#1 Debut - Coming-of-Age Fiction - Amazon.com
★★★★★
“A masterful debut… a poignant, lyrical, coming-of-age tale…like Steinbeck’s masterpiece, EAST OF EDEN, ANEMONE grapples with themes of betrayal, redemption, emotional survival, and the brutal reckonings that follow hidden misdeeds. ANEMONE intertwines the intimate dramas of its characters with the larger elemental forces of nature.”
★★★★★
“This page-turner had me hooked from the start, and the suspense kept me on the edge of my seat. With all the twists and turns, I never knew what to expect next and had a hard time putting the book down.”
- Reviewed by Alma Boucher for Readers' Favorite
"ANEMONE supersedes any definition of a coming-of-age experience. It’s transformative, complex, and readers will be especially delighted by the interplays of action and reflection which keep all characters evolving, growing, and changing. The novel simmers with tension and unexpected twists and turns."
- D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
Cover designs: Barry Bell
Anemone photograph: Mark Steinmetz
ADVANCE PRAISE
“Nothing escapes the x-ray vision of the Argus-eyed Jim Frazee, and he records it all in Thief of Laughter. Opening with memories of a harsh childhood, the book brings to life the heartbreaking brutalities of our world, the cruelty of its citizens and the suffering of the unfortunate. Yet through all of these accounts, Frazee manages to offer hope and salvation, as this is the vision of a good man who has seen it all and, in the telling, he transfers his enormous empathy to us, the readers, who emerge fueled with renewed care and kindness. Only the highest art performs this kind of conversion, and that is the alchemical performance delivered by this powerful collection.”
- John Skoyles, poetry editor, Ploughshares, author of Yes and No
“Jim Frazee's poems hold the richness of fine, long novels without sacrificing the lift and lilt of lyrical grace and formal invention. At the heart of Thief of Laughter is a conscience troubled by a callous world—unjust or indifferent—determined to find reasons to celebrate it. And celebration there is, often in life's small and unexpected details, offered here with a keen and loving eye.”
- Tracy Daugherty, author of Larry McMurtry: A Life (Pulitzer Prize finalist), The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion, and We Shook Up The World – The Spiritual Rebellion of Muhammed Ali and George Harrison
“Thief of Laughter is a riveting book that operates on many levels. With surprising linguistic agility, Jim Frazee has created a collection of poems that deftly explores the complex agonies and sweet wonders of growing up in this world. In our present time, when so much political angst fills the air, Frazee’s work is an intimate affirmation of how remarkable it is that any of us reach adulthood with our hearts intact.”
- Tim Seibles, author of Voodoo Libretto and National Book Award Nominee
“Thief of Laughter is a wild ride through life and love, a devastating memoir that by turns is raw, hard-hitting, and uplifting - qualities that should draw a wide audience."
- D. Donovan, Midwest Book Review
★★★★★
”ANEMONE is a poignant, haunting and thoughtful exploration of complex family dynamics and sibling relationships, guilt, identity, and the struggle to come to terms with the past, all while keeping the reader hooked with a slow-burning suspense. It's subtle yet packed with an undercurrent of foreboding... and full of emotional and psychological complexities.”
- Thomas Anderson, editor, Literary Titan
"What a terrific book! It's fierce and harrowing, and comes firmly, but originally, out of the California Noir tradition, Ross MacDonald and the rest. Wow, what a read!"
- Lewis Buzbee
author of The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, Fliegelman's Desire, and the new novel, Diver.
★★★★
“Prepare to be captivated by a story that explores the devastating effects of parental absence, the complexities of young adulthood, and the resilience of the human spirit.”
- Maria Yinks, San Francisco Book Review, San Diego Book Review
The story
After his failed rescue of his brother Wyatt in a house fire, sixteen-year-old Russell Cobb wakes up from a coma, strangely mistaken for him and thrust into the middle of an arson investigation. Russell’s only hope, before his bandages come off, is to deduce the likeliest suspect in his recent turbulent past or risk being charged with homicide. In view of his brother’s death, he begins to see his family and Wyatt’s enigmatic girlfriend Edie in a darker light, colored by deceit and his own paranoia, until she turns the tables, tying his brother to an unimaginable crime.
Set against the idyllic backdrop of Aqua Verde, a mid-60s California beach town, ANEMONE addresses society at a moral crossroads when what went on behind closed doors was nobody’s business. Russell flees to a condemned seaside hotel where he joins a draft-dodging surfer, and later, a fugitive Edie, with whom he falls in love. Through a tangle of twists and traumatic revelations, and mentored by the surfer, Russell discovers more than he could have bargained for about her, his family, and the real target of the fire.
Brutal, gripping, and tragic, ANEMONE is a coming-of-age tale that deals with issues still relevant today. At its core is betrayal, emotional survival, and revenge within two ordinary families whose misdeeds bring about a reckoning from which no one emerges unscathed.
About the author
Jim Frazee is a novelist and poet, a former journalist and film producer. He has contributed to the New York Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the McClatchy newspaper group, the American Poetry Review, the Virginia Quarterly Review, Columbia, Seneca Review, the Iowa Review, the Montana Review, the North American Review, MSS, the Southern Poetry Review, and the Missouri Review, among others.
He has worked in the film industry in the U.S. for Paramount Pictures and repertory cinema chains, and in Scandinavia, primarily in independent film acquisition, development, financing, and production. His film production work can be viewed here.
At eighteen, he studied classical guitar with Andres Segovia-protégé, José Tomás, in Alicante, Spain, and later with Robert Guthrie, in Dallas, Texas.
He grew up in Southern California, began surfing in 1963, and now lives with his wife in Oslo, Norway.
New projects
THIEF OF LAUGHTER - a book of poems to be published May 7, 2025.
GRAND COMPLICATION – novel in progress
Logline: A young bride’s ex-lover confronts her groom the night before their wedding with evidence of her possible complicity in two recent murders, only to discover her life now hinges on an innocent but ultimately tragic childhood game.
CURRENT FILM/TV PROJECTS
Title: QUISLING’S FINAL DAYS (QUISLINGS SISTE DAGER)
Category: Feature film & TV series
Director: Erik Poppe
Status: Theatrical release 13 September 2024
Role: Script consultant
Title: COKE MACHINE
Category: 12x60 min. TV series
Status: TBA
Role: Concept, scriptwriter
Script consultants: Gilles Mimouni and Gerard Lee
First option by producer Pierre-Ange Le Pogam (TELL NO ONE, THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA, GRACE OF MONACO)
Title: THE PRETENDER
Category: Feature film
Director: Gilles Mimouni, writer and director
Status: TBA
Role: Development, Script consultant
Title: BLACK HOUSE
Category: Feature film
Director: Gilles Mimouni, writer and director (based on the Peter May novel)
Status: TBA
Role: Script consultant