First published 2009
Leonid McGill wants to leave his criminal past behind, but old habits pull him back into New York's underworld. He takes what seems like easy money to track down information about former schoolmates for a mysterious client. McGill works his connections, bribing cops and calling in favors to build his list. Then the people he investigated start turning up dead, bludgeoned one by one. McGill realizes his client never wanted a reunion. He wanted a hit list. Now McGill faces questions from law enforcement while dodging Willie Sanderson, a killer described as a modern Frankenstein who wants McGill dead. Caught between corrupt police, dangerous clients, and deadly enforcers, McGill struggles to survive in a city far grittier than its public image suggests.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, gritty, suspenseful
Tropes: morally-grey-protagonist, redemption-arc
Setting: New York
Period: 21st-century
306 pages · Hardcover · Riverhead Hardcover
Content warnings: violence