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    Good Neighbors: A Novel
    Good Neighbors: A Novel
    Good Neighbors: A Novel
    Audiobook6 hours

    Good Neighbors: A Novel

    Written by Ryan David Jahn

    Narrated by Paul Costanzo

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    At 4:00 A.M. on March 13, 1964, a young woman returning home from her shift at a local bar is attacked in the courtyard of her Queens apartment building. Her neighbors hear her cries; no one calls for help.

    Unfolding over the course of the two hours, Good Neighbors is the story of the woman's last night. It is also the story of her neighbors, the bystanders who kept to themselves: the anxious Vietnam draftee; the former soldier planning suicide; the woman who thinks she's killed a child; and her husband, who will risk everything for her. Revealing a fascinating cross-section of American society in expertly interlocking plotlines, Good Neighbors calls to mind the Oscar-winning movie Crash, and its suspense and profound sense of urban menace rank it with Hitchcock's Rear Window and the gritty crime novels of Dennis Lehane, Richard Price, and James Ellroy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 8, 2011
    ISBN9781452672830
    Good Neighbors: A Novel
    Author

    Ryan David Jahn

    Ryan David Jahn lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife Jessica and two beautiful little girls, Francine and Matilda. His novels include Acts of Violence, which won the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Dagger, Low Life, The Dispatcher, and The Last Tomorrow. His work has been translated into twelve languages.

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    Reviews for Good Neighbors

    3.5/5

    60 ratings8 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Reason for Reading: I was so impressed with the author's latest book, The Dispatcher, that I just had to read this, his first book.I'll start off by saying I undoubtedly enjoyed this book, not as much as Jahn's second book, but I'm still quite impressed. They are two very different types of books though. While The Dispatcher is most definitely a thriller written at a fast past. Good Neighbors is hard to classify into a genre and while it only takes place within one night it moves forward slowly. This is not a bad thing though. The book is definitely a crime. A woman is attacked, stabbed and raped in the courtyard feet away from her apartment block. But many more crimes take place also, some illegal, some immoral, some omissions of error and yet all are considered crimes against natural order. What this book mostly does is take a look at a true to life crime, the real-life murder of Kitty Genovese , and imagine how her death could have happened as it did surrounded on all sides by apartment blocks. Jahn goes inside the heads of these people who stand and stare at what is happening below them in the courtyard, some not realizing the gravity of the situation, others realizing it, but everyone assuming someone else has already called the cops so why should they as they'd only become involved and have to answer questions about their own lives. And you see everyone has secrets in their own lives. None of these people are truly "bad" but none of them are without sin either and they'd rather not have to answer embarrassing questions. The book focuses on a handful of people and couples who all have something quite important going on that evening that overshadows the event happening down below in their courtyard. They are too wrapped up in themselves to even notice the outside influence. Then there are others who don't live in the complex but are/or will be connected by book's end who also are having to deal with life threatening issues before they are placed in a position to be of any service to the wounded girl.Mostly this book is a study of characters, a slice of life from the mid 1960s and deals with social issues and taboos of the times such as: black/white racial tensions, crooked cops, police cover-ups, mixed marriages, serial killers, homosexuals, euthanasia, Vietnam War. The book was not what I had expected (a mystery/thriller) but I ended up absolutely entertained with the psychological insight into the minds of these people from another time and also the effects that mass shock will have upon people. It is a study into the minds of the times and gives a great slice of what 1960s American culture was like.This is one of my favourite types of books; multiple characters with separate stories where the point of view switches between them rapidly until slowly towards the end connection are made. A fascinating story. I will be on the lookout for Jahn's next book.
    • 5/5
      Unglaublich traurig!
    • 4/5
      eerily good book.
    • 3/5
      Originally posted (with a giveaway until July 4) here.

      In my AP Psych class, we learned about Kitty Genovese, murdered on the street in front of her New York apartment building. Though many of her neighbors heard her cries, no one helped her; no one even bothered to call the police. We learned that this is an example of 'diffusion of responsibility,' each witness assumes that someone else will have informed the authorities, so they don't call because that would just tie up the phone lines. Not stepping between a woman and a madman is one thing, but not making a call to save her life, the life of a woman you've probably seen any number of times?

      When I heard about Jahn's novel based on this incident, I immediately added it to my to-read list, because that whole thing is so incredibly morbidly fascinating to me. So, when I was offered a review copy of Jahn's newest, The Dispatcher, I accepted, and, when offered this one as well, I took it.

      Jahn presents the idea in the form of fiction. He changes Kitty Genovese into Kat Marino. The story covers only a few hours, making use of short vignettes. All of the people involved in Marino's murder are shown during the same timeframe: her murderer, the people in her building who heard or saw but did nothing, the people who finally found her, the ambulance drivers who arrived to take her, still alive despite many stabbings, to the hospital. I suspect this is probably the most effective way to tell this story, however I didn't really connect to the characters.

      The only people in the story I felt any sort of real interest in were a possibly forming gay couple and an older black man with a strong sense of justice. Otherwise, pretty much everyone here is either awful or boring. There's an adulterous husband, a father who wants to murder a child rapist, and a dirty cop, trying to frame other people for his own actions.

      Jahn's writing style, while very apt for a thriller of this sort, isn't one that resonates with me. He uses primarily short sentences and makes heavy use of repetition, not accidentally but intentionally. Others may like his writing, but I prefer longer, more ornate syntax.

      What made this still a worthwhile read for me was the subject matter. My mind is still turning over how people could witness a woman being attacked in a courtyard and do nothing. Not only that, but they don't check on her later, once the man is gone. That could have made a difference between her survival and death. It's not like they needed to step in front of the serial killer. They might have been able to save her while never risking themselves, especially since there were so many of them watching. Mankind is awful.

      If you like thrillers, ethical questions, or shows like CSI, you might like Ryan David Jahn's work.
    • 2/5
      This won a Crime Writer's Association Award, so I was expecting big things. It's based on the Kitty Genovese murder that occurred in the early 1960's. For those who don't know, Kitty Genovese was a young woman who was raped and murdered in the courtyard of her apartment with her neighbors looking on while it happened. The murderer ran and left her still alive, but came back ten minutes later, systematically searched for her, and finished her off. It wasn't until that point that someone called the police. This incident led to a lot of research studying the "bystander effect" and the phenomenon of diffused responsibility.Sadly, at this point in our history this is awful, but not nearly as shocking as it might have been. The 24-hour news cycle has brought all kinds of horror into our living rooms. Additionally, I've found that for me the definitive work on this is a short story written by Harlan Ellison. It's called "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" and it's been seared into my brain in the most crystalline form since the first time I read it. It's collected in Deathbird Stories and highly recommended. Harlan Ellison can get under your skin better than just about any writer living or dead.My primary issue with this book, however, was the interlocking stories. There were too many of them too loosely connected. The book keeps a careful distance from everything in it, including the characters, and while this works as a metaphor for what happened for me it just doesn't work from a storytelling point of view.
    • 3/5
      I guess the fact that the book upset me shows that it was well written. I feel, however that it is a sad commentary of our concept of "Good Neighbors". I live in the same house I grew up in and only know 4 people, and they are left overs from when I lived her as a child. We do not interact any longer. We do not assist- we bank in machines, check our groceries out with out talking to anyone. We pay our bills, bank, etc on the computer. So our connections are severed....never allowed to connect. Even in trouble. So when we are in trouble our neighbors just close the doors and pull the blinds. How you feel about it is up to you...
    • 5/5
      Acts of Violence is a very well crafted and visciously shocking novel. Based on a 1960s New York murder it follows the inhabitants of an apartment complex and how their lives are effected by the crime. With characters that have been constructed with such a depth that makes them not only present but truly believable and accompanied with prose that is audaciously dark yet astonishing compelling. Acts of Violence had me engrossed to the last word of the last page. A very impressive debut from an author who has climbed to the peak of my favorites list.
    • 4/5
      Hard to put down once you start this book weaves the lives of many residents of a block of flats as they bear witness to a violent act and then through various reasons fail to act to stop it. The pace is break-neck and it is quite easy to get through this book in one setting- whilst we may want to know more about these characters what we get is enough to realise the message of the author here. Is there too much violence in this book? I don't know - I think what I take from it is an overwhelming sense of the fact that this could actually happen where I live as people who live next to each other for years and years actually have very little to do with each other. A very good read, highly recommended and immensely sobering.