene that I thought was amazing, the insult (read also truth) game! That Chase essentially gets one chance to tell Michelle how he feels about her and what he ACTUALLY tells her...WOW! I almost dropped the book. That kind of honesty will get Joe McGinniss somewhere and soon. The book is shallow, gritty and compelling which begs the question, who do you get to play Chase in the movie? Who do you get to play Bailey, Michelle, Julia and Carly? Personally, I can't wait for one of my friends to read this book so I can have this discussion with them.
- Reviewed by customer ID: AY99S55VR1TLS
• Great Story 22 July, 2008
This is a great novel. I found out about it on Urban Outfitters.com and was not disappointed. The characters were great and I could totally imagine what life is like for them living in Las Vegas as a teenager. I can't wait until his next book comes out.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A16H1PUUAU3B86
• Very Disappointing 04 July, 2008
I had high hopes for this book as I have been a big fan of Joe McG, Sr. This is not his father's book. I can't believe anyone really liked it- I could only last about halfway through the book and I had to give up- it was that bad! (But maybe part of it was I had just finished a book by Edith Wharton, who CAN write.) Please don't waste your time on this book. Anyone could've written as "well" as this author.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3ENKDOBVJHENE
• Disappointing 16 August, 2008
The book offers an exciting plot based around high level prostitution in Las Vegas. However, you will quickly be disappointed by the extremely slow start and lack of depth to any of the main characters. The novel is dark, depressing and confusing with choppy, simple sentences. You cannot sympathize with any of the characters and most of the motivations for their strange actions leave you asking questions that are never answered. Finally, the ending was abrupt and leaves you wondering why the cover of the book looks the way it does.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2S5QIURU9LRK1
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