Owen, Frank (Owen Francis Gavin, Frank S. Owen)

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Owen, Frank (Owen Francis Gavin, Frank S. Owen)

PERSONAL:

Male.

CAREER:

Journalist and writer.

WRITINGS:

Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture, Ebury (London, England), 2003.

No Speed Limit: The Highs and Lows of Meth, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Washington Post, Village Voice, and Spin.

SIDELIGHTS:

Frank Owen is a journalist and author of Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture, and No Speed Limit: The Highs and Lows of Meth. Referred to as "expertly reported, but not for the squeamish" by a Kirkus Reviews contributor, Clubland focuses on the club scene of the 1990s, particularly New York's Limelight club and its owner Peter Gatien. The Limelight was a renowned club known for its immense popularity and decadence. Eventually, it was the progenitor of a number of satellite clubs in other parts of the country. The author follows the Limelight club's origins and profiles Gatien and others whose greed led them to get involved in drug dealing to support an outrageous club scene and lifestyle that included sex, corruption, and violence. In addition to Gatien, among those profiled are vicious thugs, deviant promoters, the club's young clientele, and the law enforcement agents who eventually brought the party to an end when agents arrested Gatien on drug charges and Michael Alig, a prominent party promoter, was convicted of killing Angel Melendez, an in-house drug dealer.

"Clubland sees through the smoke, mirrors, and Ketamine," noted Bill Werde in a review on the Village Voice Web site. "By the epilogue, Owen is disillusioned, but his angst makes for some pretty heady voyeurism." Other reviewers also had praise for the book. "Owen's research is superb, his writing outstanding, and his story a sobering, frightening tale of modern urban culture," commented Carol J. Binkowski in the Library Journal. Noting that the author "weaves together three strands of masterful reporting," a Publishers Weekly contributor went on to comment that Clubland is "a treat for fans of true crime," also noting that the author's own experimental drug use to research the story will make "armchair party animals … appreciate the lengths to which this reporter goes" to get a story. (The book stemmed from an original report the author wrote for the Village Voice about the animal anesthetic ketamine, which was a favorite drug of clubgoers and one that the author tried.) A Kirkus Reviews contributor also commended Owen for his profile of Gatien. The reviewer wrote that the author "does an admirable job of surveying his subject from every angle," but nothing can make "the picture any less ugly."

Owen once again enters the dark side of the drug world with his book No Speed Limit. This time the author provides a history of methamphetamine use in the United States, including how the drug rose to such infamous popularity and the author's own flirtation with the drug in the 1980s. "Firsthand experience makes Owen a credible commentator," noted Jennifer Reese in Entertainment Weekly. Library Journal contributor Randall M. Miller noted that the book "is not a deeply scholarly study steeped in analysis so much as a ride through history and … policy."

In No Speed Limit Owen posits that people use methamphetamine, or meth, for the energy boost and other physical manifestations the stimulant provides. He details how the drug rose from relatively moderate use by people who were part of the rave dance scene to more widespread use by people from all walks of life, from housewives to hardworking, middle-class people to survivalists who tend to be conservatives, all getting hooked by the drug's ability to provide energy so they can do more. Newsweek estimated that at one point, 1.5 million Americans used the drug regularly. Noting that the author "attacks the story from every angle," a Kirkus Reviews contributor went on to call No Speed Limit "disturbing, haunting, memorable and at times morbidly funny."

No Speed Limit also explores the burgeoning of meth labs throughout the United States, including rural communities and even a day-care center that also operated a lab. In addition to writing about the drug's place in gay culture, the author profiles numerous characters such as an industrial chemist who has become a cult hero among meth makers for his book Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture. However, the author also recounts the stories of the people whose lives have been ruined or nearly ruined by the drug. Despite pointing out the severe consequences of methamphetamine abuse, the author also examines the demonization of the drug and compares it to other substances that have been similarly exploited by the media and government to look even more harmful to individuals and society than they already are.

A Publishers Weekly contributor referred to No Speed Limit as an "intensely researched, fascinating account," adding that it "is refreshingly clearheaded and free of hysteria." Mike Tribby, writing in Booklist, noted that the author "offers a sobering look at a very addictive drug and the paranoid hoopla it has generated."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 1, 2003, Mike Tribby, review of Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture, p. 1560; July 1, 2007, Mike Tribby, review of No Speed Limit: The Highs and Lows of Meth, p. 14.

Entertainment Weekly, July 27, 2007, Jennifer Reese, review of No Speed Limit, p. 70.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2003, review of Clubland, p. 523; May 15, 2007, review of No Speed Limit.

Library Journal, May 1, 2003, Carol J. Binkowski, review of Clubland, p. 116; September 15, 2003, Douglas C. Lord, review of Clubland, p. 107; July 1, 2007, Randall M. Miller, review of No Speed Limit, p. 110.

Publishers Weekly, April 14, 2003, review of Clubland, p. 58; April 30, 2007, review of No Speed Limit, p. 147.