Synopses & Reviews
Ray Boy Calabrese is released from prison 16 years after his actions led to
the death of a young man. The victim's brother, Conway D'Innocenzio, is a
middle-aged Brooklynite wasting away at a local Rite Aid, stuck in the past
and still howling for Ray Boy's blood. When the chips are down and the gun
is drawn, Conway finds that he doesn't have murder in him. Thus begins a
spiral of self-loathing and soul-searching into which he is joined by
Alessandra, a failed actress caring for her widowed father, and Eugene, Ray
Boy's hellbound nephew.
Ray Boy Calabrese is back in Gravesend: some people
worship him, some want him dead... but none more so than the ex-con
himself.
Review
"William Boyle's Gravesend is a bruiser and a heartbreaker of a debut.
With echoes of Lehane and Pelecanos but with a rhythm and poignancy all its
own, it's a gripping tale of family, revenge, the strains of the past and
the losses that never leave us." Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me and The
End of Everything
Review
"Gravesend is a taut exploration of the ways we hurt and save (or try to
save) one another. With unforgettable characters, a fist for a plot and a
deeply evocative setting, Boyle navigates alleys and streets with the best
of them, Lehane, Price, and Pelecanos." Tom Franklin, author of Hell at
the Breech, Smonk, and
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
Review
"Gravesend is a book that hits you in the guts the same way David Goodis
or Charles Willeford's books do. Boyle's mining that dark edge of America
where no one is safe, not even from themselves. A dark ride but a seriously
great ride." Willy Vlautin, author of The Motel Life and The Free
Review
"Gravesend kicks ass! An irresistible combo of an insider's tour of
Brooklyn and true and authentic 21st Century Noir. Boyle is one to watch."
Ace Atkins, author of The Broken Places and Robert B. Parker's
Wonderland
Review
"William Boyle has written a terrific novel for the new millennium of Noir.
A beautiful actress returns to her Brooklyn neighborhood where she finds
the dark world she left has gotten worse. Peopled by ex-cons and ex-cops,
teenage gangsters and Russian mobsters, Gravesend creates a
claustrophobic intimacy as it moves swiftly to its shocking end. I finished
the book grateful for release from its relentless grip, and admiring the
guts it took to write such a brutal story." Chris Offutt, author of Kentucky
Straight and Out of the Woods
Review
"There's a natural, forthright style here that seems born of this writer's
sense of duty to his characters, these denizens of non-hipster Brooklyn
living out the dooms they were born to, nurturing their vices, the hours of
their lives plaited masterfully together, their lusts and regrets
interlaced. The novel unspools without hurry but also without an extra
line, giving neither the desire nor opportunity to look up from it. There's
an exhilaration that accompanies seeing a place and its folks this clearly
and fairly, feeling at once that the writer is nowhere to be found and also
working tirelessly to show you the right things. Boyle arrives in thorough
possession of his seedy yet venerable world, this low-roofed urban
hinterland. I can't remember being more convinced by the people in a novel.
Boyle's characters, each in his or her own way, are accepting the likely
future — with violence, with sex, with resignation, with rebellion, by being
upbeat. You'll be grateful, and it won't take long, to be in this writer's
hands." John Brandon, author of Arkansas and Citrus County
Review
"Boyle understands blood in all its meanings. He's a dark poet who knows
how to draw you close so he can slip the knife into your heart.
Gravesendis deeply felt, brutal, tragic, personal and beautiful. You
won't forget
it." Jack Pendarvis, author of The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable
Treasure and Awesome
Review
"Gravesend plops you down in the midst of a tragedy waiting to happen,
and as the story rumbles toward its shattering conclusion, you'll find
yourself digging in your heels against the terrible inevitability of it
all. William Boyle lays bare a seedy corner of Brooklyn and the tortured
souls who inhabit it in his debut, and in so doing stakes out his own turf
among up-and-coming two-fisted writers." Richard Lange, author of Dead
Boys and Angel Baby