Never Odd or Even

There are lost films and then there are LOST films. Young director Charlie Jerome, hot on the heels of his art-house smash Summer and Sandy, has a scheme to make the ultimate film noir-by staging real crimes and capturing them on film. With the help of his long-suffering cameraman and creative Sancho Panza, Artie Sellon, and young thespians Sam Mellinger and Charlotte Magill, director Jerome almost pulls off the perfect crime movie.With its blend of early 1960s Hollywood settings, rural Oregon atmosphere and ruminations on the art (and hard work) of making a movie, Never Odd or Even is more than just a suspense novel. It's a witty, surprising and likably jaded look at the world of film-making-loaded with well-drawn characters and unguessable situations.Young delivers big laughs (at one point, Jerome is asked to turn Joan Didion's collection of essays about the hippie culture of Haight-Ashbury into a... soap opera) and tight plotting. This is a good bet for Elmore Leonard fans.-Publishers Weekly