Gravesend
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
It’s been sixteen years since “Ray Boy” Calabrese’s actions led to the death of a young man. The victim’s brother, Conway D’Innocenzio, is now a 29-year-old Brooklynite wasting away at a local Rite Aid, stuck in the past and drawn into a darker side of himself when he hears that Ray Boy’s has been released. But even with the perfect plan in place, Conway can’t bring himself to take the ultimate revenge.Meanwhile, failed actress Alessandra returns to her native Gravesend after the death of her mother, torn between a desperate need to escape immediately back to LA and the ease with which she sinks back into neighborhood life. Alessandra and Conway are walking eerily similar paths—staring down the rest of their lives, caring for their aging fathers, lost in the youths they squandered—and each must decide what comes next.In the tradition of American noir authors like Dennis Lehane and James Ellroy, William Boyle’s Gravesend brings the titular neighborhood to life in this story of revenge, desperation, and escape.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Boyle's moving debut, the news of Ray Boy Calabrese's release from prison, where he has served time for the murder of Duncan D'Innocenzio 16 years earlier, ripples through the mostly Italian-American neighborhood of Gravesend, Brooklyn. Duncan's struggling 29-year-old brother, Conway, who's still living at home in Gravesend with his aging father, plots his revenge. When Conway eventually confronts his brother's killer, he discovers that prison has changed Ray Boy, and that the confident neighborhood alpha male who was the focal point of his hatred has been shattered by guilt. Meanwhile, Eugene Calabrese, Ray Boy's teenage nephew who idolizes his uncle, devises a reckless plan to prove himself. Also in trouble is failed actress Alessandra Biagini, who has come home from L.A. after her mother's death and also has an aging father to look after. These characters are swept into a downward spiral of desperation as they grapple with the weight of the past and the pull that the neighborhood has on them. Fans of classic noir will find a lot to like.
