Synopses & Reviews
Review
Edgar finalist Coleman (Soul Patch) offers a searing look at the dark underside of Long Island in this stellar series kickoff. Ex cop Gus Murphy whose 20 year old son John Jr. dropped dead playing basketball works as a night shift van driver and house detective for a hotel whose lobby was “a pretty grand sight if you didn’t look too closely and if your taste ran to despair.” His reputation as an honest cop leads thug Tommy Delcamino to ask Gus to help him find the person responsible for the brutal torture and murder of Tommy’s son TJ after the Suffolk County PD fail to give the case much attention. Gus refuses out of anger that Tommy is trying to take advantage of Gus’s loss of John Jr. but he changes his mind after another murder. Coleman’s moving portrayal of a man in deep deep pain a tightly constructed plot and a gift for making Long Island seem like James Ellroy’s L.A. add up to a winner. Agent: David Hale Smith Inkwell Management. (Jan.) " Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."
Synopsis
From the critically acclaimed and award-winning author comes a gritty, atmospheric new series about the other side of Long Island, far from the wealth of the Hamptons, where real people live and die.
Gus Murphy thought he had the world all figured out. A retired Suffolk County cop, Gus had everything a man could want: a great marriage, two kids, a nice house, and the rest of his life ahead of him. But when tragedy strikes, his life is thrown into complete disarray. In the course of a single deadly moment, his family is blown apart and he is transformed from a man who believes he understands everything into a man who understands nothing.
Divorced and working as a courtesy van driver for the run-down hotel in which he has a room, Gus has settled into a mindless, soulless routine that barely keeps his grief at arm s length. But Gus s comfortable waking trance comes to an end when ex-con Tommy Delcamino asks him for help. Four months earlier, Tommy s son T.J. s batteredbody was discovered in a wooded lot, yet the Suffolk County PD doesn t seem interested in pursuing the killers. In desperation, Tommy seeks out the only cop he ever trusted Gus Murphy.
Gus reluctantly agrees to see what he can uncover. As he begins to sweep away the layers of dust that have collected over the case during the intervening months, Gus finds that Tommy was telling the truth. It seems that everyone involved with the late T.J Delcamino from his best friend, to a gang enforcer, to a mafia capo, and even the police has something to hide, and all are willing to go to extreme lengths to keep it hidden. It s a dangerous favor Gus has taken on as he claws his way back to take a place among the living, while searching through the sewers for a killer.
"
Synopsis
Nominated for the 2017 Edgar Award for Best Novel
From the critically acclaimed and award-winning author comes a gritty, atmospheric new series about the other side of Long Island, far from the wealth of the Hamptons, where real people live--and die.
Gus Murphy thought he had the world all figured out. A retired Suffolk County cop, Gus had everything a man could want: a great marriage, two kids, a nice house, and the rest of his life ahead of him. But when tragedy strikes, his life is thrown into complete disarray. In the course of a single deadly moment, his family is blown apart and he is transformed from a man who believes he understands everything into a man who understands nothing.
Divorced and working as a courtesy van driver for the run-down hotel in which he has a room, Gus has settled into a mindless, soulless routine that barely keeps his grief at arm's length. But Gus's comfortable waking trance comes to an end when ex-con Tommy Delcamino asks him for help. Four months earlier, Tommy's son T.J.'s battered body was discovered in a wooded lot, yet the Suffolk County PD doesn't seem interested in pursuing the killers. In desperation, Tommy seeks out the only cop he ever trusted--Gus Murphy.
Gus reluctantly agrees to see what he can uncover. As he begins to sweep away the layers of dust that have collected over the case during the intervening months, Gus finds that Tommy was telling the truth. It seems that everyone involved with the late T.J Delcamino--from his best friend, to a gang enforcer, to a mafia capo, and even the police--has something to hide, and all are willing to go to extreme lengths to keep it hidden. It's a dangerous favor Gus has taken on as he claws his way back to take a place among the living, while searching through the sewers for a killer.