Party Monster: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland

by James St. James

Book Overview

Now a motion picture starring Macaulay Culkin and Seth Green, Party Monster is a "vastly entertaining, scarily well-written and horrifically funny book" (The Baltimore Sun) that depicts a dazzling, dizzying descent into hell--New York's downtown club scene, where dancing, sex, drugs, and murder were just part of the everyday experience. True crime has never been more fun.

When Party Monster was first published,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743259823
• ISBN13: 9780743259828
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

I paid for a first edition collectible hard cover for 129.79, where is it?!

I received a book with a softcover with a price of 3.99 and I paid for a first edition collectible hardcover for 129.79. What happened and can I get the book I paid for? And paid extra for 2 day delivery…. This was a gift.

Could Not Put It Down

A good read. Written in a way that you can actually hear James talking to you. Not a Club Kid but NYC was my playground and I always ended up at Michael's parties. That said, he was everything that James describes good and bad....with a lot of the latter. Look, this is a tightrope St. James is walking when writing this book. He tells the truth and sometimes the truth is ugly. It is a great read and really pulls the reader right into the madness that the clubs were in the late 80's. It is actually a funny yet tragic story. A moment in time well captured. Highly recommended.

It’s a binge read!

Couldn’t put the book down! James St. James’ writing style kept me hooked. The story is fun and tragic.

A Super Fun Trip

Party Monster, by James St. James K, E, H, D? and coke are taken and talked about like vitamins in this high speed tale of clubland adventures. James St. James even jokes about cutting the coke with B12 as a supplement. Reading about this 10 year drugging and clubbing whirlwind from the perspective of a moody drag-queen is absolutely hilarious. Birdcage is one of my favorite movies because I get such a kick out of male flamboyant feminineness, and in Party Monster you have nothing but flamboyant feminine escapade after escapade. You would honestly think this was a work of fiction the way James St. James describes the 3,4,5 and even 7 day binges and the quantities of drugs consumed. The K-Hole diaries are classic, what a genius idea. The twisted sense of reality that these party monsters lived in is mind boggling. The murder of Angel is a real waste of drugland potential. I mean his popularity was growing with his sales as Michael Alig paraded him around became his buddy so he could do his drugs and borrow his money. You get a real sense of the darker, wilder and freaky side of the NYC club scene from the late 80's to the mid to late 90's. I remember the early days of the Tunnel and Limelight being a bit too strange for me at the time, but that is what this crowd lived and died for. They really strategize about the scene and how to increase its popularity and be seen and mentioned by the press. The nick names are great: Cookie Puss, Peter Peter the boyfriend stealer, Freeze and Jennytalia and the theme parties are a rip. Ohhhh James St. James, please write another book! By Kevin Kingston, author of: A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate My Blog: http://www.bloglines.com/blog/KevinKingston

James St. James paints an amazing picture of the club kids

Before reading the novel, I had originally previewed the "Party Monster: the Shockumentary." I had vaguely remembered Michael Alig and his club kids from a few television talk shows, which only made me want to read more, and learn more about the story and the lives which they all lead. After much searching, (trust me, being from a mostly Catholic town in Iowa, there was a lot of searching) I finally found it, and brought it home to see if it would live up to my high expectations. What I found surprised me, though I won't say entirely shocked me, and I found myself laughing out loud throughout the entire novel. St. James not only paints such a vivid portrayal of what he lived through, but somehow manages to find humor within it. I couldn't help but stop my boyfriend from what he was doing to dish out the part involving Christmas lights through immense giggles. He recollects and dishes out what many drug addicts and ex-drug addicts wouldn't admit to, including the large amount of nothing he had accomplished trying to become a writer while being continuously purged into a K-hole. I don't want to talk too much about what St. James discusses in the novel, as I don't want to give some of the finer points away for anyone who cares to read it, but I must say it is a MUST READ for anyone who enjoys a little bit of comedy mixed into the horrific murder story of Michael Alig and Angel Melendez. This book not only met my expectations, but it greatly exceeded them. I'm now buying the nonfiction novel written by Frank (who is mentioned as well in "Disco Bloodbath") to learn more about the times when the Club Kids were all the rage. (I would just like to briefly add that many people think James St. James is profitting off of Michael Alig's story. Though much of the novel discusses James by himself, his emotions, and how he felt about things, and him recalling his own witnessings before Michael had even arrived in New York. Towards the end of the novel, you must read the "Letter to Michael" in which it also states of one of the last times he spoke to Alig, in which he states that he is writing the book because it "really, really upset him." After all, isn't that what many journals are about?)

Fluid Language Keeps Up the Pace

This is one of the many books which is best enjoyed if you're able to dedicate a good block of time to it and just sit back and dive in. The drama is all in the language and James St James knows it. He uses all the cues and tricks of writing to excess (ALL CAPS, italics for those naughty phrases you just have to lean in for, bold passages for "can you believe it" statements, and constantly hitting the return key to ensure that well planned break in the story where you wait just long enough to make sure everyone is hanging onto your every word and will sell their mothers out to hear how it all ends) and for some reason it works instead of becoming the obnoxious mess it should have been. You can actually hear James St James in this book, as if he's squeazing tight into the bar booth with you and telling you the whole thing over a cocktail, spilling most of it on himself AND YOU in the process... but you can't leave... You have to hear it all, by God. So be prepared to read it all and quick. If you can read it one sitting all the better, or two or three days if you must... but don't drag it out or try to balance it with a few other paperbacks you're halfway through. This is GOSSIP. And you might as well accept the charges and get settled in for a wildly entertaining, vivid, dishonestly honest tale of one club creature's scattered memories of his years as a New York City celebutante.P.S. Although this book claims to be mainly centered on Michael Alig and the murder of his drug dealer, it's not 100% anywhere or on anyone. So don't expect a fair or even picture to be painted of Alig, for as James St James explains at the very beginning NEVER, EVER DISH ANYONE IN PRINT. And if you simply must, there's just no way out of it... well, the entire book is sort of a portrait of this very predicament. A little love to coat a lot of hate, or is it the other way around?

Great Book

I literally COULD NOT put the book down from the moment I picked it up. I would highly advise anyone who is interested in reading a fabulous yet tradgic story of fame, drag, drugs, clubs and murder to buy this. James St James, has done a wonderful job telling a crazy story of his earlier years.

A Portrait of a Murder In Full Shade

Personally, in the early 90's I was enchanted with club kids, but would never let them in my apartment for fear that several somethings would turn up missing. James St. James' wonderful book lets me know I probably did the right thing. Although the story regularly digresses from Michael Alig and Robert Rigg's murder of Angel Melendez, he does so with purpose, and the book is an intriguing read. He shows how Alig transformed from an unwelcome wannabe to a creative force in New York's club scene to a heroin-addicted nightmare. Similarly, He explains Freeze's (Robert Rigg) three phases as well from a reticent but clever costume designer to a "well-respected" drug dealer to a practically homeless ball of anger. Instead of blaming it all on Michael's upbringing like most authors would, St. James finds that changes in the music, the scene and, most particularly, the drugs of trend led a lot of club kids, particularly Michael Alig, down a path of darkness. Not that Michael was very nice to begin with. St. James relates that Michael's first "superstar" was Christina, an ugly drag queen. By foisting her on the club scene, he hoped to garner approval from everyone who enjoyed making fun of her. Some have argued that both club kids and St. James' book are too self-absorbed to warrant any warm feelings. It is true. However the author makes himself very three dimensional, focusing on his foibles as well as his successes. And his moral conflict is depicted beautifully. On the one side Melendez, an acrid drug dealer (probably connected to a dangerous cartel) was hurting so many people that death didn't seem like a bad fate for him. (After all, St. James argues, no one arrested Dorothy even though she accumulated a body count of two wicked witches.) On the other hand, Melendez' murder was particularly brutal (a drano injection), and Michael's callous reaction was to go on a shopping spree with Angel's money. The book sheds light on a fairly secretive world and shocks the reader. However, it is also, bizarrely, entertaining. For example, when James' is trying to come to terms with Angel's death he finds himself approaching dogs and saying "Hello, little doggie! Aren't you the sweetest thing? I bet you wouldn't ever inject anyone with drano, would you?" Admittedly, I've been fascinated with this scene since the days of Project X magazine and films such as Paris is Burning, but even for the uninitiated, I suspect they'll find that this book is such a good read that it won't take them any longer to get through than would seeing the movie.