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I listened to a fair few podcasts with Joe Clifford in the recent past and I have some idea what this series means to him and I was excited to get started especially on the back of reading Junkie Love in the last couple of weeks. The qualities I have previously noted in his work show up again with exccedingly strong characterisation and a strong, engaging narrative voice.
Jay Porter is drifting through life following the end of his relationship with Jenny and the estrangement from his young son, Aiden. He is working sorting through the belongings of the recently deceased, barely scratching up enough money to pay for himself and keep up with his child support. He is forced away from his job to collect his brother, Chris, from the local police station and it's far from the first time this has happened with Chris being a drug addict of some notoriety within their small town. Chris is being held for threatening his business partner, who has since gone missing and when the partner turns up dead, the hunt for Chris is on in earnest.
In some ways the novel hues to the tropes of the mystery genre, but Clifford manages to create mysteries within the main mystery that leave you burning through the pages in a fervour for answers. The characters are finely grafted and the relationships are quickly cemented within the narrative meaning that you feel the stakes of the story. And after all that the ending leaves you wanting much, much more.
This is a strong opening salvo to a series I have long looked forward to reading and I'll be sure to get to the next one in short order.
Jay Porter is drifting through life following the end of his relationship with Jenny and the estrangement from his young son, Aiden. He is working sorting through the belongings of the recently deceased, barely scratching up enough money to pay for himself and keep up with his child support. He is forced away from his job to collect his brother, Chris, from the local police station and it's far from the first time this has happened with Chris being a drug addict of some notoriety within their small town. Chris is being held for threatening his business partner, who has since gone missing and when the partner turns up dead, the hunt for Chris is on in earnest.
In some ways the novel hues to the tropes of the mystery genre, but Clifford manages to create mysteries within the main mystery that leave you burning through the pages in a fervour for answers. The characters are finely grafted and the relationships are quickly cemented within the narrative meaning that you feel the stakes of the story. And after all that the ending leaves you wanting much, much more.
This is a strong opening salvo to a series I have long looked forward to reading and I'll be sure to get to the next one in short order.
When Jay gets a phone call telling him his older brother Chris is in jail he’s not surprised because he’s a junkie. He’s been in and out of trouble since their parents died in a car accident years ago. Reluctantly Jay heads to the police station, but from then on what was slow, small town life is never the same again.
Chris’ business partner, Pete, has been found dead. Jay is confounded, because Chris can barely tell what time of day it is, never mind run a company. The local police think Chris is at fault, but there’s no evidence to say so and Jay gets his brother back on the streets. Again.
Chris tells Jay that Pete was killed because they found something they weren’t supposed to on a computer they were recycling. But Chris has been telling tall stories his whole life and Jay doesn’t believe him. Then Chris disappears and suddenly everyone seems to want to find him – among them a cop up from the city and the Lombardi’s, a local family that control everything from investments to politics. Jay begins to wonder if there isn’t something to Chris’ story after all…
The phrase ‘slow burn’ is often used to describe a story that steadily unfolds, usually maintaining the same unremitting pace until the final word. With Lamentation this too is apt. To a point. Because here Clifford has lit a fuse which leads to a rather large bomb which, when it explodes, leaves no-one unscathed and in the process ramps up the tension considerably in the back quarter.
At the outset this seems like an ordinary enough tale. Small town boy who’s lost his family, has a troubled junkie brother, and is separated from Jenny, the woman he still loves and the mother of his son, because he doesn’t believe he’s good enough for her. Written in the first person through Jay’s eyes we understand fully the cul-de-sac he’s driven down.
But with Pete’s murder this seemingly dead end life gets flipped upside down. Jay, reluctantly, begins to investigate Pete’s death because he’s doing something he’s spent his life on – looking after his waster older brother. The plot grows in complexity as Jay’s understanding widens until he and the reader is faced with the whole dirty picture.
Clifford is a highly accomplished writer – the evidence is clear in his previous novels, Junkie Love and Wake The Undertaker. Lamentation is subtly different, but I find it hard to put my finger on why. Perhaps it’s because there is a large element of family involved. Secondly I like the fact that some of the questions the author poses, such as whether Jay’s parent’s death was an accident, aren’t fully answered at the conclusion. What had been a weight for Jay, he’s now able to cast off and properly live his life. And it’s these subtleties and extra layers that push the rating from four to five stars. If you don’t yet know Joe Clifford, you really should.
**Originally reviewed for Books & Pals blog. May have received free review copy.**
Chris’ business partner, Pete, has been found dead. Jay is confounded, because Chris can barely tell what time of day it is, never mind run a company. The local police think Chris is at fault, but there’s no evidence to say so and Jay gets his brother back on the streets. Again.
Chris tells Jay that Pete was killed because they found something they weren’t supposed to on a computer they were recycling. But Chris has been telling tall stories his whole life and Jay doesn’t believe him. Then Chris disappears and suddenly everyone seems to want to find him – among them a cop up from the city and the Lombardi’s, a local family that control everything from investments to politics. Jay begins to wonder if there isn’t something to Chris’ story after all…
The phrase ‘slow burn’ is often used to describe a story that steadily unfolds, usually maintaining the same unremitting pace until the final word. With Lamentation this too is apt. To a point. Because here Clifford has lit a fuse which leads to a rather large bomb which, when it explodes, leaves no-one unscathed and in the process ramps up the tension considerably in the back quarter.
At the outset this seems like an ordinary enough tale. Small town boy who’s lost his family, has a troubled junkie brother, and is separated from Jenny, the woman he still loves and the mother of his son, because he doesn’t believe he’s good enough for her. Written in the first person through Jay’s eyes we understand fully the cul-de-sac he’s driven down.
But with Pete’s murder this seemingly dead end life gets flipped upside down. Jay, reluctantly, begins to investigate Pete’s death because he’s doing something he’s spent his life on – looking after his waster older brother. The plot grows in complexity as Jay’s understanding widens until he and the reader is faced with the whole dirty picture.
Clifford is a highly accomplished writer – the evidence is clear in his previous novels, Junkie Love and Wake The Undertaker. Lamentation is subtly different, but I find it hard to put my finger on why. Perhaps it’s because there is a large element of family involved. Secondly I like the fact that some of the questions the author poses, such as whether Jay’s parent’s death was an accident, aren’t fully answered at the conclusion. What had been a weight for Jay, he’s now able to cast off and properly live his life. And it’s these subtleties and extra layers that push the rating from four to five stars. If you don’t yet know Joe Clifford, you really should.
**Originally reviewed for Books & Pals blog. May have received free review copy.**
The beginning of this book is a bit weak. There is this man doing a shitty job, has a life of shit and a family of shit. His parents died in a mysterious accident when he was eight years old and he has never recovered from their absence and how his life has taken the wrong track. The only real affection he has is his older brother, who is kind of crazy drug addict to the core, and just because of this brother, his girlfriend is gone, taking away their child and finding another man, a piece of shit but more reliable.
So rather boring. Then, fortunately, just before the middle until the end the book takes off and starts to fly, not allowing close until the end.
Not that the shit is suddenly swept away, but it takes to make sense, and, finally, the protagonist begins to give due weight to the situations and people that gravitate around him.
Thank Oceanview Publishing and Netgalley for offering me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
L'inizio di questo libro è un po' debole. C'è quest'uomo che fa un lavoro di merda, ha una vita di merda e una famiglia di merda. I suoi genitori sono morti in un misterioso incidente quando lui aveva otto anni e lui non si è mai ripreso dalla loro assenza e da come la sua vita abbia preso i binari sbagliati. L'unico vero affetto che ha è per suo fratello maggiore, che è una specie di pazzo drogato fino al midollo, e proprio per colpa di questo fratello la sua fidanzata se ne è andata portandosi via il loro bambino e trovandosi un altro uomo, un pezzo di merda ma più affidabile.
Insomma piuttosto noioso. Poi, per fortuna, da poco prima della metà fino alla conclusione il libro decolla e prende a volare, non permettendoti chiuderlo fino alla conclusione.
Non che la merda venga improvvisamente spazzata via, ma prende ad avere un senso, e, finalmente, il protagonista comincia a dare il giusto peso alle situazioni e alle persone che gli gravitano attorno.
Ringrazio Oceanview Publishing e Netgalley per vermi i offerto una copia gratuita in cambio di una recensione onesta.
So rather boring. Then, fortunately, just before the middle until the end the book takes off and starts to fly, not allowing close until the end.
Not that the shit is suddenly swept away, but it takes to make sense, and, finally, the protagonist begins to give due weight to the situations and people that gravitate around him.
Thank Oceanview Publishing and Netgalley for offering me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
L'inizio di questo libro è un po' debole. C'è quest'uomo che fa un lavoro di merda, ha una vita di merda e una famiglia di merda. I suoi genitori sono morti in un misterioso incidente quando lui aveva otto anni e lui non si è mai ripreso dalla loro assenza e da come la sua vita abbia preso i binari sbagliati. L'unico vero affetto che ha è per suo fratello maggiore, che è una specie di pazzo drogato fino al midollo, e proprio per colpa di questo fratello la sua fidanzata se ne è andata portandosi via il loro bambino e trovandosi un altro uomo, un pezzo di merda ma più affidabile.
Insomma piuttosto noioso. Poi, per fortuna, da poco prima della metà fino alla conclusione il libro decolla e prende a volare, non permettendoti chiuderlo fino alla conclusione.
Non che la merda venga improvvisamente spazzata via, ma prende ad avere un senso, e, finalmente, il protagonista comincia a dare il giusto peso alle situazioni e alle persone che gli gravitano attorno.
Ringrazio Oceanview Publishing e Netgalley per vermi i offerto una copia gratuita in cambio di una recensione onesta.
I loved it. Nice setting, characters were flawed but great, and story line was on point. Really liked the story, about two brothers struggling to make it in life, one is way off course being an addict and the other one trying his best to life his life and having the burden of worrying with his brother always on his back.
Everything in the book felt real, nothing too over the top, just a nice story that was very believable with a bunch of real characters stuck in tough spot. book wasnt too long, held my interest good enough i read in two sittings. loved it!
first book by Joe Clifford i have read, but he is now on my reading list for sure. Thanks Joe for the advance copy of the book.
Everything in the book felt real, nothing too over the top, just a nice story that was very believable with a bunch of real characters stuck in tough spot. book wasnt too long, held my interest good enough i read in two sittings. loved it!
first book by Joe Clifford i have read, but he is now on my reading list for sure. Thanks Joe for the advance copy of the book.
While there is no shortage of rural noir out there, there simply isn't enough of it set in New England. Joe Clifford captures both the claustrophobic everyone-knows-everyone sense of the Northeast while also nailing the contradictory Yankee value of staying out of other people's business. Top it off with a main character who is an excellently realized portrait of a man who is on the brink of giving up, but still cares just enough to get himself in too deep. Lamentation is an excellent entry in what I'd like to see become a growing crime sub-genre, New England Noir.
Una storia che si svolge come un gomitolo di lana: un intreccio di eventi si srotola fluido per creare un racconto in cui non mancano i colpi di scena. Il tutto è immerso nell’atmosfera suggestiva di un innevato paesino del New Hampshire. La penna di Clifford è diretta e pulita, e riesce per questo a dipingere con semplicità e realismo un mondo grezzo, rustico e autentico tra le pagine. Oltre a presentarsi come un intrigante noir, al lettore più attento il romanzo suggerisce riflessioni su dipendenza da droghe, mascolinità tossica, e corruzione. Se potete, conservatelo per l’inverno. Vivrete al meglio il suo fascino.
I liked the premise and found a lot of characters interesting, but I would have preferred a lot more information about them. At barely 200 pages it read more like a TV or movie script than a novel. Nothing wrong with it, just not very satisfying to me.
A 2015 staff favorite recommended by Connie, who says this is an "absorbing mystery about small New Hampshire town and the complicated relationship between two brothers. One is a junkie who stumbles upon a dangerous secret and the other brother is trying to save him from more than one thug who want him dead.''
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While I enjoy the occasional police procedural or detective tale, I find it difficult to relate to those worlds. As a writer I see the appeal of having a strong, resourceful protagonist whom you can throw into high-drama situations knowing they can believably fight their way out of it.
But as a reader, I’ve always been drawn to the blue-collar characters who stumble in over their heads.
Enter Jay Porter. He’s a menial laborer living paycheck to paycheck, burdened by stress, bills and an estranged lover and their small child. Porter lives in a remote, oppressive town, cut-off from civilization by the New England winter.
Clifford so ably captures this world that it made me uncomfortable. From the opening scene, I felt edgy, depressed. I carried the full weight of Porter’s burden as my own.
That’s some damn fine writing.
That uneasy feeling in the belly swells when Porter is called down to the police station to pick-up his drug-addled brother, who is spouting off conspiracy theories involving town elites. It is further evidence of his brother’s decline, he believes, until his brother’s business partner turns up dead.
As he wades deeper into the fog, Porter unearths a dark secret that puts the life of himself and his brother in danger. With limited funds or capable weapons, and zero well-placed connections, Porter must rely on a loyal friend and an old rival.
Lamentation is my kind of novel. There are no experts, no sharpshooters, no aces in sleeves. There is no posse to rescue the hero. Just a quartet of hard-luck locals with long odds up against the wealthy, powerful and corrupt.
Porter is not the most likable character, or self-aware, but you’ll be rooting for him throughout. I’m already excited for the sequel, December Boys, due out next summer.
While I enjoy the occasional police procedural or detective tale, I find it difficult to relate to those worlds. As a writer I see the appeal of having a strong, resourceful protagonist whom you can throw into high-drama situations knowing they can believably fight their way out of it.
But as a reader, I’ve always been drawn to the blue-collar characters who stumble in over their heads.
Enter Jay Porter. He’s a menial laborer living paycheck to paycheck, burdened by stress, bills and an estranged lover and their small child. Porter lives in a remote, oppressive town, cut-off from civilization by the New England winter.
Clifford so ably captures this world that it made me uncomfortable. From the opening scene, I felt edgy, depressed. I carried the full weight of Porter’s burden as my own.
That’s some damn fine writing.
That uneasy feeling in the belly swells when Porter is called down to the police station to pick-up his drug-addled brother, who is spouting off conspiracy theories involving town elites. It is further evidence of his brother’s decline, he believes, until his brother’s business partner turns up dead.
As he wades deeper into the fog, Porter unearths a dark secret that puts the life of himself and his brother in danger. With limited funds or capable weapons, and zero well-placed connections, Porter must rely on a loyal friend and an old rival.
Lamentation is my kind of novel. There are no experts, no sharpshooters, no aces in sleeves. There is no posse to rescue the hero. Just a quartet of hard-luck locals with long odds up against the wealthy, powerful and corrupt.
Porter is not the most likable character, or self-aware, but you’ll be rooting for him throughout. I’m already excited for the sequel, December Boys, due out next summer.