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.
"Gravesend is a taut exploration of the ways we hurt and save (or try to save) one another. With unforgettable characters, a fist for a plot and a deeply evocative setting, Boyle navigates alleys and streets with the best of them, Lehane, Price, and Pelecanos." -Tom Franklin, author of Hell at the Breech, Smonk, and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
"Gravesend is a book that hits you in the guts the same way David Goodis or Charles Willeford's books do. Boyle's mining that dark edge of America where no one is safe, not even from themselves. A dark ride but a seriously great ride." -Willy Vlautin, author of The Motel Life and The Free
"Gravesend kicks ass! An irresistible combo of an insider's tour of Brooklyn and true and authentic 21st Century Noir. Boyle is one to watch." -Ace Atkins, author of The Broken Places and Robert B. Parker's Wonderland
"William Boyle has written a terrific novel for the new millennium of Noir. A beautiful actress returns to her Brooklyn neighborhood where she finds the dark world she left has gotten worse. Peopled by ex-cons and ex-cops, teenage gangsters and Russian mobsters, Gravesend creates a claustrophobic intimacy as it moves swiftly to its shocking end. I finished the book grateful for release from its relentless grip, and admiring the guts it took to write such a brutal story." -Chris Offutt, author of Kentucky Straight and Out of the Woods
"William Boyle's Gravesend is a bruiser and a heartbreaker of a debut. With echoes of Lehane and Pelecanos but with a rhythm and poignancy all its own, it's a gripping tale of family, revenge, the strains of the past and the losses that never leave us." -Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me and The End of Everything
"There's a natural, forthright style here that seems born of this writer's sense of duty to his characters, these denizens of non-hipster Brooklyn living out the dooms they were born to, nurturing their vices, the hours of their lives plaited masterfully together, their lusts and regrets interlaced. The novel unspools without hurry but also without an extra line, giving neither the desire nor opportunity to look up from it. There's an exhilaration that accompanies seeing a place and its folks this clearly and fairly, feeling at once that the writer is nowhere to be found and also working tirelessly to show you the right things. Boyle arrives in thorough possession of his seedy yet venerable world, this low-roofed urban hinterland. I can't remember being more convinced by the people in a novel. Boyle's characters, each in his or her own way, are accepting the likely future--with violence, with sex, with resignation, with rebellion, by being upbeat. You'll be grateful, and it won't take long, to be in this writer's hands." -John Brandon, author of Arkansas and Citrus County
"Boyle understands blood in all its meanings. He's a dark poet who knows how to draw you close so he can slip the knife into your heart. Gravesend is deeply felt, brutal, tragic, personal and beautiful. You won't forget it." -Jack Pendarvis, author of Awesome
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