Biography
Jason Starr was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, he enjoyed sports such as baseball, tennis, and horse racing, but didn't have much interest in literature. He attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn. [2] He began writing plays and fiction in college at Binghamton University. Starr is known for his satirical urban crime novels, set mainly in the New York City area. When asked why (until The Pack) he wrote standalone novels and didn't rely on a series character he said, "New York City is my series character."
In the 1990s, Starr had several plays performed at Off-Off Broadway theater companies in New York. In 1997, Starr's first crime novel, Cold Caller, was published by No Exit Press in the U.K. In 1998, upon its American publication by W.W. Norton, Cold Caller was selected as a Publishers Weekly First Fiction pick and was hailed by Kirkus Reviews as "just the thing for fans who miss the acid noir that Jim Thompson dispensed in The Grifters." The French edition of Cold Caller was selected as the official gift of the prestigious 813 book group. In the critical work Twentieth Century Crime Fiction, (Oxford University Press, 2005), author Lee Horsley selected Cold Caller as one of the basic texts for discussion.
Starr's second novel, Nothing Personal, about a compulsive gambler who hatches a sick kidnapping plot to pay off debts, was hailed as the best novel of the year by Bookends. Starr's third novel, Fake I.D., concerns a bouncer's desperate attempts to join a horse-owning syndicate. His fourth novel, Hard Feelings, about a computer networking salesman, trying to do deal with a horror from his past, was a "Penzler Pick" and the first ever original novel published by the prestigious American publisher, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard.
Tough Luck, Starr's fifth novel, about a young guy in Brooklyn who gets in deep with a mob figure, was an Anthony Award finalist and won the Barry Award for best paperback. Starr's sixth novel, Twisted City, about the devastating consequences a financial journalist faces when he attempts to recover a stolen wallet, was a Barry Award finalist and an Anthony Award winner. In 2006, Starr's novel Lights Out, a tale of jealousy and murder set in Brooklyn, was first published by St. Martin's Press in the U.S. and Orion in the U.K. It was hailed as one of the best crime novels of the year by Barnes and Noble.com and Bookreporter.com. That same year, Vintage Books published a collection of stories and essays on horse racing called Bloodlines: A Horse Racing Anthology, which Starr co-edited with Maggie Estep.
In 2007, Starr's thriller The Follower, called "this generation's Looking for Mr. Goodbar" by the New York Post, was first published by St. Martin's Press and Orion Books. TV/Film rights for The Follower were purchased by Lionsgate with Bret Easton Ells attached as writer. Also in 2007, Hard Case Crime published Slide, a second novel co-authored by Starr and Ken Bruen. In 2008, Hard Case published Starr and Bruen's third novel in the series, The Max. The fourth novel in the series, PIMP, was published in 2016.
Panic Attack, Starr's thriller about the aftermath of a shooting in suburban New York City, was published in 2009 by St. Martin's Press. The German/ Diogenes Verlag edition (Panik) was a major #3 bestseller in Austria. It was optioned by David Fincher's production company Panic Pictures with Ocean's Eleven scribe Ted Griffin adapting.
In 2010, Starr's first graphic novel, The Chill, was published by Vertigo Crime, with art by Mick Bertilorenzi. Starr also wrote many comics for DC Comics ( Justice, Inc. ). In 2011, The Chill won the Anthony Award for Best Graphic Novel, making Starr one of only nine writers who have won multiple Anthony Awards.
In 2011, Penguin/Ace published Starr's The Pack, the first book in a new modern day werewolf series set mainly in the New York City area. The second book in the series, The Craving, was published by Penguin in June 2012.
In 2016, Starr's psychological thriller, Savage Lane was published by Polis Books. Savage Lane was also published in foreign editions, including the U.K. edition by No Exit Press and the German edition, Phantasien, by Diogenes Verlag.
In 2018, Oceanview Publishing published Starr's thriller, Fugitive Red.
In 2022, Hard Case Crime published Starr’s mindbending crime thriller, The Next Time I Die, which received praise from Ian Rankin and Joe Hill.
Starr has collaborated several times with Irish crime writer, Ken Bruen. In 2006, the heralded American pulp publisher Hard Case Crime, published Bust. (Bust was an IMBA bestseller). In 2007, Hard Case Crime published Slide, a second novel co-authored by Starr and Bruen. In 2008, Hard Case published Starr and Bruen's third novel in the series, The Max. The fourth novel in the series, PIMP, was published in 2016. The series became known as "The Bust Quartet."
Starr has also become a prolific writer of comics and graphic novels, writing original works such as The Chill, as well as working on iconic characters such as Batman, Doc Savage, The Avenger, The Sandman for DC Comics and The Punisher and Wolverine Marvel Comics. The Chill won the 2011 Anthony Award for Best Graphic Novel. In October, 2012 Marvel launched its new ongoing series Wolverine Max, written by Starr with art by Roland Boschi. Starr's original comic The Returning launched from Boom Comics in March, 2014, with art by Andrea Mutti (The Executor, Star Wars, Noir). Starr’s orginal horror-thriller series Red Border (art by Will Conrad) was published by AWA in 2020, followed up in 2021 by the erotic thriller, Casual Fling (art by Dalibor Talajic) in 2022. Casual Fling went on to become a digital top 20 bestseller on Global Comix. In 2024, Magma Comix published Starr’s sci-fi crime thriller Silicon Bandits (art by Dalibor Talajic).
For Marvel and DC related properties, Starr has written bestselling tie-in novels. Starr's Ant-Man: Natural Enemy was published in 2015 in conjunction with the hit movie: Ant-Man. Starr's novel Gotham: Dawn of Darkness, a prequel to the hit FOX TV show Gotham was published in January, 2017.
Starr later wrote another tie-in novel for Gotham entitled City of Monsters serving to bridge a gap between season 2 and 3 of the show.
Starr's work has been published in nine languages, including in Germany by Diogenes Verlag. Top Job (the German edition of Cold Caller) was adapted as an hour-long radio drama by Deutschland Radio. In 2006 a hardcover edition of Top Job was published as part of a popular series of crime novels (SZ Krimibibliothek) by Süddeutsche Zeitung.
