Tower: A Novel - Softcover

Bruen, Ken; Coleman, Reed Farrel

3.75

352 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935415077 ISBN 13: 9781935415077

Publisher: Busted Flush Press, LLC, 2009

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“Taking up the storied themes of crime fiction—loyalty and betrayal, temptation and treachery—Tower lifts and elevates them, forging a tale both barbaric and baleful, swaggering and broken-hearted. Brutal, soaring street poetry to take your breath away.”—Megan Abbott, Edgar Award–winning author of Queenpin and Bury Me Deep

“A rough and profane read, with haunting echoes of a Southie of the mind.”—Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter’s Bone

“Tower fulfills every promise made by the concept of this dream collaboration. Bruen and Coleman collaborate like twin sides of the same brain, making the difficult look easy --- and unforgettable, to boot. Dark, violent, frightening and touching, Tower stands as a masterpiece in the crime fiction genre.”—BookReporter

An original novel.

From a rough Brooklyn neighborhood, Nick and Todd forge a lifelong bond that persists in the face of blood and betrayal. Low-level wiseguys with little ambition and less of a future, the friends become players in the destruction of an international crime syndicate stretching from the Kennedy Airport to the streets of New York, Boston, and Belfast, to the alleyways of Mexican border towns. Their paths are littered with the bodies of cops, snitches, lovers, and stone killers.

In the tradition of The Long Goodbye, Mystic River, and The Departed, Tower is a powerful meditation on friendship, fate, and fatality. A twice-told tale done in the unique format of parallel narratives that intersect at deadly crossroads, Tower is like a beautifully crafted knife to the heart.

Ken Bruen (The Guards, Priest) and Reed Farrel Coleman (The James Deans, Soul Patch) have each been twice nominated for the Edgar Award. They have each won the Shamus Award twice and have also either received or been nominated for the Barry, Anthony, and Macavity awards. Bruen divides his time between America and Ireland. Coleman lives on Long Island.

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About the Author:

Ken Bruen is the two-time Shamus Award-winning author of the Jack Taylor crime novels, the Brant series, and London Boulevard, soon to be a major motion picture, written and directed by Oscar winner William Monahan (The Departed). He lives in Galway, Ireland. Reed Farrel Coleman was Brooklyn born and raised. He is the former Executive Vice President of Mystery Writers of America. His third Moe Prager novel, The James Deans, won the Shamus, Barry and Anthony Awards for Best Paperback Original. The book was further nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, and Gumshoe Awards.

Review:

Nominated for the 2010 Anthony, Macavity & Spinetingler Awards!

"It's a story as old as hard-boiled fiction, but Bruen, the prolific and gifted Irishman, and Coleman, his new partner in crime, have given it new life... Bruen's prose is some of the leanest, meanest writing crime fans will find, and Coleman's more discursive style amplifies and explicates the story, in the same way that John Coltrane's lyrical saxophone built on the clipped trumpet ideas of Miles Davis. The result is more than the sum of its parts, and it brings to mind Dennis Lehane's brilliant Mystic River. Readers who like their streets mean, and their criminals and cops meaner, will love Tower." -- Booklist

"Plot plays second fiddle to the specifics of sharply etched characters relayed in a prose style that frequently lands a punch to the gut. VERDICT: These two writers have amassed a mantle full of prizes and bevies of fans; much of the fun they must have had playing off each other comes across in this successful collaboration." -- Library Journal

"Busted Flush Press has just released its first original novel... billed as a crime tale, and what a tale it is.... Tower is a brutal, and sometimes tender, noir novel that careens through Brooklyn, Manhattan, Boston and Philadelphia, leaving you breathless and stunned." -- Shelf Awareness

"Brutally poetic... Bruen and Coleman shine... displaying all the literary chops that have made their novels such cult favorites among mystery fans." -- Publishers Weekly

"With Tower, Bruen and Coleman deliver an unflinching, yet moving portrait of friendship in the face of blood, dishonor, and death." -- Peter Spiegelman, Shamus Award-winning author of Red Cat

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