Ray Boy Calabrese is released from prison 16 years after his actions led to the tragic death of an innocent young man. The victim's brother, Conway D'Innocenzio, is a 29-year-old Brooklynite, working at a branch of Rite Aid in Gravesend, Brooklyn, nursing a festering grudge against Ray Boy. Obsessed with killing his nemesis, but incapable of following through with his plan, Conway goes badly off the rails, and his sense of despair is rivalled only by that of Ray Boy himself. Hard with prison muscle on the outside, Ray Boy has gone soft inside, and is now utterly appalled at his crime. No longer the neighbourhood threat that his friends – and his loose cannon nephew Eugene – want him to be, it is clear that no one in Gravesend destined for a happy ending…
Gravesend is a book about memory, legacy and reputation – and the toxic baggage than can haunt subsequent generations. It’s a crime story, but one that constantly wrong-foots you, by steering the narrative in unexpected directions. The characters, streets and bars feel incredibly authentic, and the level of background detail that Boyle brings to the table throughout is superb.
The gritty street-level storytelling has welcome echoes of George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane, but Gravesend actually put me in mind of a different pair of writers. I discovered Daniel Woodrell and James Sallis through No Exit Press many years ago – two writers who produce slim books that made a big impact. Boyle’s Brooklyn backdrop may have little in common with Woodrell’s country noir, or the smouldering New Orleans of Sallis’s Lew Griffin books, but his nuanced writing holds up very well against their work.
Highly recommended.
