Slab Rat: A Novel (Paperback)
Zachary Arlen Post is an up-and-coming editor at It magazine, one of the glossiest jewels in the crown of Versailles Publishing. The son of socialite parents, Zack was educated at the right schools, is an excellent golfer....
Or maybe not.
He is really Allen Zachary Post from Long Island, a guy with a background too downmarket for someone who wants to move up the ladder at It. Despite his pose, Zack's ascent up the masthead has stalled, and his love life is complicated by two women: a cool English beauty with a hyphenated name and an eager, sweet-natured intern Zack could bring home to Mom. With the arrival of Mark Larkin, a determined, Harvard-educated editor who knows all the right moves, Zack's prospects for promotion grow dimmer. Mark seems to be the source of all of Zack's woes. Zack wishes Mark were dead.
Ted Heller has written a biting, outrageous story of how the rats that battle for dominance amid New York's skyscrapers -- or "slabs" -- survive and triumph, and the price they must pay to win.
Or maybe not.
He is really Allen Zachary Post from Long Island, a guy with a background too downmarket for someone who wants to move up the ladder at It. Despite his pose, Zack's ascent up the masthead has stalled, and his love life is complicated by two women: a cool English beauty with a hyphenated name and an eager, sweet-natured intern Zack could bring home to Mom. With the arrival of Mark Larkin, a determined, Harvard-educated editor who knows all the right moves, Zack's prospects for promotion grow dimmer. Mark seems to be the source of all of Zack's woes. Zack wishes Mark were dead.
Ted Heller has written a biting, outrageous story of how the rats that battle for dominance amid New York's skyscrapers -- or "slabs" -- survive and triumph, and the price they must pay to win.
Ted Heller is the photo editor and senior writer at Nickelodeon magazine. He has worked at a variety of magazines, including Spy, Premiere, Details, and (very briefly) Vanity Fair. He lives in New York City.
Jonathan Yardley The Washington Post Book World Uncommonly smart, funny, and dead-on....
Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A delightful, smart, twisted commentary on ambition, careerism, love, and modern life by the most likely newcomer since Nick Hornby to make you laugh out loud on a bus.
Christopher Buckley author of Thank You for Smoking A wickedly nifty debut by a young writer of mature comic talent....It's one hell of a fun read, and genuinely sexy, or as the magazine people it killingly depicts would put it, hot.
Bob Mack GQ Diabolically witty...Terrific writing...A wicked fantasia for the frustrated.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A delightful, smart, twisted commentary on ambition, careerism, love, and modern life by the most likely newcomer since Nick Hornby to make you laugh out loud on a bus.
Christopher Buckley author of Thank You for Smoking A wickedly nifty debut by a young writer of mature comic talent....It's one hell of a fun read, and genuinely sexy, or as the magazine people it killingly depicts would put it, hot.
Bob Mack GQ Diabolically witty...Terrific writing...A wicked fantasia for the frustrated.