Andrea Lambert’s debut novel, Jet Set Desolate, tells the story of Lena Cosentino, a twentysomething mired in the alluring and terrifying world of early-2000s San Francisco, where sex and cocaine flow freely and, on the surface at least, little else seems important.

Lambert weaves a gnarled spiderweb of drugs, lust, and excess; a devastating portrait of a young woman struggling to maintain an image of consummate glamour while slipping into utter abjection. Jet Set Desolate is smut with style, prurience with pith. For underneath the tangle of limbs and bags of powder, it is plain to see that Lena is, at her core, simply searching for a connection more meaningful than the one she has with her dealer. This is at times difficult to see beneath the veneer of disco balls and lines of coke; however, Lena is tougher than she appears. Although she is repeatedly debased and degraded, Lena demonstrates a base, animal will to survive. As the novel frenetically races toward its brutal conclusion, it is the reader who will be left clawing for more.

Jet Set Desolate will be available for purchase in October; however, you can view its Amazon listing now and add it to your wishlist, so you'll be all set when it is released.  (You can also look inside the book to read some of its first chapter.)
 

Forthcoming from Future Fiction London in October, Jet Set Desolate is Andrea Lambert's debut novel.  This morning it was written up in 3AM Magazine, including an excerpt from the first chapter.  Although it will not be available for sale until October, you can view its Amazon listing now and add it to your wishlist. 

The description from Amazon reads as follows: A dive into post-millennial San Francisco, where electroclash cuts lines with the burgeoning dot-com bubble, and Lena falls for Jesse, a street-walking cheetah with a heart full of need. Follow the sores beneath the sequins, food stamps and semen, the broken milieu of a youth smashed between utter excess and utter loss.

I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't read the whole thing yet.  Now I feel like it's more important than ever to do so.  The parts I have read, however, I can give an honest positive review of.  And I'm not just saying this because I'm incredibly biased.  Those of you who know me might be aware that at times I'm somewhat reticent with emotion, at times making a show of not being moved by books, movies, etc.  Not so with Jet Set Desolate.  My sardonic exterior was cracked like an eggshell.  But I appreciated the brutality.  I truly admire a piece of work that can affect me so deeply.  The writing itself is lyric and beautiful, while the things described are, at times, utterly bleak.  The author maintains a stunning ability to keep up this contrast, ensuring that the reader is brought fully into the beauty and despair of the novel. 

Links are go, folks.  Follow my lead.  Buy this amazing book by this amazing woman.  I'm convinced she'll be big.  You'll want to start now.

Andrea Lambert also has a poetry book, "Lorazepam and the Valley of Skin: Extrapolations on Los Angeles / 730910-2155" forthcoming this summer from valeveil.


((EDIT 6/20/09: View my completed review of Jet Set Desolate here.))