The Narrowback

After engineering the perfect crime, Tom Farrell evokes the anger of the Albanian mob, an associate--and IRA operative--is murdered, and his crew is attacked, forcing him to enter New York City's dark underworld, where he must confront his past in order to survive

The Narrowback, Michael Ledwidge's dazzling debut novel, is a fast-paced tale of suspense, intrigue, and deception that takes us on a breathless journey through the mean streets of New York City. It's a tough, evocative gangster tale with the urban edge of Richard Price's Clockers and the flash and velocity of Elmore Leonard.

Thirty-year-old Tom Farrell was raised in the working-class Irish neighborhoods of the Bronx. A graduate of the school of hard knocks, Farrell has channeled his street-smart intelligence into selling guns on the black market. Just out of jail, he gets a job across the street from a ritzy Midtown hotel-which inspires him to execute the perfect heist. But when one of his gang of thugs tries to take more than his share of the loot, and ends up in the Harlem River, the trouble begins-the deceased was a favorite operative of the Bronx chapter of the IRA. Then, trying to fence the goods, Farrell draws the ire of the Albanian mob by disrespecting its godfather. Shots break out as Farrell's gang is toasting its success, and soon he is lost in the underworld of New York City after midnight, not sure who has been killed, who has survived, and who will claim the money.

Tom Farrell is hungry and haunted, pursued not only by terrorists and murderers but by his past and his vices-the impact of an unbearably hard upbringing and even harder luck. With a quicksilver plot and dialogue as sharp as bullets, The Narrowback is a stylish, lucid, and compelling debut from an undeniably talented new writer.

"A taut crime thriller . . . The author has an easy, fluid style; the plot moves quickly and the dialogue goes down as smooth as Jamesons. Overall, a gangbusters first novel reminiscent of Jim Thompson and David Goodis."-Library Journal

"Michael Ledwidge can write, and I mean really write. The Narrowback is as auspicious a debut as I've seen in years."-James Patterson, author of Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls

"The Narrowback is a thriller with real sweat on its brow and dirt under its nails. Michael Ledwidge can make the pages fly when he wants to, but he can also make you stop and admire the grace in his prose and the edge in his dialogue. A superb and hard-bitten New York noir."-Peter Blauner, author of The Intruder and Slow Motion Riot

"The Narrowback is as powerful and important a debut as Richard Price's The Wanderers or Vincent Patrick's The Pope of Greenwich Village. Michael Ledwidge writes with a haunting, disturbing precision which is at once lyrical, literary and street-smart. His guided tour through the netherworld of New York would make Martin Scorsese shudder."-Denis Hamill, author of House on Fire and Three Quarters

"Here's a debut as sharp and dangerous as a brand-new knife. Preaching like a street-corner prophet, Ledwidge writes with a wicked sure-handedness and cooks up a novel that's the love child of authenticity and savage creativity. Hard, tough, and undeniable, the pages fly by just as fast as your fingers can turn them. Buckle up, kiddies, here comes one hell of a ride."-John Ridley, author of Stray Dogs and Love Is a Racket

Michael Ledwidge is twenty-seven years old and a graduate of Manhattan College. He is the son of Irish parents and was born and raised in the Bronx, where he still lives. He is married and has two children. This is his first book.