Looking for Mr. Goodbar to these events, which the book details, Theresa is a child suffering from ugly duckling syndrome, followed by an ordeal as an adult in college in which she is engaged in a committed relationship with a married man who is using her as a companion. The relationship ends, and Theresa experiences a bevy of sexual encounters that are fleeting and pathological. By 1973, having published three novels, Judith Rossner was a writer of "impeccable literary credentials." Invited by Nora Ephron to contribute to a special women's issue of "Esquire" magazine, Rossner wrote an article about a real-life murder that had
Looking for Mr. Goodbar sparked her interest, that of schoolteacher Roseann Quinn who had been brutally slain in January 1973 by a man she had purportedly picked up in a singles bar. In the end, "Esquire", fearing legal ramifications, declined to publish the article, so Rossner decided to write a novel instead. "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" was published by Simon & Schuster on June 2, 1975, to positive reviews. Carol Eisen Rinzler, in "The New York Times", said the book was "a complex and chilling portrait of a woman's descent into hell... full of insight and intelligence and illumination." "Time" magazine wrote, "it is