The author has done a remarkable job of bringing imaginary characters into reality. He’s breathed life into the city and its inhabitants in a way that allows the reader to share in his amazing insight.

Lazarus Man is a beautifully written literary fiction novel by Richard Price which follows the lives of several characters after a building in East Harlem collapses. Anthony Carter is an unemployed teacher with an addiction problem. He is trapped under the rubble of the building for 36 hours before being finally dug out. After his miraculous survival, he finds himself something of a celebrity with requests to speak publicly about his experience. Mary Roe is a police officer trying to balance her homelife with locating the missing. Felix Pearl is a freelance journalist who sets out to document the disaster. Royal Davis is the owner of a failing funeral parlour. For each of these people, the disaster will have a profound and transformative effect.

The story rotates among these four characters as well as others, all well-drawn and fully realized as they each cope with and overcome the effects of the disaster. This is a quiet tale, beautifully told, with characters whose stories draw the reader in and who it is easy to care about, the kind of tale that will stay with you long after finishing it. I read this book while listening to the audiobook version narrated by Rob Mereira who does an impeccable of giving a clear and distinct voice to each of the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read and listen to this book. All opinions are my own.

In Lazarus Man, Richard Price spins an epic, sprawling tale while also keeping the focus on key players in the aftermath of a tenement collapse. With players ranging from police to a mail carrier to a photographer, the action is down and dirty. Anybody who's seen The Wire will recognize Price's hand in the depiction of gritty Harlem, the corruption, the charlatans at work taking advantage of the survivors, the tough guys on the corner stoop... you get the picture (Price was a writer on The Wire). It's a deep dive into the lives of these characters.

Throw in the titular Lazarus Man, risen from the rubble, and the story really takes off. Confusing, yes, but propulsive. I was annoyed at times with some things that didn't make sense, but luckily the story got back on track.

My thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the digital ARC.

Richard Price’s ability to capture urban angst in his gritty novels, television series and screenplays is incomparable. It has been almost 10 years since Price’s last novel, and “Lazarus Man” will not disappoint his legion of fans. Set in 2008 in East Harlem, the novel opens with the collapse of a five-story tenement building. As the city’s rescue services mobilize and media outlets respond, it is determined that there are 46 renters on the books with “probably as many ghosts.” Six bodies are recovered, some of whom were simply unlucky pedestrians who were passing by when the building blew itself out, but a dozen tenants remain missing.

The catastrophe draws a variety of characters, but the readers’ eyes on the ground are through the viewpoints of four characters: police officer Mary Roe, whose phobia about crossing borders hampered her ability to perform her duties as a detective, so she was assigned to Community Affairs in East Harlem where the “thrust of her gig was basically to calm people down.” Mary is separated from husband and is having an affair with Phil Esposito, who brings along a UV flashlight and a spray bottle of Luminol that he’d pilfered from the Crime Scene Unit to highlight any blood or other fluids not visible to the naked eye when he and Mary hook up at a motel. Mary views Phil as the “sexual equivalent of a square meal — hearty and filling — and these days that was good enough.” Royal Davis is a funeral parlor owner who hopes that the building’s collapse will generate some business for his failing business. Felix Pearl is an adopted, mixed-race photographer who shots film for the Parks Department and is engaged by Royal to produce a promotional video to publicize his funeral parlor. Anthony Carter, the titular Lazarus Man, is an unemployed former addict who returned to his cocaine habit when both his parents died and his once supportive wife left with her daughter. He is pulled from the rubble and becomes a media sensation, speaking at an anti-violence rally and a funeral. Mary and Felix agree that Anthony is a compelling speaker, but both have misgivings about Anthony, questioning if he was “running some kind of hustle.”

Price has penned another compulsively readable novel. Thank you Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Net Galley for providing me an advance copy of this gripping urban drama.

“Lazarus Man,” by Richard Price, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 352 pages, Nov. 12, 2024.

East Harlem, 1982. Anthony Carter, 42, has been unemployed for two years. He is separated from his wife and daughter. He was kicked out of Columbia University for dealing drugs, but eventually got a degree in education from a minor college.

He is home in a five-story tenement when the building collapses into a hill of rubble. As the city’s rescue services and news media respond, the surrounding neighborhood descends into chaos. At day’s end, six bodies are recovered, but many of the other tenants are missing. Anthony is one of the missing.

Others there include Felix Pearl, 24, a photographer and videographer who rushes to the scene. Royal Davis is the owner of a failing Harlem funeral home. He is there to possibly get more business. Mary Roe is a veteran city detective who becomes obsessed with finding Christopher Diaz, one of the building’s missing.

While this is an interesting plot, I had a real problem with Richard Price’s writing style. The opening paragraph is a run-on sentence of over 100 words. Price also writes scenes that move quickly like they were written for television. I really didn’t get caught up in this novel as I hoped I would.

I rate it three out of five stars.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Royal is a struggling undertaker, Felix a diffident street photographer. Anthony used to be a teacher, and now isn't much of anything; Mary is a cop who's ended up on community outreach work because of her crippling fear of state lines (a slightly silly detail that, once established, Price perhaps wisely never mentions again). All four will find their paths crossing after a New York building collapse, with one of the characters (and yeah, the title gives away that it ain't Mary) becoming something of a local celebrity after he's found alive in the wreckage. Price is usually bracketed as a crime writer, and there are definitely elements of the novel which fit within that, but really they're background to a look at urban life, precarity, race, gentrification – all familiar Price concerns. As is, though I might not have registered this before reading his early novel Ladies' Man, the fundamentally vexed business of heterosexuality, men and women so often at cross purposes; there's a particular fascination here with the in-between state of ex-ness. Not that I have any problem with crime stories sidelining the crime, most of my very favourites do – but I'm not sure I'd put Lazarus Man up there with Gaudy Night or The Beckoning Lady. Its observations are astute, its city and characters never feel less than alive, but it seldom hits the heights of a Price classic like Clockers. Especially once the character rescued from the wreckage gets a new lease of life and is enlisted as a speaker at the neighbourhood's depressingly frequent funerals and anti-violence rallies, it feels like it might be less than the sum of its parts, a little too wowed by familiar platitudes. Though, in fairness, characters do note how shopworn some of the wisdom is, and I think part of the point is that for this stuff to help, it's not so much what is said as by whom and how that decides whether it hits home. And yeah, Price says it pretty well. Though I still think it's needlessly distracting for a book with NYPD characters to also, separately, have a Rosa Diaz.

(Netgalley ARC)

A terrific read. This tells the story of the people on a block in a transitional NYC neighborhood where a building falls down-killing some and trapping others. Anthony, who has struggled with sobriety and himself, is dug out of the rubble. Felix, a photographer, documents life in the community as Royal buries its dead. And then there's Mary, a police officer who works Community Affairs and who is determined to find a missing man. A fight, a shooting, and a dead teen galvanize everyone in ways they didn't expect. This moves among all of them (and back and forth in time a bit) to create a vivid portrait with surprises. Everyone is changed after that moment, perhaps most of all Anthony. It's melancholy in spots but also humorous and the atmospherics are wonderful. It is, however the characters that soar- characters that are conflicted, challenged, and challenging. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Highly recommend.

I think I expected more of a cops and robbers story since I really only know of Price from The Wire. I found that I could connect to Mary and Anthony's stories but not the others. Maybe because I was reading on a Kindle, I thought the short breaks in the narrative were often jarring. It could be that that was part of the point of the novel and the mixing of the characters, but I was confused from time to time. That may be on me and not reading patiently enough.

One of the true masters of the American literary form is back after nearly a decade away. Price is considered a crime writer, but is close to Don DeLillo then Michael Connelly, and this is a slice of American urban life, with no real crime in it. It follows a building explosion and how that effects the lives of the survivors and observers. Price's real super power is to create characters which are unlike anyone you have heard from before. They aren't tropes, they are completely formed unique people in situations that haven't been written about a thousand times. There are multiple POV characters in this book, and not a single one of them feels inspired or derivative. I read a lot of crime novels and thrillers and even the most entertaining of them are variations on a theme, Price doesn’t do that, There is something really special about a writer who can drop you into a place you haven't been with people you haven't met.

An apartment building collapses in Harlem, leaving few survivors. This book takes you on a journey through the aftermath told through the voices of people in the neighborhood. I love how it all came together in the end. I will be seeking out more books by Price.

A catastrophe happened in the neighborhood of Harlem in New York, and we follow people affected by it through the moments before it happened and after it happened.

This is my first book by Richard Price and while I was preparing for something great, this book.. almost (!) delivered.
3.5 stars from me. Even though I love reading multiple POV's, this one was a little hard to follow. Although I can honestly say that the writing was beautiful and suspenseful with a great twist in the end. This book is a great character study.

Thank you NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for this ARC.

Lazarus Man by Richard Price

Many stories woven into one, this tale’s main focus is on one man who survives a building collapse, our Lazarus man. All the other stories swirl around him in one way or another. All the characters are interesting on their own and help carry the story in 2008 Harlem, NYC.

I had a real problem keeping track of whose relationship was up-being described-as there was no defining where one story stopped and another started. This is a strange tactic in paragraphing I am seeing more and more in literature, and I am not a fan.

Mary, a cop and Felix, a street photographer were my favorite characters among the many. As in real life, everyone has a story to tell and their personalities spoke to me. Mr. Price wove a good narrative,which includes a surprise for the reader at the end. I will rate it four stars.

Set in Harlem, New York in 2008, to me, this novel picks up where earlier Price novels I’d read left off. I’d read Clockers, Samaritan, and Lush Life quite a few years back, and I recall how the dialogue really grabbed me and hauled me through the stories. I can’t recall plots or characters – the last time I picked up one of his books was well over ten years ago – but the impact of his writing still lingers. Here, he introduces us to a group of characters from the neighbourhood, all struggling to some extent but each intent on getting on with their lives, with continuing the fight in the hope of finding something better. A little way in, we meet the Lazarus Man himself, a man dragged out of the remains of a fallen building thirty-six hours after its sudden collapse.

Mary Roe is a Community Outreach cop. She’s good with people, probing but calm. But she’s struggling with a disintegrated marriage and the need to re-arrange her disordered home life. She’s quickly on the scene after the collapse of the building and is given a list of people to account for, people who may or may not have been in the building at the time. She swiftly ticks them off, but one man remains unaccounted for – he’s to become an obsession for her, she won’t rest until she identifies whether he died in the rubble or remains alive and active.

Royal Lyons is an undertaker, struggling to make ends meet. He comes from a family of funeral homeowners going back generations. But he’s on his uppers, his own facility falling to pieces around him. He’s grabbing pick-up jobs where he can – often in the middle of the night – but he knows he can’t survive this way much longer.

Felix Pearl is a young man hoping to make his way as a photographer. On the night of the building collapse he’s on the street capturing scenes as the chaos of the moment plays out. He’s to be a more peripheral figure in this story, but he’ll play a significant role nonetheless.

Then there’s the Lazarus Man himself, Anthony Walker. A lost soul who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But perhaps this moment, this disaster and his miraculous survival is to be a turning point. It seems he now has a message to give, a message of hope. And it appears that people want to hear it.

The narrative switches regularly, following the progress of one character to then focus on another. Sometimes, we get a single paragraph. Other times we’re granted a little more. It’s somewhat disconcerting, mildly confusing. But soon, the pattern begins to make sense, as each separate path makes its way toward a point where their interactions will begin.

The tone of the novel is generally melancholy, but there’s humour here too and drama, lots of drama. There’s a good deal of sadness, but there’s also renewal and hope. When I read a Richard Price novel, I always seem to come away with learning. It pushes me to introspection that is sometimes painful but which I ultimately find to be rewarding. He shows his readers a slice of life that may be very different from their own but from which parallels can be drawn, perhaps conclusions extracted and always enjoyment and satisfaction gained. I loved this tale, and I believe many others will, too.

Review is on my Goodreads page. Excellent book. Crackling dialogue. Knowledge of Harlem 2008 is brilliant

I didn't realize author Richard Price was a writer for The Wire when I was approved to read this book on NetGalley. Even though I loved that tv show, I had a hard time getting into Lazarus Man for at least the first half of the book due to the vast number of characters and the fairly slow-paced 'slice of life' plot/ literary style.

I would call this book an "ensemble" novel, which is made up of 4 primary characters, each of whom is connected to many friends, family and lovers, several of whom play pretty main roles. The community of Harlem is a big 5th character, as well. These are the 4 main characters:

Anthony Carter—whose miraculous survival, after being buried for days beneath tons of brick and stone, transforms him into a man with a message and a passionate sense of mission.

Felix Pearl—a young transplant to the city, whose photography and film work that day provokes in this previously unformed soul a sharp sense of personal destiny.

Royal Davis—owner of a failing Harlem funeral home, whose desperate trolling of the scene for potential “customers” triggers a quest to find another path in life.

And Mary Roe—a veteran city detective who, driven in part by her own family’s brutal history, becomes obsessed with finding Christopher Diaz, one of the building’s missing.

The story uses the collapse of a 5-story building as a catalyst for connecting the players, and the story spans a short period of time - maybe a week or two.

What I loved about the book was Price's dialog for each character. There is such love and nuance in the words that you can feel those relationships pop off the page. Each person's motivations and aspirations are gently revealed and it is beautiful to see the human development occur over a short time.

That said, I still found it very hard to follow with all the characters, and I found myself getting confused on which person had which history until I was half way through it, but maybe I am not good at large ensemble books. 4-stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishing, for the advanced reader copy of this 11/12/24 release novel.

Lazarus Man by Richard Price is a highly recommended literary novel and in-depth character study. It follows four characters who are impacted by the collapse of a five-story tenement in East Harlem, 2008, where six tenants were killed and many are missing.

Anthony Carter is a 42-year-old unemployed teacher and recovering from a substance-use disorder. After being buried under rubble for 36 hours, his miraculous survival transforms him into a man with a message and a symbol of hope. Felix Pearl is a young freelance photographer who documents life on the street and the aftermath of the explosion. Royal Davis is the owner of a failing Harlem funeral home who uses the disaster to try and increase business. Mary Roe is a veteran NYPD detective with a complicated home life. She is in charge of finding the missing and becomes obsessed with finding one of them, Christopher Diaz.

The well-written literary narrative follows these four characters and others residents creating a portrait of them along with their East Harlem neighborhood amidst the disaster of the collapsed building. All the fully-realized characters are permanently impacted by the disaster in some way and yet they find ways to cope, survive and thrive through the difficulties. The narrative frequently shifts through the multiple viewpoint.

Lazarus Man is heavy on the exploration and development of the characters while being light in an overarching plot that pulls all the pieces together. It does capture the activity and experiences of the characters in the urban community and brings the setting to life as they deal with a disaster.

I loved the in-depth character development but wanted a stronger plot. Thanks to Macmillan for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

I have read many of Richard Price’s books and have always enjoyed them. I was happy to see that his latest was approved for me on Netgalley. Thank you for the ARC copy of “Lazarus Man”. Mr Price has not disappointed with his latest work. Exceptional characters that seem so real that you feel that you know them. I really enjoyed this book.

LAZARUS MAN, the latest offering by novelist and screenwriter Richard Price, follows four likable characters whose lives intersect in a period of rebirth for them all. Not just the one obvious Lazarus, but bits of resurrection for them all.

Despite the gruesome setting, the collapse of tenement building in Harlem in 2008, and despite their own personal demons, the characters, willy-nilly, as serendipitous and arbitrary as life itself, discover the joys of self-respect, self-reliance and service to others.

This book was hard to rate because readers looking for a more developed plot line will be disappointed. But the writing, the penetrating descriptions, especially Felix’s way with a camera, and the nonjudgmental peek into this moment of time and place demanded a five star rating.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Farrar, Strauss and Giroux for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

‘Tomorrow, he hoped, would be a game changer.’

Harlem, New York, 2008. Four very different people are brought together. Mary Roe is a police officer. She is separated from her husband, and they share custody of their child. Royal Davis runs a now failing funeral parlour which has been in his family for generations. Felix Pearl has moved to New York, but finds he is as lonely here as he was with his family. Anthony Carter, a mixed-race man, is unemployed, lonely and depressed.

So, what brings these four people together? They are drawn together after a residential building on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem collapses, killing several people. Mary is tasked with tracking down people who may be missing. Felix lives in an apartment building across the road from the collapsed building. Royal sees an opportunity for business, and Anthony is pulled out of the ruins of the collapsed building and becomes known as the Lazarus Man.

Mr Price captures the confusion and destruction after the building collapses. The concern for those missing, the ash and dust coating the surroundings, the sound of sirens. And then the seeming miracle: Anthony Carter found alive. Each of the four main characters finds new purpose. Mary makes it her personal mission to find a missing man; Felix finds that his photography skills are in demand; Royal looks for redemption while Anthony is inspired with new mission and purpose.

There’s a twist in the tale which adds another perspective to what a rich tale about the strength of human spirit is when faced with adversity, catastrophe, loss and grief.

I found this novel challenging because although I could follow the individual strands involving each character, I found it difficult to piece the story together. And then I realised that I was looking for a coherence that wasn’t perhaps either necessary or achievable. This is the first of Mr Price’s novels I have read. I’ve added others to my reading list.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I'm probably more familiar with Richard Price's TV work than his novels, but I love a good New York novel and was excited to read Lazarus Man. I was expecting more of a crime novel but I'd describe this a character piece, or really several characters, focusing on the after effect of a Harlem building collapse in 2008.

This premise allows for a deep dive into the neighborhood and several of the residents. Felix, a budding photographer; Royal, the owner of a failing funeral home; Mary, a community affairs police officer; and Anthony, who was discovered in the rubble of the collapse. These are all pretty regular, every day people, but over the course of the book we learn more about them and their individual circumstances.

By the end you're rooting for them all in this slice of life, peak into their lives book.