Written Out, Howard Mittelmark
Written Out, Howard Mittelmark
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Written Out

Author: Howard Mittelmark

Narrator: John Rubinstein

Unabridged: 7 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/01/2019

Synopsis

Roger Olivetti’s novels never set the world on fire as he had once hoped, but he’s contented himself with a comfortable living as an editor, an apartment in downtown Manhattan, and a lovely and bestselling novelist wife. Then the bottom falls out of the publishing industry and his marriage simultaneously, and Roger finds himself living in the basement of his mother’s house, in the Long Island town where he grew up.While he attempts his comeback, old romances are rekindled and old friendships renewed. Things are beginning to look up, but choices that at first seem reasonable lead to preposterously catastrophic consequences, until Roger finds himself looking down at the body of a woman he’s just murdered. Soon he’s scrambling to stay a step ahead of the local mafia and his mother’s book club, as they slowly puzzle out the identity of the killer.Written Out is a comic thriller in the mold of Carl Hiaasen that deals with questions of class, free will, and whether it’s possible to move back to the suburbs without losing your soul.

About Howard Mittelmark

Howard Mittelmark lives in New York City, where he works as a writer and editor. He is married to the novelist Sandra Newman, with whom he wrote the bestseller How Not to Write a Novel. He is the author of the novel Age of Consent, and his writing has appeared in numerous print and online publications.

About John Rubinstein

John Rubinstein made his debut as the title role in Bob Fosse’s Pippin. He is a skillful, AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator who has read works by Jonathan Kellerman, Orson Scott Card, Tom Clancy, and Gabriel Brownstein. Rubinstein is also a successful actor and has acted in the films Jekyll, Choose Conner, The Truth About Layla, and 21 Grams.  His television credits include The Young and the Restless, Greek, Desperate Housewives, Day Break, Criminal Minds, Cold Case, CSI and Law & Order.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Noah on January 25, 2020

Written Out is a fast moving, well written, and highly entertaining novel. It’s about a down on his luck book editor named Roger who gets sucked into crime and murder when failures in both his career and his marriage force him to move back to Long Island, the land of suburban sleaze (I come from a l......more

Goodreads review by Kim on February 21, 2020

This story, written in first person, (but not autobiographical, despite the Manhattan editor protagonist married to a naturally-gifted writer) is an absurd lark in the best ways, and delightfully pokes at several narrative tropes. It's madcap fun and reminds me a lot of the old Streisand/O'Neill mov......more

Goodreads review by Tim on June 30, 2020

I didn't especially enjoy this while reading it, and indeed there were times when I was skimming. but in memory it's growing on me. Imagine New York nebbish who keeps being presented with difficult choices, and keep on choosing the one that looks the most sensible but is in fact utterly wrong. Imagi......more

Goodreads review by Sheila on September 23, 2019

A famous writer might give life to words. A kind-hearted murderer might take lives that have no meaning. But the wannabe writer, might-be murderer, protagonist in this novel ends up trying to rationalize when it will be okay to kill. Drawn slowly into a life he never wanted, Roger Olivetti can only......more

Goodreads review by Tony on May 03, 2020

If you need to like your protagonists from the outset, this book is not for you. But if you can have fun listening to the justifications and reasoning of a man coming undone, especially as he falls from his semi-lofty literary perch into murder, mob entanglement, and the smothering embrace of an ove......more

Quotes

“Fans of the TV series Fargo will welcome this witty black comedy…[as] the hapless Roger only finds himself getting even more over his head. This darkly funny book, with its jaundiced view of the world of books and publishing, deserves a wide readership.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“When an audiobook makes you laugh out loud repeatedly, you know that the book and the narrator, here John Rubinstein, are exceptional…Through moments of levity, incredulity, and fear, Rubinstein captures every emotion. His most memorable scenes involve Roger’s wife’s new lover and the mob characters Roger must face. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

“The devil has never been more in the details than it is here, as Mittelmark ladles on such deliciously absurd bits as the role played by the cantankerous members of Roger’s mother’s book club in trying to suss out what the failed editor is doing with his free time.” Booklist

Awards

  • AudioFile Earphones Award
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