Ray Boy Calabrese is released from prison 16 years after his actions led to the tragic death of an innocent young man. The victim's brother, Conway D'Innocenzio, is a 29-year-old Brooklynite, working at a branch of Rite Aid in Gravesend, Brooklyn, nursing a festering grudge against Ray Boy. Obsessed with killing his nemesis, but incapable of following through with his plan, Conway goes badly off the rails, and his sense of despair is rivalled only by that of Ray Boy himself. Hard with prison muscle on the outside, Ray Boy has gone soft inside, and is now utterly appalled at his crime. No longer the neighbourhood threat that his friends – and his loose cannon nephew Eugene – want him to be, it is clear that no one in Gravesend destined for a happy ending…
Gravesend is a book about memory, legacy and reputation – and the toxic baggage than can haunt subsequent generations. It’s a crime story, but one that constantly wrong-foots you, by steering the narrative in unexpected directions. The characters, streets and bars feel incredibly authentic, and the level of background detail that Boyle brings to the table throughout is superb.
The gritty street-level storytelling has welcome echoes of George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane, but Gravesend actually put me in mind of a different pair of writers. I discovered Daniel Woodrell and James Sallis through No Exit Press many years ago – two writers who produce slim books that made a big impact. Boyle’s Brooklyn backdrop may have little in common with Woodrell’s country noir, or the smouldering New Orleans of Sallis’s Lew Griffin books, but his nuanced writing holds up very well against their work.
Highly recommended.

I really found the basic premise of this book appealing. Ray Boy is released from prison after serving 16 years for causing the death of Conway's brother. He returns home to find that Conway wants to kill him. To Conway's surprise Ray Boy is happy with that. Conway finds the idea of killing easier than actually doing it. The book looks at their stories and the lives of others in the neighbourhood they grew up in. So far so good..

I found quite quickly that I was not gripped by this story. In part it may have been the colloquial dialogue - Brooklyn - however I've read plenty of similar styles over the years with no adverse effects. The characters tend to fall into two camps. The older generation who don't understand the younger ones and the younger ones. There are a few of these who have not managed to leave the area. An odd one out is Alessandra who has returned after something of a career in Hollywood. I liked her as a character - indeed she probably worked better than any of the others for me.

In the end I didn't really get this story. I wasn't gripped by it or engaged with any of the characters really. I'd envisaged something of a reveal about Duncan's death. He was the person who died in part as a result of Ray Boy's actions. However that aspect of the story never came alive (or to any great prominence) as far as I was concerned. I realise that many people have enjoyed this book but sadly I'm not one of them.