Rating: 
Summary: MURDER WAS NEVER SO MUCH FUN
Review: I never thought I would own this book!But I found it in Chapters book store on tuesday-and now Im done it alreadly! It only took three days to finish this funny-faced paced true tale of murder in clubland! James st James wrote this book well-since it was his first book-and every chapter was intersesting! This is my favorite book now! The story is about club kids Micheal Alig and James st James who threw lots of bizarre partys and were doing drugs but it was Micheal who was doing alot of drugs and eventually ended up murdering his drugdealer Angel Melendez with a hammer and Dranol! And Micheal hacked up the body and put it in a box and threw it in the river-then he bragged about it on Extra and now he is behind bars! This book is like a drug-once you start reading it you cant put it down! And of course this has been turned into a motion picture-starring Macualaly Culkin as Micheal Alig and Seth Green as James st James! Money Success Fame Glamour! Now I have more Party Monster merchandise! OH yeah! I think its so important to begin with a bang-dont you?
Rating: 
Summary: I couldn't leave this party until the sun came up
Review: I read this fast-paced book on a flight from Seattle to Atlanta, absolutely giddy despite the notable lack of free champagne in coach class. What a story! It's like "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" for the club set. St. James has a wicked sense of humor that shines even (especially?) when he's describing some particularly unsavory party aftermath. The reader simultaneously laughs and recoils in horror throughout the book; how can anyone mired, unwashed, in a 5-day drug binge manage to be so fabulous? St. James does it. My only two complaints are that they should have kept the original title ("Disco Bloodbath") and the shoddy editing was distracting at times. But that's what I get for being a nerd.
Rating:
Summary: Hypnotic and tragic
Review: James St. James' tale of life inside the famed NYC Club Kids scene is a riveting display of youth meeting excess and the resultant inevitable tragedy. At the center is sociopath Michael, a brilliant but warped Pied Piper who leads the lost boys and girls to new highs, staggering excesses and, finally, when things are headed downhill, commits murder and deems it fodder for party anecdotes. Growing up in a completely opposite world, yet at the same time, it's frightening to see what 80's excess and greed wrought in some cases. Because of this, along with St. James' hip writing style, the book might be getting more of a pass than it deserves. Nevertheless, it's a compelling, albeit disturbing, read.
Rating:
Summary: homo homicide!
Review: Party Monster is the hilariously written, deliciously different, drug induced, true murder story written by James St. James. It has the perfect mix of glamour, humor, and drama. Michael Alig is the twenty-something gay boy from a small town who is new to the club scene and new to New York in general. James St. James is everything Michael wants to be. After Michael proves his brilliant party-throwing abilities to the other club kids, him and James St. James soon become inseperable. Together the two are a double threat, which brings national popularity, drugs, and power into the picture. Michael definitely isn't responsible enough to handle any of those things. This story takes you from Michael Alig's and James St. James' incredibly high points to their incredibly low points. The ultimate results end in death, broken friendships, and heart break. Party Monster is outrageously fun and disturbing to some. It's a must read for those who don't really take anything too seriously and love a couple laughs with a dose of murder.
Rating:
Summary: A Portrait of a Murder In Full Shade
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Crazy!!!
Review: This based on a true story book is AMAZING!!
From murder, disco, drugs, love, hate...this book has it all!!!
If you like the book you should defintley check out the shockumentry film as well as the new film starring Mac Culkin and Seth Green.
Warning: when you pick up this book you wont be able to put it down!!
Rating:
Summary: A Tasty Appetizer
Review: This book is a breezy, entertaining read, full of dishy giddiness. St. James definitely has mastered the art of queeny commentary, rendering 'Disco Bloodbath/Party Monster' as enjoyable and decadent as cream puff with chocolate sauce. If, however, you are looking for a meatier account of the Alig/Melendez fiasco, don't expect Disco Bloodbath to furnish it. This is an insider's glib take on the events, not a factual accounting, and for those who want to twist their minds around the 'why/how?' of the events leading up to the grisly murder, this book will prove unsatisfying. My advice is to treat it as the deliciously entertaining literary profiterole that it is. I've just ordered Frank Owen's 'Clubland', which I understand is the yang to St. James' yin; clinical, factual, and stripped of glamour - I'm still out on this one until I read it. One wonders if one will ever be able to get to the bottom of the debacle - perhaps because there IS no bottom? In any case, YOU ARE TOO MUCH, JAMES ST. JAMES! I concur with the reviewer who encouraged you to write about those Southern family roots, and I expect you could be a master of Southern Gothic with an acid twist. Fabulous!
Rating:
Summary: A Different Kind of Read
Review: This book surprises me because, being so anxious to read it and so much time passing before I finally got a copy, I figured I'd read it in one sitting. Turns out, over a month has passed and I'm still reading a few pages at a time just before falling to sleep in bed, somtimes being startled awake when it falls into my face.
James St. James doesn't write at all as he came off in his televised interviews. He writes with an obvious self-consciousness that works in his favor.
At times, it seems he can't decide if the book is a biography, a description of the Club Kid scene, Michael Alig, or a murder. But again, this somehow works. Sometimes he falls into writing in his Club Kid persona and seems almost apologetic for having a conscience and moral compass.
In the end, I am truly enjoying this book and will miss it as a sleeping aid when I read the last few pages tonight.
I hope his uncertainty continues to shine through in his next non-fiction book.
Rating:
Summary: Hysterical, incredibly entertaining & witty
Review: This book was a combination of hysterical, incredibly entertaining, and witty. The story of the club kids and murder turns into a tale of fashion, one-upmanship, drugs, excess, and eventually downfall. Anyone who has ever been in a drug or party scene will recognize some aspects of this book, but even those who have not will find it a compelling look into club culture. I would even recommend this book to those who typically dislike murder tales, as the book is so much more and interesting on so many different levels
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!
Review: THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN! EVEN THOUGH THE BOOK IS ABOUT A HORRIBLE MURDER. JAMES ST JAMES MAKES IN FAB. THERE IS SO MUCH DARK HUMOR, IT'S HILARIOUS. I CAN'T PUT IT DOWN. I HAVE READ IT ABOUT 10 TIMES. EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. THE MOVIE HARDLY DOES IT JUSTICE.
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