The Mobster's Lament by Ray Celestin

Author: Ray Celestin

Title: The Mobster's Lament

Publisher: Pan

Published: 2019

Pages: 576

Genre: Historical Fiction 

 

     New York, 1947. Mob fixer Gabriel Leveson's plans to flee the city are put on hold when he is tasked with tracking down stolen mob money by 'the boss of all bosses', Frank Costello. But while he's busy looking, he doesn't notice who's watching him . . . Meanwhile, Private Investigator Ida Young and her old partner, Michael Talbot, must prove the innocence of Talbot's son Tom, who has been accused of the brutal murders of four people in a Harlem flophouse. With all the evidence pointing towards him, their only chance of exoneration is to find the killer themselves. Whilst across town, Ida's childhood friend, Louis Armstrong, is on the brink of bankruptcy when a promoter approaches him with a strange offer to reignite his career . . .

     I first came to this author with his release of book one in this series The Axeman's Jazz. It was a tightly written tale of a serial killer and a city held hostage. There was much to like here a city I loved when I was there and a tale so close to the true story that you can almost feel the warm spray of blood splatter on your cheek and the fear creeping up your spin. But as is always the case when you have a to-be-read pile that has been out of control as long as you can remember having it, his subsequent releases fell by my point of view. It was only Christmas just gone when I sat down to open my presents was I greeted with the latest in this series. Nothing like more of a shove than a nudge to get you back reading an author.

     As I have come to realize with each installment of these books we get a shift in location. Each one picks an iconic U.S city and a time it was made famous due to one crime or another. This time we are shifted to New York in nineteen forty-seven. Whilst Chicago's light as the home to organized crime is now a faded memory. The mob in New York is only just getting stronger by the day. With the five families united their grasp on great swaths of the city is absolute. This is an author who has shown his skill in pulling in threads of reality in order to form the backbone of his fictitious tales.  So here in the heart of what used to be, you will see names that are familiar to a great many people. Mobsters whos have gone down in history and who you can't help but bring up when telling the story of this iconic place. 

     And whilst it would be very easy to simply rely on these old bones here Celestin finds new ways to add to these familiar tales. More often than not brings a more human side to all these events. which in and of itself might seem like a strange thing to bring to such a genre. But whilst this is very much the crime novel I was hoping for it allowed me entry into his heroes' lives. These are people trying to find the best way to make it from one day to the next. And whilst that sometimes or more often than not means breaking the law in their minds they are doing what needs to be done. It is in finding out their motivations that we become closer to them. And whilst a headline can easily write someone off sometimes what drives them, it would appear to be something that would push any of us on.

     At five hundred and seventy-six pages this is by no means a quick read. And here for me, every page is needed in order to create this grand landscape his work deserves. As with his previous outings, there is an awful lot going on so you need to keep a great many threads untangled in your head. And whilst it is not so often that I jump into such hefty works, sometimes it is a sheer pleasure to spend a week with just one book exploring its many characters and learning all their secrets. There did not appear to be any dead weight here as every insignificant clue or location by the end seem to circle back. It very apparent that an impressive amount of not only research but plotting went into the writing of this book. we are left with no dead plot strands or characters put in who end up feeling like cardboard people. 

     It is safe to say this is a book that every time I put it down I could not wait for the next chance to pick it back up. It has a beautifully executed multi-viewpoint narrative that weaves its way through the many burrows of New York that was. A time and place that is now long gone by gentrification but brought back to life in a small way if only for a little while. This is a book that does its best to find balance, there are moments of all-out action that segwayed into more inwardly looking passages about the nature of how much sin a person can carry before breaking. It seems to capture those pure moments that have come to define Neo Noir without just hamming up those that have come before. He has his own distinct voice so it's never like your reading someone trying to do their best Chandler or Ellroy impression. But rather a shifting in the genre, a holding back of the trite and cliched wave of the easy buck to be had. 

     There is a great deal to enjoy about this work and I could continue to talk about it at great length but one must always be respectful of those who have yet to read it. And when walking a tightrope of giving too much away it is always best I think to cut these things short rather than ruin it for someone else. So if you are looking for a great piece of historic crime fiction with the mob, murder, and a great cast, think HBO mini-series then this going to be the book for you.