Gravesend

August 6, 2018
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. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc.

August 1, 2018
Ray Boy Calabrese finishes a 16-year jail sentence for actions that led to the death of a gay classmate. His buddies from high school welcome his release, but Conway D'Innocenzio, the brother of the victim, is determined to kill Ray Boy. Conway is 29, living with his father in the house he grew up in. He's also realizing that he has peaked as a stock boy at Rite Aid. Except for his desire to kill Ray Boy, Conway's life is empty. Alessandra, who moved to L.A. to become an actress, returns to Gravesend after her mother dies. Her Hollywood dreams never materialized. She compares everything in Gravesend to L.A., but she also finds strange comfort in her unchanging hometown. Conway attempts to kill Ray Boy, but he can't do it?until Ray Boy volunteers to help him. Gravesend offers a granular and strikingly vivid look at a little-known and unprepossessing section of Brooklyn. It may remind crime-fiction devotees of novels by Dennis Lehane or George Pelecanos, where characters' actions often seem preordained by their surroundings. Powerful reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)