Samaritan Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Samaritan Book

Richard Price's Samaritan, like his previous novels Freedomland and Clockers, is a crime drama set in the explosive slums of fictional Dempsy, New Jersey. Ray Mitchell, a former TV writer, has returned to his home town to reunite with his estranged teenage daughter, Ruby. Eager to contribute to his beleaguered community, Ray volunteers as a writing teacher at a local high school. When a brutal assault leaves him hospitalised, Nerese Ammons, a nearly retired detective and lost childhood friend of Ray's, investigates. She discovers, however, that while Ray can identify his attacker, he is unwilling to disclose their identity. Anxious to end her career with fireworks, Nerese continues digging, only to find that Ray made several generous donations to poor acquaintances and recently began a romantic relationship with the wife of an established criminal. While the case looks closed, Nerese continues to find evidence of Ray's troubled past and short-sighted altruism, increasing the number of possible assailants and suggesting Ray's complicity in the crime. Price's narrative, which alternates between Ray's story and Nerese's ongoing investigation, gains momentum as the mystery nears resolution. Samaritan falters, though, in its awkward attempts at timeliness and, more acutely, in its underdevelopment. The selfish, people-pleasing Ray is a multifaceted character, but he fails to inspire sympathy, while the savvy Nerese never escapes two-dimensional limbo. Price brings the streets of Dempsy to life, however, with informed, realistic descriptions and inner-city survivors such as junkie-turned-independent-social-worker White Tom Potenza, who still "couldn't pass a pay phone without flicking the coin return, still stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of salvageable debris". While the plot will keep readers engaged, it's the world into which they're drawn that makes Samaritan a worthwhile visit. --Ross Doll, Amazon.comRead More

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  • Amazon

    The classic crime thriller by the award-winning writer on The Wire

  • TheBookPeople

    Successful Hollywood writer Ray decides to return to the New Jersey projects of his youth in order to give something back to the community, and volunteers to teach creative writing at his old school. But one night he's savagely beaten and rushed to hospital. The only cop interested is a childhood friend, 'Tweetie' Ammons, who owes him one from long ago. It turns out that Ray knows who did it, but he's not talking. Although Tweetie is on the cusp of retirement she is determined to help Ray but finds herself being drawn into a dark and deadly drama.

  • 0747598193
  • 9780747598190
  • Richard Price
  • 1 June 2009
  • Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 512
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