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Split Thirty
New York City, 1972. California ad-man Henry Bell joins the Nixon re-election campaign.
His son is missing in Viet Nam. His ex-wife has landed in a Connecticut suburb. Both a federal grand jury and a teenaged actress require his attention. And to uncover the truth of his own life, he needs to weave a safe route through the troubles caused by a cast of advertising misfits; through stacks of cash, secret films, and plain-clothes cops; through bribery, burglary, and blackmail.
Follow Bell from Madison Avenue to Universal City, and from San Diego to Washington, D.C. Meet Bertie Kahn, the legendary “sound-man,” who wrote his first jingles while building booster engines for Project Apollo; Sal Pacinetti, ex-Democrat, free-lance romantic, and drug-addled guardian of the Central Park lagoon; and Tasha Kelly, alias Tanya, the fashion model who meets her maker on the cold gray banks of the Hudson River. And hold on tight when their destinies collide, on a moonlit night under marble stone.
This is the world of SPLIT where politics meets advertising, at the cross of hope and faith.
His son is missing in Viet Nam. His ex-wife has landed in a Connecticut suburb. Both a federal grand jury and a teenaged actress require his attention. And to uncover the truth of his own life, he needs to weave a safe route through the troubles caused by a cast of advertising misfits; through stacks of cash, secret films, and plain-clothes cops; through bribery, burglary, and blackmail.
Follow Bell from Madison Avenue to Universal City, and from San Diego to Washington, D.C. Meet Bertie Kahn, the legendary “sound-man,” who wrote his first jingles while building booster engines for Project Apollo; Sal Pacinetti, ex-Democrat, free-lance romantic, and drug-addled guardian of the Central Park lagoon; and Tasha Kelly, alias Tanya, the fashion model who meets her maker on the cold gray banks of the Hudson River. And hold on tight when their destinies collide, on a moonlit night under marble stone.
This is the world of SPLIT where politics meets advertising, at the cross of hope and faith.
252 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 16, 2013
4 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Michael Davidow
7 books5 followersMichael Davidow was born in Boston and raised in Manchester, New Hampshire. He graduated from the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Michigan School of Law. After working in both Boston and Washington, D.C., he returned to New Hampshire, where he practices criminal defense. He and his wife Catherine have one son.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 3, 2013
Davidow has captured the American political and cultural landscape of the early 1970s,with a tightly written story.
Exciting read.
Exciting read.
March 3, 2013
I am currently reading it. I like it. Well written,well thought out.
The 70s...I lived through it (remember quite a bit of it).Reading this is like time travelling.
I may have known Henry Bell.
The 70s...I lived through it (remember quite a bit of it).Reading this is like time travelling.
I may have known Henry Bell.
October 30, 2013
This was a very well-written, interesting book. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters, the interesting plot, and the twists and turns. Excellent debut.
April 12, 2015
Dostoevsky meets Madison Avenue.
June 28, 2015
A compelling read. The story draws you in as it progresses. Great character development of Henry Bell. I found myself really caring about him the more i learned about him.
March 26, 2019
Spilt Thirty is the second instalment of the Henry Bell project; I reviewed the first one, Gate City, on goodreads, highlighting what I thought was the good, the bad and the ugly of the book (hich I won't repeat here, those few interested will have no problem whatsoever in finding it on gr, there are less than a handful in total...).
Split Thirty is in my view a stronger story, in so far that it has more of the "goods" and less of the "bad" and "ugly" of the former book.
Once again, the angle from which the author looks at politics is quite original compared to the standards of the genre; plus, at personal level, as a long-serving marketer, I found the numerous references to the world of advertising and of marketing in general really delicious (without mentioning that the author, despite behind a lawyer, does know the stuff he talks about....).
The prose here flows much more smoothly and the plot, while being very well conceived, remains at reasonably understandable levels.
Just a last remark: the sheer story of Split Thirty is quite independent from Gate City, so it could well be read as a stand alone book. However, the first novel is quite critical in giving all the necessary background and context for a full appreciation of the key characters' nuances. So my recommendation is to read the books in sequence.
Split Thirty is in my view a stronger story, in so far that it has more of the "goods" and less of the "bad" and "ugly" of the former book.
Once again, the angle from which the author looks at politics is quite original compared to the standards of the genre; plus, at personal level, as a long-serving marketer, I found the numerous references to the world of advertising and of marketing in general really delicious (without mentioning that the author, despite behind a lawyer, does know the stuff he talks about....).
The prose here flows much more smoothly and the plot, while being very well conceived, remains at reasonably understandable levels.
Just a last remark: the sheer story of Split Thirty is quite independent from Gate City, so it could well be read as a stand alone book. However, the first novel is quite critical in giving all the necessary background and context for a full appreciation of the key characters' nuances. So my recommendation is to read the books in sequence.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews