Weekly Reader: Slow Down by Lee Matthew Goldberg; A Dark Drug Fueled Thriller About Fame, Ambition, Addiction, and Selling One's Soul

Weekly Reader: Slow Down by Lee Matthew Goldberg; A Dark Drug Fueled Thriller About Fame, Ambition, Addiction, and Selling One's Soul

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: Lee Matthew Goldberg's novel, Slow Down, could be considered The Millennial Version of What Makes Sammy Run? In Budd Schulberg's 1941 novel/expose of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Sammy Glick, a shifty opportunistic copyboy steals screenplays, connives against rivals, beds and discards mistresses, and makes life a living Hell for those around him in his climb to the top of the Hollywood scene, only to find his success hollow and empty when there are others waiting to replace and destroy him.

Slow Down has characters that could be considered Sammy Glick's protegees. Only they have benefits from such modern tools as technology and drug use to their advantage.

Slow Down is a dark comedy of a book that seems like one long drug fueled trip into the excesses of fame, ambition, and selling one's soul to those who are better players in the ruthless game of instant celebrity.

Noah Spaeth, is a young ambitious writer with a big mouth who comes from a rich dysfunctional Central Park West family. In his early 20's, Noah has a troubled relationship with just about everyone in his life: from his constantly traveling parents, to his screwed up brother, to his spoiled sister, to his bitchy boss, to his long train of weird friends and clingy ex-girlfriends. Just recently he got fired from his job because he accidentally sent an insulting email to his boss. No problem, Noah says, he has time to focus on his writing and to finally get that one success story which will propel him to gaining that reputation as a bright young genius. Okay, he only has a margin of a idea for his novel with only a few scenes written and one character named Nina. But he is certain his time will come.

Noah's former girlfriend, aspiring actress, Nevie invites him to a swank party and introduces him to experimental filmmaker, Dominick Bambach. Dominick's previous success was an erotic thriller, Detached. His latest project is even more off the beaten path. It is Slow Down and will feature him only giving his actors a small semblance of a scene and have them react as he films. He wants to film their reactions and natural behaviors injecting realism to his production. Noah is fascinated with the project and would like to be mentored by Dominick, at least long enough to give his own career a boost.

Unfortunately, that fascination turns to revulsion when Noah is introduced to a drug called Fast, which produces psychotic after effects. He also encounters a few young actresses, working on Dominick's film, who have similar tattoos of a yellow circle and become insanely violent whenever that tattoo is touched. Could Dominick be so obsessed with filming a natural performance that he is willing to drug his actresses to get it?

Noah also has further questions when he encounters Dominick's wife, Isadora who seduces the young writer and questions her husband's writing and directing ability. Noah's ambitious drive increases and he plots to steal Dominick's movie and his wife.


Slow Down is one ironic title. Things move along at a regular pace, then something happens that speeds up the action to a dizzying pace. There are moments where you can't be sure if what you are reading is really happening, if Noah (or the Reader) is hallucinating, or if the action is completely fictional and instead just the product of a writer finally creating his magnum opus.

The drug scenes are terrifying because of the uncertainty. Many of the women go from bright, ambitious, attractive, budding starlets to animalistic homicidal maniacs, almost as a symbol of the control that Dominick and Noah have over them. Noah also goes through various drug trips with Fast that further confuses things and puts him at Dominick's mercy while he believes that he is in control.

When the yellow circle reappears in Noah's life, it is almost like a warning of terrifying lines that shouldn't be crossed.


The biggest drug in the book is not Fast, but ambition and it hits Noah hard. The more Noah becomes entangled with Dominick and his movie, the more he wants Dominick's life. He entertains notions of the lengths that he will go to pursue his goals from stealing the film to murdering Dominick and marrying Isadora. He beds Nevie and various other actresses to act on his frustrations of his wasted life. He conspires with Isadora so that he can replace Dominick by her side and obtain the filmmaker's reputation via osmosis.

Noah's ambitions are cold, but Noah is more like the little kid who robs cash registers in convenience stores then says, "I'm really bad, honest!" in front of a violent street gang who are ready to commit mass murder. Noah never realizes that he is playing in the big leagues until he reads the final draft of Slow Down and realizes that he is a figurative character just moving along in other people's schemes. He followed someone else's script and was controlled by other's machinations and his own ambitions.

Slow Down is a dark book that gets to the center of various kinds of addiction, not just drugs but fame and success as well. Noah started out brilliant, but angry that he was not put in a position for others to recognize that talent and drive. In the end, he may want fame but the fame is only temporary and once the excitement is done, he wants more. More success on his own terms, more money, a penthouse apartment, more dates, more beautiful mistresses, more drugs, more everything. The price when it comes down is that Noah is no longer in control, still the neurotic insecure mess that he always was, not directing and instead playing out other people's scripts.