Brighton by Michael Harvey is a wonderful novel. It's very true that if you like Dennis Lehane you'll like this novel. It's not just that it's set in Boston but that it also features a pretty clear-eyed view of the tensions inherent in the urban scene.
This novel is very suspenseful and in part, that's because the author carefully offers tidbits of information as you go along but also because there is a major plot twist at the end of novel which I didn't anticipate. There were no red herrings, however, which I appreciate. Michael Harvey's use of street slang and highly poetic metaphor side-by-side delighted me. It's so fun, and somewhat unusual, to be surprised by excellence and beauty in prose style.
The Whites is a wonderful novel. I read Brighton and The Whites back to back and as much as I enjoyed Brighton I loved The Whites even more. It's hard for me to figure out why. Part of it may be just that there was so much going on in The Whites: the protagonist has his dementia-burdened father at home, a man who slips in and out of the present but is capable of dispensing wisdom, intimidating his son, and helping his son out of a big, big jam regardless. His friends from the force are all so interesting as individuals. There's a lot of details about how we live now.
In both novels there are elements that strain credulity but to me that is more than counterbalanced by the richness of characterizations, the excellence with which the plot has been structured, and the realistic view of urban life.
This novel is very suspenseful and in part, that's because the author carefully offers tidbits of information as you go along but also because there is a major plot twist at the end of novel which I didn't anticipate. There were no red herrings, however, which I appreciate. Michael Harvey's use of street slang and highly poetic metaphor side-by-side delighted me. It's so fun, and somewhat unusual, to be surprised by excellence and beauty in prose style.
The Whites is a wonderful novel. I read Brighton and The Whites back to back and as much as I enjoyed Brighton I loved The Whites even more. It's hard for me to figure out why. Part of it may be just that there was so much going on in The Whites: the protagonist has his dementia-burdened father at home, a man who slips in and out of the present but is capable of dispensing wisdom, intimidating his son, and helping his son out of a big, big jam regardless. His friends from the force are all so interesting as individuals. There's a lot of details about how we live now.
In both novels there are elements that strain credulity but to me that is more than counterbalanced by the richness of characterizations, the excellence with which the plot has been structured, and the realistic view of urban life.
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