Street Smart : A Thriller

by Nicholas Coleridge

War correspondent and photojournalist Max Thompson inherits a hip New York fashion magazine from his sister, after her sudden suicide, and soon finds himself embroiled in a deadly conspiracy involving his sister's mysterious past and an unknown enemy out to destroy the magazine. By the author of With Friends Like These. 10,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction

387 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Nicholas David Coleridge CBE is the Managing Director of the magazine publishing house Condé Nast in Britain. He was awarded the 1982 prize for British Press Awards Young Journalist of the Year when he was a columnist at the Evening Standard, and the Mark Boxer Lifetime Achievement Award for magazine journalism by the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2001.

He has written twelve books, both fiction and non-fiction, based largely upon either his professional life (The Fashion Conspiracy, Paper Tigers, With Friends Like These) or social novels (Godchildren, A Much Married Man, "Deadly Sins"). He has been Chairman of the PPA - the magazine publishers' association - and Chairman of the British Fashion Council. He was founding Chairman of Fashion Rocks, the fashion and rock music annual extravaganza, which has raised more than £3 million to date for the Prince's Trust charity. He was on the Advisory Board for the Concert for Diana, Wembley Stadium 2007. He has been a member of the Council of the Royal College of Art, and a member of the Trading Board of the Prince's Trust and is Deputy Chairman of The Campaign for Wool, 2009-. He is a Director of PressBof, the parent organisation of the Press Complaints Commission. As a journalist, he has been an irregular contributor to the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator and the Financial Times.

He is the great-great-great-great-great nephew of the poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge where he studied Theology and History of Art.

He is married to the author and children's book reviewer Georgia Metcalfe. His enthusiasms include India and Indian art, gardening, sunbathing, hillwalking and photography.

Reviews

[CF]

The racism in this book is astounding. I suspect it reflects the author profoundly. It is casually littered throughout; just read page 389 to see what I mean.
Shocking. Disgusting.
And the storytelling is mediocre at best.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one to recommend.

[Jayne Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had such fun reading this book, but my overall impression is tempered by disappointment at the ending. It felt rushed, and reminded me too much of Scooby Doo (which always requires its villain to spill his/her guts in spectacular and forensic fashion in order to explain all the mysteries to the viewer). Oh, and I guessed part of the whodunit, but it was cleverly plotted so that’s not a negative as far as I’m concerned.

At the beginning of the story the author sets up two mysteries to take care of the suspense element of the plot, and then proceeds to write what is almost a handbook on running a multinational publishing company. I suspect a fan of serious thrillers would find it unsatisfactory, but the thriller element was never the main focus for me. What I liked was the insider’s view of the workings of a glossy magazine. I don’t read them, don’t have much interest in them, but for some reason I found all the detail fascinating. As though conscious of leaving information dumps littered about, the author contrived to intersperse a discussion on pagination and photography with someone getting a blow job. Frankly, the blow job was just a distraction, though as an exercise in crude humour it wasn’t bad. I learned so much from this book. For example I now know what “kill fees” are. And the line about “corporate seagulls” (“every year they fly in, shit all over you , and fly out again”) was an absolute classic.

[Susan Liston · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read a couple of Nicholas Coleridge's books and liked them, this one I had a hard time getting into. I hated most of the characters and didn't give a rip about the magazine or who did the murder of the annoying woman or whatever. This wasn't horrible, it is a perfectly readable book, and there was a time, recently, that I probably would have finished it, but I'm trying to jettison books I'm not crazy about and just skipping to the end if I feel the need to know what happens. The rating is just because it wasn't interesting to me.

[Frankie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this, although I was a little disappointed as it was not a patch on the first book I read by Coleridge (Godchildren). The plot had some good twists and was quite well written.
Worth a read.

[PreppyPrincess · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite of all the author's books, it very much had the rushed feel of something late for deadline.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was slow and boring. I really thought it was going to be good. I guess not all can be winners.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite readable without being remarkable