With or Without You - Softcover

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU combines the aching adolescent heart of The Catcher in the Rye with the dark suburban soul of The Great Gatsby -- set against the starstruck voyeurism of American Idol. This book asks the quintessentially American question: Is life worth living if you can't be famous?

Summer 1987. Lillian Ginger Speck, high-school graduate, sits in her jail cell contemplating the steps and missteps that led her to murder soap opera star Brooke Harrison in cold blood one bright and muggy New York afternoon. Lily had admired the young star for some time, and her loss is palpable. Her story is therefore part apologia, part love note and suicide pact. Meanwhile, Brooke Harrison's mother has a tale of her own to tell. In this edgy and compelling "whydunit," the accounts of predator and victim intertwine. The result is a wry exploration of the contemporary American melting pot of status, beauty, celebrity, violence, and obsession.