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The Fan Club
Four men form a fan club devoted to worshipping actress Sharon Fields, a blond bombshell. Eventually the club kidnaps Sharon, expecting her to fall in love with them. However, she does not become enamored of them, and they take turns raping her. She proves more intelligent than her captors, and "cooperates" with them, allowing her to survive and eventually triumph over them. Wallace brilliantly shows how four normal" representative" Americans can be corrupted to such an extent following what seemed at first innocent dreams. It also brilliantly explores how social norms and pressures can lead you to do things normal society will consider immoral and unthinkable. It is also fascinatingly portrays the story of four individuals who commit kidnapping, rape, and extortion but could still be sympathized by the readers. It is perhaps because no matter to what extent their character falls down it essentially happens in such a seemingly natural way that it appears plausible that most of us would have done the same thing have we been in their place. Interestingly their immoral acts have not been justified by wrongs done to them by the society but just a natural but bizzare unfolding of events and group dynamics. Also the four characters to the end retain some humanness about them.
627 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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958 people want to read
About the author
Irving Wallace
182 books293 followersIrving Wallace was an American bestselling author and screenwriter. His extensively researched books included such page-turners as The Chapman Report (1960), about human sexuality; The Prize (1962), a fictional behind-the-scenes account of the Nobel Prizes; The Man, about a black man becoming president of the U.S. in the 1960s; and The Word (1972), about the discovery of a new gospel.
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois. Wallace grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was the father of Olympic historian David Wallechinsky and author Amy Wallace.
Wallace began selling stories to magazines when he was a teenager. In World War II Wallace served in the Frank Capra unit in Fort Fox along with Theodor Seuss Geisel - more popularly known as Dr Seuss - and continued to write for magazines. He also served in the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Force. In the years immediately following World war II Wallace became a Hollywood screenwriter. He collaborated on such films as The West Point Story (1950), Split Second (1953),and Meet Me at the Fair (1953).
After several years in Hollywood, he devoted himself full-time to writing books. Wallace published 33 books during his lifetime.
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois. Wallace grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was the father of Olympic historian David Wallechinsky and author Amy Wallace.
Wallace began selling stories to magazines when he was a teenager. In World War II Wallace served in the Frank Capra unit in Fort Fox along with Theodor Seuss Geisel - more popularly known as Dr Seuss - and continued to write for magazines. He also served in the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Force. In the years immediately following World war II Wallace became a Hollywood screenwriter. He collaborated on such films as The West Point Story (1950), Split Second (1953),and Meet Me at the Fair (1953).
After several years in Hollywood, he devoted himself full-time to writing books. Wallace published 33 books during his lifetime.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
November 11, 2021
Emocionante lectura. La leí hace tiempo y recuerdo haber disfrutado mucho, no tardaré en volverla a leer. Muy recomendable.
February 12, 2025
First published in 1974, The Fan Club became a best seller, but definitely has not aged very well. The story centers on Sharon Fields, the biggest heartthrob in Hollywood. Wallace compares her repeated to Marilyn Monroe, etc. Anyway, one day at a bar in a bowling alley, a news flash comes on the tube about her latest film. Four guys at the end of the bar get to talking about her: an aging accountant, an insurance salesman, a mechanic and Monroe, a wanna be writer who is her self-proclaimed biggest fan. To cut to the chase, Monroe tells the three other guys that he has thought up a way to 'met' her, and is sure Sharon would be thrilled to hang with them. The others scoff, but a few days later, they meet to discuss it once again...
Basically, and inexplicably, they start planning on a way to 'kidnap' her and bring her to a love nest for a few weeks of hot sex. How and why they thought she would play along is the issue. Malone is perhaps simply delusional; he thinks once she meets some 'salt of the Earth' guys, she will have a ball. The Mechanic, a ruthless bastard, is under no illusions- he just wants to fuck her over and over. The other two? Maybe curiosity. They all see themselves as victims of society while Sharon has life on a silver platter.
Wallace oh so slowly moves this one along. At over 600 pages of small font, this is a doorstop for sure. It takes over 200 pages before they make the snatch of Sharon!! Once they have her, things start to unravel (surprise!). No, she is not pleased at all, and being gang-raped over and over is not her idea of a good time. Can she turn the tide and escape with her life?
How this became a best seller boggles the mind. Perhaps the sexual revolution in the 60s/70s made such novels possible, but jeez. I cannot think of anyone I would recommend this to. I was hoping after slogging through 600 pages the denouement would be killer (e.g., some good old fashion revenge), but this ended with a whimper. 1.5 clueless stars.
Basically, and inexplicably, they start planning on a way to 'kidnap' her and bring her to a love nest for a few weeks of hot sex. How and why they thought she would play along is the issue. Malone is perhaps simply delusional; he thinks once she meets some 'salt of the Earth' guys, she will have a ball. The Mechanic, a ruthless bastard, is under no illusions- he just wants to fuck her over and over. The other two? Maybe curiosity. They all see themselves as victims of society while Sharon has life on a silver platter.
Wallace oh so slowly moves this one along. At over 600 pages of small font, this is a doorstop for sure. It takes over 200 pages before they make the snatch of Sharon!! Once they have her, things start to unravel (surprise!). No, she is not pleased at all, and being gang-raped over and over is not her idea of a good time. Can she turn the tide and escape with her life?
How this became a best seller boggles the mind. Perhaps the sexual revolution in the 60s/70s made such novels possible, but jeez. I cannot think of anyone I would recommend this to. I was hoping after slogging through 600 pages the denouement would be killer (e.g., some good old fashion revenge), but this ended with a whimper. 1.5 clueless stars.
December 12, 2017
This was a great book! Very thought provoking and emotional. I read this a long time ago and it has stayed with me. I plan to read it again, hopefully in the near future!
October 2, 2021
WTF did I just read?? This was another novel that peaked in the top ten of NYT Bestsellers circa 1974. How? How? Let me start by saying Irving Wallace can be long winded, so you can guess I skimmed quite a bit towards the end when he kept repeating information that the reader already had under their belt. By this point in his writing career and with several bestsellers notched on his typewriter, he could get away with rambling. But I digress... I seriously doubt this book would've received any bestseller acclaim in this day and age. It's brutal and misogynistic, with an ending that wasn't nearly as satisfying as I hoped it would be. Basic plot: 4 men decide they've been dealt a shitty hand in life, so they take it upon themselves to kidnap super starlet Sharon Fields to satisfy their urges (she's compared to Monroe, Harlow, Liz Taylor...you get the picture). The aggravating part is they feel they are doing NOTHING wrong. They don't even refer to it as a kidnapping, and agree that if they can't persuade her to bed down with them, then they'll set her free. Uh huh. You can guess where that goes. I felt like I was reading a literary version of the film I Spit On Your Grave for a few hundred pages and was expecting a brutal revenge story. Without giving too much away, there was a small amount of that, but these guys deserved a shit-ton more for their exploits. I swung between two and three stars. Wallace is good at characterization (Kyle Shively was the epitome of male chauvinism and brutality not just towards women, but to life itself). However, the momentum of the novel and the payoff at the end, with an ending that makes you say, "Seriously?!", lowered it to two.
October 7, 2017
Ugh. This is the one where I decided never to read Irving Wallace again. It would never be published today, thankfully. The reason I flashed back on this book is because another goodreads reader just gave a 5-star review to Stephen King's "Gerald's Game", which is the one where I decided never to read Stephen King again. Hey, to each his own! That's the great thing about goodreads.
May 18, 2009
This was a great plot and story and still to this day. The cleverness of the ending is to be applauded.
February 5, 2017
This was recommended to me by James Ellroy, who has read it three times. Ellroy jokingly nicknamed Wallace "Irv The Perv" and it fits. The type of top notch trash novel that sold like crazy in the 70s, and probably wouldn't be published today. It is completely dated and of its time, but the characters are perfectly realized and Wallace's insight into the alienation of the 1970s working class man is unique. Some of the twists and turns are familiar, as if tv and movies have stolen from The Fan Club for decades.
October 23, 2020
Reading a bestseller is at least partially a sociological experience as well as a literary one. It’s a snapshot of something that held the interest of a sizeable number of people at a given time and gives the books so designated a kind of permanent distinction unrelated to any merits they may (or more often may not) possess as literature. The Fan Club made the list (just, at #10) in 1974, a year and a decade after “sexual intercourse began” (according to Philip Larkin), and the book seems to be in a kind of dialogue with popular contemporary novels on the subject of sex. It can be seen as a commentary on increasingly popular “bodice rippers” like The Flame and the Flower and Sweet Savage Love, and is perhaps an indication of a growing awareness of a dark side to sexual liberation not evident or emphasized in sex-positive books like Fear of Flying (which became a bestseller in paperback in the same year) and the non-fiction bestsellers Joy of Sex and More Joy of Sex; a year later Looking for Mr. Goodbar would be #4 on the list.
The Collector is an obvious predecessor here, but rather than Fowles' almost asexual abductor, Wallace gives us a cross-section of "red blooded" American males who very much have sex on their minds when they abduct the world-famous cinematic sex symbol Sharon Fields. After a far too lengthy set-up, once the abduction takes place Wallace quickly deflates the bodice-ripper fantasy, entering into Fields' point-of-view to give a realistic portrayal of her rape and her reaction to it. Once Fields realizes she is in a life-or-death situation, the novel becomes a kind of psychological thriller as Fields tries to manipulate her captors into a level of complacency in order to discover their identities and the location to which she's been taken. In Fields eyes, Wallace's cross section of US male types - the Writer, the Accountant, the Mechanic, the Insurance Salesman - also becomes a catalogue of male sexual dysfunction and self-delusion.
I’m really conflicted about how to rate this book as a novel. It puts the reader through a number of reactions and it was only toward the end, that I had a good handle on where the story would lead.
In the early pages, the elaborate set-up and preparation for the abduction is reminiscent of heist novels like The Killing, the kind of story where the reader is encouraged to identify, to some extent at least, with the criminals. There also seems to be a perverse kind of throwback to boys adventure stories like Journey to the Centre of the Earth where a group a men with different skills and experiences team up to accomplish some adventuresome goal; I think Wallace intended this: at one point he explicitly mentions The Lost World and has named one of his protagonists “Malone”. But any identification established in the first section is shattered once the abductors turn into gang rapists – at that point the novel turns into a kind of adult American Lord of the Flies.
So, a well plotted book that keeps the reader off-balance for much of its length. And the story remains satisfying even when it takes a few predictable turns toward the end. But this book is atrociously written – far too many words are used to describe everything, much of it irrelevant, such as the interiors of rooms which are only briefly the scene of any action or the detailed movements making up inconsequential actions on the part of the characters. Because much of the action is seen through the point-of-view of the writer, Malone, to the extent of given extended excerpts from his notebooks, Wallace also indulges in frequent data dumps, stopping the action for some historical trivia or irrelevant elaboration of peripheral matters. An effective thriller could be made of this material that would probably be one-third of its published length.
The Collector is an obvious predecessor here, but rather than Fowles' almost asexual abductor, Wallace gives us a cross-section of "red blooded" American males who very much have sex on their minds when they abduct the world-famous cinematic sex symbol Sharon Fields. After a far too lengthy set-up, once the abduction takes place Wallace quickly deflates the bodice-ripper fantasy, entering into Fields' point-of-view to give a realistic portrayal of her rape and her reaction to it. Once Fields realizes she is in a life-or-death situation, the novel becomes a kind of psychological thriller as Fields tries to manipulate her captors into a level of complacency in order to discover their identities and the location to which she's been taken. In Fields eyes, Wallace's cross section of US male types - the Writer, the Accountant, the Mechanic, the Insurance Salesman - also becomes a catalogue of male sexual dysfunction and self-delusion.
I’m really conflicted about how to rate this book as a novel. It puts the reader through a number of reactions and it was only toward the end, that I had a good handle on where the story would lead.
In the early pages, the elaborate set-up and preparation for the abduction is reminiscent of heist novels like The Killing, the kind of story where the reader is encouraged to identify, to some extent at least, with the criminals. There also seems to be a perverse kind of throwback to boys adventure stories like Journey to the Centre of the Earth where a group a men with different skills and experiences team up to accomplish some adventuresome goal; I think Wallace intended this: at one point he explicitly mentions The Lost World and has named one of his protagonists “Malone”. But any identification established in the first section is shattered once the abductors turn into gang rapists – at that point the novel turns into a kind of adult American Lord of the Flies.
So, a well plotted book that keeps the reader off-balance for much of its length. And the story remains satisfying even when it takes a few predictable turns toward the end. But this book is atrociously written – far too many words are used to describe everything, much of it irrelevant, such as the interiors of rooms which are only briefly the scene of any action or the detailed movements making up inconsequential actions on the part of the characters. Because much of the action is seen through the point-of-view of the writer, Malone, to the extent of given extended excerpts from his notebooks, Wallace also indulges in frequent data dumps, stopping the action for some historical trivia or irrelevant elaboration of peripheral matters. An effective thriller could be made of this material that would probably be one-third of its published length.
April 20, 2022
I bought a book due to it’s non-standard old-fashioned cover just as a gift to my friend. To my surprise, this novel appears to be a great psychological drama. It covers the topics of class inequality, human motivations, what people can do once there is a precedent like “she has been entered once, then what’s the difference”. How people can persuade themselves that they are not guilty and not doing anything wrong by “I’m not doing anything that you don’t know about.”. And what is quite curious, despite quite predictable plot,it is so interesting to read because of how the characters are revealed and because you do really believe that similar can happen in real life.
October 23, 2014
Four men from different walks of life meet in a bar. They find that they are united by their admiration for the actress Sharon Fields, who started as a small B grade actor and later achieved prominence. Their admiration turns to obsession, especially to the master mind Mallone. Slowly they come out with plans to kidnap her, hold her captive for a week, and make her willing to have a physical relationship with each. But plans never go smooth; after kidnapping and imprisoning her, Shively, the most ruthless of all, can't wait for her to acquise. What follows is a chillingly deplorable story of abuse, and how one woman, considered to be a beauty without brains, in spite of her captivity and physical abuse, tries and succeeds to escape from the abusers using psychological rather than physical warfare. The book does contain mature adult content and is fraught with violence of words and action, and is definitely not for the faint hearted.
December 22, 2020
Este libro me ha dejado con una sensación extraña, a pesar de que la premisa es interesante y siento que todo está muy bien descrito en ningún momento sentí reales a los personajes y siento que dejó muchas cosas importantes a la coincidencia o suerte.
En esta historia 4 hombres se unen para planear el secuestro de una estrella de cine que es el símbolo sexual más importante del momento, uno de ellos (y quien se encarga de convencer al resto) ha estado obsesionado con ella desde hace años y cree conocerla mejor que cualquier otro y que podrá convencerla de que son el uno para el otro.
Desde hace años la tecnología y la prensa nos han hecho creer que podemos saber mucho de una persona por lo que comenta o publica, cuando es una realidad que solo es una pequeña parte (o incluso una completa mentira) de lo que somos realmente.
Por último, el final me pareció algo predecible y no me dejó satisfecha del todo.
En esta historia 4 hombres se unen para planear el secuestro de una estrella de cine que es el símbolo sexual más importante del momento, uno de ellos (y quien se encarga de convencer al resto) ha estado obsesionado con ella desde hace años y cree conocerla mejor que cualquier otro y que podrá convencerla de que son el uno para el otro.
Desde hace años la tecnología y la prensa nos han hecho creer que podemos saber mucho de una persona por lo que comenta o publica, cuando es una realidad que solo es una pequeña parte (o incluso una completa mentira) de lo que somos realmente.
Por último, el final me pareció algo predecible y no me dejó satisfecha del todo.
July 21, 2022
this sure is a blast from the past. sometimes I like to reread books I read as a child and see how they still hold up. I'm pretty sure that for it's time, this book was risque... not so much anymore. still, I loved listening to it.
4 men, obsessed with a movie star, kidnap her and agree to lock her away for two weeks (so they can have some fun with her).
now, you can only imagine what 4 men do to a beautiful, sexy actress, so if you read this one, go into it well aware this book is sexual, and not in the voluntary sense
4 men, obsessed with a movie star, kidnap her and agree to lock her away for two weeks (so they can have some fun with her).
now, you can only imagine what 4 men do to a beautiful, sexy actress, so if you read this one, go into it well aware this book is sexual, and not in the voluntary sense
April 28, 2023
Valoración exacta: 5/10
Leer The Fan Club fue una experiencia de contrastes: hubo aspectos del mismo que me gustaron mucho, mientras que otros realmente me molestaron.
Es un relato elaborado de forma muy minuciosa, lo cual en principio es bueno. Por ejemplo: la historia trata de un grupo de hombres que intenta raptar a una de las actrices más importantes del momento, y el plan es desarrollado hasta en sus mínimos detalles, lo cual es asombroso. Pero también, esta minuciosidad hace que los primeros capítulos resulten casi insoportablemente lentos. Más de doscientas páginas de las 663 que tiene mi edición se van en charlas y preparativos, sin que pase absolutamente nada relevante para la trama. Llega un punto en el que estás rogando que comience la acción de una vez.
Pasado ese primer momento, la historia gana ostensiblemente en ritmo. Sobre todo la segunda mitad, cuando se convierte en un auténtico thriller de acción y suspenso.
Otra cosa que me chocó de la novela, en este caso desde el comienzo hasta el fin, fueron los diálogos: son demasiado correctos, y por eso carecen de la frescura del habla cotidiana y resultan acartonados, poco naturales y plagados de lugares comunes. No sé si es un problema de la obra original o resultado de una mala traducción, pero afectan mucho la verosimilitud de la obra. La gente real no dice cosas como: "desde luego que siento el deseo de entregarme a tales deseos, pero me lo impiden distintos factores". ¿Quién habla así? Y si no te crees el diálogo, no te crees a los personajes que hay detrás, y por último terminas descreyendo de toda la historia.
Y, por último, el final: tampoco me enloquece. Para evitar los spoilers, solo diré que se trata de un final que posiblemente se escribió pensando en la película. No olvidemos que Wallace era, ante todo, un autor de best sellers, y seguramente ya tenía en mente la versión hollywoodense de su historia. Se nota, sobre todo, en la intención de darle un "final feliz" a la novela, sin importar que resultara un poco -o bastante- forzado.
Leer The Fan Club fue una experiencia de contrastes: hubo aspectos del mismo que me gustaron mucho, mientras que otros realmente me molestaron.
Es un relato elaborado de forma muy minuciosa, lo cual en principio es bueno. Por ejemplo: la historia trata de un grupo de hombres que intenta raptar a una de las actrices más importantes del momento, y el plan es desarrollado hasta en sus mínimos detalles, lo cual es asombroso. Pero también, esta minuciosidad hace que los primeros capítulos resulten casi insoportablemente lentos. Más de doscientas páginas de las 663 que tiene mi edición se van en charlas y preparativos, sin que pase absolutamente nada relevante para la trama. Llega un punto en el que estás rogando que comience la acción de una vez.
Pasado ese primer momento, la historia gana ostensiblemente en ritmo. Sobre todo la segunda mitad, cuando se convierte en un auténtico thriller de acción y suspenso.
Otra cosa que me chocó de la novela, en este caso desde el comienzo hasta el fin, fueron los diálogos: son demasiado correctos, y por eso carecen de la frescura del habla cotidiana y resultan acartonados, poco naturales y plagados de lugares comunes. No sé si es un problema de la obra original o resultado de una mala traducción, pero afectan mucho la verosimilitud de la obra. La gente real no dice cosas como: "desde luego que siento el deseo de entregarme a tales deseos, pero me lo impiden distintos factores". ¿Quién habla así? Y si no te crees el diálogo, no te crees a los personajes que hay detrás, y por último terminas descreyendo de toda la historia.
Y, por último, el final: tampoco me enloquece. Para evitar los spoilers, solo diré que se trata de un final que posiblemente se escribió pensando en la película. No olvidemos que Wallace era, ante todo, un autor de best sellers, y seguramente ya tenía en mente la versión hollywoodense de su historia. Se nota, sobre todo, en la intención de darle un "final feliz" a la novela, sin importar que resultara un poco -o bastante- forzado.
March 11, 2010
Adam Malone is a supermarket manager in Los Angeles who is obsessed with blonde movie star Sharon Fields. While watching her on a television in a bar one night he meets four other men who are also enamored of her. They get to talking, and soon are planning her abduction. Believing the sex stories put out by her manager, they think that if they kidnap her she will understand their lust and have sex with them. They get a van and disguised as exterminators, they scout out her neighborhood and track her daily routine, find an isolated location to take her to, and plan vacations from their individual work.
A sudden crisis takes place when they discover that she will be leaving for Europe, forcing them to move their plans ahead of schedule. They confront her while she is taking a daily walk, and ask for direction. When she stops to help, she is grabbed and chloroformed. After being driven unconscious to their hideout, Sharon awakes and finds out what they want. She explains that the publicity is untrue, but one of the men won't take no for an answer and rapes her. Two of the others follow, with Adam not taking part.
Deciding that they should not let the situation go to waste, they demand a ransom from the movie studio. Sharon writes a letter as proof they have her, but cleverly uses the first letters in each word to give the police a clue to her whereabouts. The ransom drop ends up with the three rapists killed, and Sharon saved. Because Adam did not take advantage of her, she omits his part in her abduction.
Adam is soon back as his job, obsessed with a new younger actress, and planning on forming a new fan club.
A sudden crisis takes place when they discover that she will be leaving for Europe, forcing them to move their plans ahead of schedule. They confront her while she is taking a daily walk, and ask for direction. When she stops to help, she is grabbed and chloroformed. After being driven unconscious to their hideout, Sharon awakes and finds out what they want. She explains that the publicity is untrue, but one of the men won't take no for an answer and rapes her. Two of the others follow, with Adam not taking part.
Deciding that they should not let the situation go to waste, they demand a ransom from the movie studio. Sharon writes a letter as proof they have her, but cleverly uses the first letters in each word to give the police a clue to her whereabouts. The ransom drop ends up with the three rapists killed, and Sharon saved. Because Adam did not take advantage of her, she omits his part in her abduction.
Adam is soon back as his job, obsessed with a new younger actress, and planning on forming a new fan club.
August 17, 2014
I could write a really snarky review of this book, but I'm going to play it straight.
Four strangers get together and decide to kidnap an actress so they can have sex with her. Yup. But that's not all (if you can imagine), their simple plan morphs into much more.
Even though this was written in 1974, I couldn't help thinking about the 2014 Isla Vista killings (remember the hashtag #notallwomen and the murderer wanted to "punish women for rejecting him")... It reminded me of the negative views many men have of women or the idea we are all either saints or whores. It also made me think of how dangerous fantasy can become, yes, everyone has fantasies but to rationalize kidnap and rape!?
With that said, I did find the novel intriguing, if not just for the sensationalism. This is certainly NOT for everyone, lots of sexism and rape and the other things that orbit them.
Four strangers get together and decide to kidnap an actress so they can have sex with her. Yup. But that's not all (if you can imagine), their simple plan morphs into much more.
Even though this was written in 1974, I couldn't help thinking about the 2014 Isla Vista killings (remember the hashtag #notallwomen and the murderer wanted to "punish women for rejecting him")... It reminded me of the negative views many men have of women or the idea we are all either saints or whores. It also made me think of how dangerous fantasy can become, yes, everyone has fantasies but to rationalize kidnap and rape!?
With that said, I did find the novel intriguing, if not just for the sensationalism. This is certainly NOT for everyone, lots of sexism and rape and the other things that orbit them.
August 6, 2015
The ultimate fan club seeks out the object of desire - glamorous, sexy star Sharon Fields. Blinded by publicity the four conspirators successfully abduct Sharon and submit her to sexual degradation
However they fatally underestimate the object.
Shrewd, tough and ruthless. Sharon's career has soared through her use of sexuality to subjugate men and she uses every weapon at her disposal to destroy the fan club.
Typecast as a blonde tits and ass girl - it doesn't occur to the men that this devious woman is planning her escape from captivity.
Ego, masculinity and sadism are pitted against the formidable intellect of Sharon Fields as a deadly game of psychological poker ends with all- in.
However they fatally underestimate the object.
Shrewd, tough and ruthless. Sharon's career has soared through her use of sexuality to subjugate men and she uses every weapon at her disposal to destroy the fan club.
Typecast as a blonde tits and ass girl - it doesn't occur to the men that this devious woman is planning her escape from captivity.
Ego, masculinity and sadism are pitted against the formidable intellect of Sharon Fields as a deadly game of psychological poker ends with all- in.
March 30, 2011
Read this WAYYYY to young.
It's pretty graphic. I would steer clear....the plot is mediocre and the characterization is pretty dull.
It's pretty graphic. I would steer clear....the plot is mediocre and the characterization is pretty dull.
April 9, 2012
Every Page Worth Reading. It should be made into Movie. Audaciously one of the finest book I've ever read.
December 6, 2012
I had read this book back in 1970 and wanted to read it again to see if I would be as shocked as I had been by the ending and sure enough, I was. Excellent book!
November 4, 2018
A good book and an easy reading. The story has imagination.
June 4, 2020
I read this back in the 70s. Sex and violence to make money. This book is one reason I don’t read many heterosexual male authors anymore.
July 9, 2013
Wozu sind vermeintlich anständige Männer nicht alles in der Lage, wenn sich die Gelegenheit oder Notwendigkeit ergibt? Diese Frage stellten sich gleich mehrere Autoren Anfang der Siebziger und schrieben Bestseller, die dann auch mit Stars wie Burt Reynolds oder Peter Fonda verfilmt wurden. »Flussfahrt« von James Dickie (1971) und »Jagdzeit« von David Osborne (1974) haben es auf die Leinwand geschafft, Fan-Club von Irving Wallace nicht. Ein Grund könnte die große Anzahl von Sex- oder Vergewaltigungsszenen sein, aus filmtechnischer Sicht hat der Plot einen weiteren Haken: es gibt weder Flucht noch Verfolgung. Allenfalls einen unvermeidlichen Showdown, aber der Weg dahin ist zu umständlich geraten, von daher nur drei Sterne.
Der Roman gliedert sich in drei Teile, der erste beginnt mit der Vorstellung der vier Männer, die das Sex-Symbol kidnappen wollen und endet mit dem Erfolg der Aktion, die neue Fragen aufwirft.
Im zweiten Drittel sehen sich die unterschiedlichen Charaktere mit einer Frau konfrontiert, die nur optisch ihren Erwartungen entspricht, aber keinem der PR-Klischees, die alle vier, insbesondere der Schriftsteller Adam Malone, der sich den Plan ausgedacht hat, für bare Münze genommen haben. Der Fokus ändert ich im zweiten Teil: Sharon, die im ersten Drittel mehr oder weniger das Objekt war, tritt als Persönlichkeit ins Rampenlicht und gewinnt die Sympathien des Lesers, denn sie muss für jeden der vier die passende Rolle spielen und gleichzeitig einen Weg finden, um der Außenwelt mitzuteilen, dass sie noch am Leben ist, wenn sie denn am Leben bleiben will. Denn der Psychopath Scoggins, von dessen wahrer Identität die anderen drei nichts wissen, hat beim Massaker von Mi-lai fünf Kinder ermordet, damit es keine Zeugen gibt. Der einzige Ausweg sind neue, noch stärkere Reize: Eine Lösegeldforderung, die dem Romantiker Malone nie in den Sinn gekommen wäre. Aber diese Idee trifft bei zwei der anderen unterprivilegierten, die sie schon bis zum Überdruss gevögelt haben auf dankbaren Boden. Geld ist nun mal das größte Aphrodisiakum.
Im dritten Teil begeht Wallace dann den Fehler des allwissenden Autors und lässt die Polizei brav sämtlichen Spuren nachgehen, die Sharon gelegt hat, vernachlässigt dabei die Konflikte unter den vier Männern, deren Charaktere und Motive die Leser im ersten Teil so schätzen gelernt haben: Den unterbezahlten Mechaniker Shiveley, der seinen Chef nicht um eine Lohnerhöhung angehen kann, weil eine Oberschichtsschnalle sich über seine Annäheurngsversuche beschwert hat. Die ehemalige Football-Kanone Yost, die vor 14 Jahren eines der leicht zu habenden Mädels geheiratet hat, aber nun als Versicherungsvertreter ein von Schulden geplagtes Niemand ist, dessen ehemalige Verdienste die attraktive Tochter eines Klienten nicht interessieren. Vierter und zögerlichster Mann im Bunde ist der 52jährige Buchhalter Leo Brunner, den die Mädels eines Klienten so wenig ernst nehmen, dass sie sich in seiner Gegenwart einfach ausziehen. Der gesundheitsbewusste Mann einer kränklichen Frau ist der Ehekrüppel im Bund der ungleichen vier von denen nur einer die Erfüllung des schnell entwerteten Lebenstraums überleben wird.
Fazit: ein solide erzähltes Buch mit interessanten Typen, für Charakterentwicklung und den konstanten Wechsel der Problemstellung in den ersten beiden Dritteln könnte man vielleicht vier Sterne geben, aber im letzten Drittel lässt das Buch Federn. Wie auch das Spätwerk über Eva Braun als Drahtzieherin des Vierten Reiches.
Der Roman gliedert sich in drei Teile, der erste beginnt mit der Vorstellung der vier Männer, die das Sex-Symbol kidnappen wollen und endet mit dem Erfolg der Aktion, die neue Fragen aufwirft.
Im zweiten Drittel sehen sich die unterschiedlichen Charaktere mit einer Frau konfrontiert, die nur optisch ihren Erwartungen entspricht, aber keinem der PR-Klischees, die alle vier, insbesondere der Schriftsteller Adam Malone, der sich den Plan ausgedacht hat, für bare Münze genommen haben. Der Fokus ändert ich im zweiten Teil: Sharon, die im ersten Drittel mehr oder weniger das Objekt war, tritt als Persönlichkeit ins Rampenlicht und gewinnt die Sympathien des Lesers, denn sie muss für jeden der vier die passende Rolle spielen und gleichzeitig einen Weg finden, um der Außenwelt mitzuteilen, dass sie noch am Leben ist, wenn sie denn am Leben bleiben will. Denn der Psychopath Scoggins, von dessen wahrer Identität die anderen drei nichts wissen, hat beim Massaker von Mi-lai fünf Kinder ermordet, damit es keine Zeugen gibt. Der einzige Ausweg sind neue, noch stärkere Reize: Eine Lösegeldforderung, die dem Romantiker Malone nie in den Sinn gekommen wäre. Aber diese Idee trifft bei zwei der anderen unterprivilegierten, die sie schon bis zum Überdruss gevögelt haben auf dankbaren Boden. Geld ist nun mal das größte Aphrodisiakum.
Im dritten Teil begeht Wallace dann den Fehler des allwissenden Autors und lässt die Polizei brav sämtlichen Spuren nachgehen, die Sharon gelegt hat, vernachlässigt dabei die Konflikte unter den vier Männern, deren Charaktere und Motive die Leser im ersten Teil so schätzen gelernt haben: Den unterbezahlten Mechaniker Shiveley, der seinen Chef nicht um eine Lohnerhöhung angehen kann, weil eine Oberschichtsschnalle sich über seine Annäheurngsversuche beschwert hat. Die ehemalige Football-Kanone Yost, die vor 14 Jahren eines der leicht zu habenden Mädels geheiratet hat, aber nun als Versicherungsvertreter ein von Schulden geplagtes Niemand ist, dessen ehemalige Verdienste die attraktive Tochter eines Klienten nicht interessieren. Vierter und zögerlichster Mann im Bunde ist der 52jährige Buchhalter Leo Brunner, den die Mädels eines Klienten so wenig ernst nehmen, dass sie sich in seiner Gegenwart einfach ausziehen. Der gesundheitsbewusste Mann einer kränklichen Frau ist der Ehekrüppel im Bund der ungleichen vier von denen nur einer die Erfüllung des schnell entwerteten Lebenstraums überleben wird.
Fazit: ein solide erzähltes Buch mit interessanten Typen, für Charakterentwicklung und den konstanten Wechsel der Problemstellung in den ersten beiden Dritteln könnte man vielleicht vier Sterne geben, aber im letzten Drittel lässt das Buch Federn. Wie auch das Spätwerk über Eva Braun als Drahtzieherin des Vierten Reiches.
April 24, 2015
Ever had sexual fantasies for a movie star? Ever been part of any kind of fan club, especially one that sounds innocuous but ends up like this? Definitely not actress Sharon Fields - an iconic movie star and the epitome of sexiness for the masses.
What begins as a chance meeting of four men watching Ms. Fields on TV in a bar, quickly decelerates into a devastating game of kidnapping, rape, and crime as they set out to fulfill their wildest fantasies.
Since the lady happens to mention in an interview that she wouldn't mind being taken by force by the right men, the members of the fan club set out to do precisely that. They kidnap Sharon, expecting that she would fall in love with them and give herself wilfully to them.
Do they succeed? Do they fail? A bit of both? Well, I suggest reading to find out.
The first 100-150 pages, I nearly stopped reading because of the gruesome content. Never have I read something this graphic. It was almost borderline lurid in detail. But, the second half of the book was far better and I like how Wallace shaped his characters.
I guess it's not too far-fetched to have a fantasy about a star - even if it is an impossible fantasy. But, how something seemingly innocent degenerates into a loathsome, disgusting idea is frightening.
Not just that, almost all characters are 'human' - Irving Wallace takes special care to keep them teetering on the fine line that separates humans from monsters.
I thought the book was well-written but a tad long. And the ending was a bit rushed. Maybe, that's what the author intended, to maximize the impact. But well, I didn't appreciate the ending significantly.
What begins as a chance meeting of four men watching Ms. Fields on TV in a bar, quickly decelerates into a devastating game of kidnapping, rape, and crime as they set out to fulfill their wildest fantasies.
Since the lady happens to mention in an interview that she wouldn't mind being taken by force by the right men, the members of the fan club set out to do precisely that. They kidnap Sharon, expecting that she would fall in love with them and give herself wilfully to them.
Do they succeed? Do they fail? A bit of both? Well, I suggest reading to find out.
The first 100-150 pages, I nearly stopped reading because of the gruesome content. Never have I read something this graphic. It was almost borderline lurid in detail. But, the second half of the book was far better and I like how Wallace shaped his characters.
I guess it's not too far-fetched to have a fantasy about a star - even if it is an impossible fantasy. But, how something seemingly innocent degenerates into a loathsome, disgusting idea is frightening.
Not just that, almost all characters are 'human' - Irving Wallace takes special care to keep them teetering on the fine line that separates humans from monsters.
I thought the book was well-written but a tad long. And the ending was a bit rushed. Maybe, that's what the author intended, to maximize the impact. But well, I didn't appreciate the ending significantly.
July 23, 2010
The book opens with 2 members of a “Fan Club” trying to snatch an actess from her home. The majority of the book after that is a flashback to how the kidnapping is planned and justifies. It was slow moving and CRUDE. I love Sidney Sheldon and Harold Robbins and several other authors from that era that write some pretty raunchy and steamy scenes, but this book just came across as unnecessarily crude. I wanted to put it down immediately, but I didn’t. Amazingly, Wallace did a good job of portraying the actress who is kidnapped. And the ending is great. But overall I don’t recommend this book.
April 24, 2014
This book would have been great if it hadn't dragged on for so long! There was so much unnecessary details that made the story boring and very hard to get through. The story didn't even get intresting until 50% in! Everything that was done could have been told in half the amount of book we got. I enjoy long books don't get me wrong, but when it is not valuable to the story, it ends up being boring tedious filler. I would say 25% of this was a great story and the other 75% was unnecessary philosophical boring crap. I was left feeling like I just finished reading a text book for one of my college courses instead of a novel. 2 stars for the 25% of the book that was entertaining.
June 17, 2017
La narrativa en mi copia (una traducción del original) era tremendamente repetitiva. Quería pegarme un tiro cada vez que la frase "se le antojaba..." aparecía.
El concepto del libro me atrajo, pero me parece que te lo venden mal. No sé dónde leí que era un libro de amor, y puedo asegurar que el libro tiene todo menos amor.
Además, las descripciones. A algunas personas les encantan las descripciones, pero estas eran innecesarias. Te describían lo que comían (color, fecha de caducidad, sabor).
No fue un libro malo, pero no será mi favorito por mucho.
El concepto del libro me atrajo, pero me parece que te lo venden mal. No sé dónde leí que era un libro de amor, y puedo asegurar que el libro tiene todo menos amor.
Además, las descripciones. A algunas personas les encantan las descripciones, pero estas eran innecesarias. Te describían lo que comían (color, fecha de caducidad, sabor).
No fue un libro malo, pero no será mi favorito por mucho.
January 5, 2020
Well what can i say the story is suspenseful and captivating but the plot is trashy and degrading. Glad it was written in 70s. In today's world otherwise Wallace would be sitting right nest to Harvey Weinstein
September 24, 2007
4 men and a woman and a deadly sex game...
Recomended by babak ;)
Recomended by babak ;)
August 7, 2013
Ugh. Seedy and sordid. This book left me feeling unclean. What was I thinking? Wish I could take those hours back.
June 29, 2019
Intrigante, emocionante y llena de erotismo.
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