Gravesend
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Shortlisted for the 2018 CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger
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 29-year-old 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.
'Bristling with energy, Gravesend marks Boyle out as a new name to watch' - Guardian
'A brave and gripping novel from start to finish' - Big Issue
'A dark, hard hitting novel' - The Herald
William Boyle
William Boyle is from Brooklyn, New York. His novels include: Gravesend, which was nominated for the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in France; The Lonely Witness, which was nominated for the Hammett Prize and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière; A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself, an Amazon Best Book of the Year; and, most recently, City of Margins, a Washington Post Best Thriller and Mystery Book of 2020. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi.
Read more from William Boyle
A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5City of Margins: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lonely Witness Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shoot the Moonlight Out: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGravesend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Gravesend
Related ebooks
The Devil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Modern Man: A philosophical divagation about the evil banality of daily acts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ludwig Conspiracy: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Serious Man: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarilyn the Wild Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fox Fires Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVilla Ariadne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTiburon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Currency of Paper Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Time for Frankie Coolin: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIndelible Ink: a novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Burning Your Own: A coming-of-age novel by one of the best contemporary Irish writers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Inheritors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Voids Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerishable Goods Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Call Me Brooklyn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sextine Chapel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNovena for the Dead Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDoctor Ox's Experiment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hellhound Sample Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dona Perfecta Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mutinous memories: A subjective history of French military protest in 1919 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBecka's Buckra Baby Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Burial Mound by Henrik Ibsen - Delphi Classics (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDarke Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lament of the Dhobi Woman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCold to the Touch: A Sarah Fortune Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The River Ophelia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Imagined Corners Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
General Fiction For You
The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shantaram: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beartown: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dry: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anonymous Sex Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Candy House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Recital of the Dark Verses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Gravesend
4 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Really well-developed characters. No false notes.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boyle built a story of many remarkable characters whose lives tragically collide in a down-and-out, blue-collar NYC neighborhood named Gravesend. Ray Boy is a just-released ex-con, who commited hate-crime manslaughter and wants to die. Conway is the brother of the Ray Boy’s victim and wants to help fulfill Ray Boy’s wish. Eugene is Ray Boy’s nephew and well on his way to emulating the worst of his uncle. Alessandra is back from LA following her mom’s death and Stephanie is a drug-store clerk. Gravesend is a godsend for anyone who likes tales of crime and raw violence. I found the story refreshing – a mix of Brothers McMullin and Quentin Tarentino. Gravesend swims in Catholic, Italian, and parochial school lingo that lured this reader in.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great crime novel and one of the best stories about Italian Americans I've read in a long time
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5GRAVESEND is a noir that deviates from the more classic mode because the revenge killer just can’t pull the trigger and the victim really couldn’t care less if he is killed. Nonetheless, Boyle portrays working class Brooklyn as a dark place filled with grim characters clinging to a past that may not have been all that ideal. They live with memories of high school crushes, slights, and rebellions.Boyle portrays his Italian-American characters as people who live in the past and identify strongly with their neighborhood. Conway D'Innocenzio wants to revenge the killing of his gay brother by a high school bully named Ray Boy. He is a local looser working a dead-end job at a Rite Aid and caring for his widowed father. Alessandra Biagini briefly escaped Gravesend to LA where she failed in her goal to become an actress but now she’s home caring for her recently widowed father. She has a drinking problem and is reluctantly seeking old contacts in the neighborhood. Eugene Calabrese is a petty high school hood, who idolizes his legendary Uncle Ray Boy. He’s eager to assume the hoodlum role that his uncle seems to have abandoned. Ray Boy is the most enigmatic figure in the book. Apparently he was a “Fonzie” type who has changed dramatically as a result of his 16 years in prison for the hate crime of murdering Duncan D'Innocenzio. These characters are supported by a cast of local losers including a worn-out cop names McKenna, a wealthy ne’er-do-well called Sweat, and a high school friend who never left home and pines for Conway.The novel follows three interrelated plotlines. Conway means to kill Ray Boy but finds he really doesn’t have the killer instinct. Alessandra tries to relive her high school crush on Ray Boy while being stalked by Conway. And Eugene hatches a crazy scheme to rob a local crime boss. It is obvious from the outset that none of this will end well. After being told by a reader that they could see the end coming a mile away, Boyle was heard to say, “Yeah, it’s not a mystery novel. Eugene’s fucking doomed from the start. You could sense that because that’s the way I made it. There are no options for him.” The same seems true for Conway and Alessandra.Boyle unflinchingly portrays his old neighborhood as a dark and perverse place where everything is broken, and people never leave or are inevitably drawn back. It is obvious that he knows this place and these people well. In the best Rocky fashion, Eugene sticks a “yo” on the back of much of what he says. On traveling north along the Hudson, Sweat admits that this was the first time he ever crossed the river. All history revolves not just around the neighborhood but the block.This is a clever twist on the crime/noir genre wit a few interesting things to say about the insularity of big city neighborhoods.