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A must read. Price ties up all his story arcs and leaves the reader incredibly satisfied.
I got half way through, but stopped since I had not developed an interest in any of the characters. They were all sort of bland and not very sympathetic, and this despite a good deal of character development, which occupies most of the book since there isn't too much action (at least in the first half).
Richard Price is an author that comes up a lot in contemporary culture, and I am glad to get more familiar with his writing so I have it as a point of reference. That was probably my fault for not looking into it more carefully.
I thought it was more contemporary literature offering interesting character studies and perspectives on urban life. In fact, it is really just a detective story without any intriguing questions about what happened or what will happen (most of the book is based on the perspective of one detective, Matty Clark, and you learn all the details of the featured crime up front--for some reason I had the impression from the blurbs that it was more about people in the community, not primarily the police).
Somehow I had the wrong idea about this book. So I'll admit that my low rating of this book is partially because I felt misled as to what it was about.
The story is gussied up quite a bit with elaborate details, but those details seemed to me like a familiar relaying of stereotypes about New York. The type of perspective on New York that subtly criticizes the city as a way of glorfying it, reinforcing NYC narcissism by highlighting it and trying to make it seem really interesting.
I'd also note that the book was reasonably readable considering that there was nothing about the story to really figure out. The book was not terrible, just mostly forgettable.
Price's dialogue is very entertaining, but it reads like a television screenplay. The only compelling thread is the relationship Yolonda creates with Tristan, but it receives very brief treatment.I used to spend a lot of time in the LES and Price's version of it doesn't seem quite right. Some characters, particularly the cops, exist for no other reason than to constantly snap off witty one-liners.The biggest problem was that the story is emotionally lifeless. I never felt any sympathy for Eric Cash, Ike or Billy Marcus, Matty. Not sure why, but it's less alive. Entertaining read but I agree with the other reviewers that it can get quite slow.
.full of color on the outside, full of air on the inside. It is actually simplistic, with a crime that is solved prosaically, and action that stays at the level of words. I guess the author was afraid that making the action thrilling would cross the line into airport thrillers, whereas he wants to be an AUTHOR. A young waiter with writerly aspirations is gunned down during a robbery as a result of mouthing off to a young thug with a gun. I did like reading this book, but it was in the expectation that the story would develop in interesting ways, that there would be well-plotted action, an interesting twist. The detective in charge of the case - a less than perfect character - becomes determined to find the killer. The story of a crime in a gentrifying neighborhood. This is CRIME, in a literary sense, with a lot of ink spent to create ATMOSPHERE, to DEPICT life in a way that impresses the review section of the New York Times.
In the end, the police does, as a result of a confession from an arrested guy. The story sounds simple, but that would an insult to simple. It says that Price worked for the TV show, "The Wire." I liked that show, especially seasons 1 and 2, but be forewarned: an episode of that is far more satisfying and enjoyable than anything here. It didn't, so I feel I was taken for a ride.
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