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Overview
Before the New York Times bestselling success of Defending Jacob, William Landay wrote this widely acclaimed second novel of crime and suspense, which was named a Favorite Crime Novel of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and several other newspapers.
Boston, 1963. Meet the charming, brawling Daley brothers. Joe is a cop whose gambling habits have dragged him down into the city’s underworld. Michael is a lawyer, always the smartest man in the room. And Ricky is the youngest son, a prince of thieves whose latest heist may be his last. For the Daleys, crime is the family business—they’re simply on different sides of it. Then a killer, a man who hunts women with brutal efficiency and no sign of stopping, strikes too close to the Daley home. The brothers unite to find the Strangler, a journey that leads to the darkest corners of Boston—and exposes an even deeper mystery that threatens to tear the family apart.
Includes an excerpt of Defending Jacob
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST CRIME NOVELS OF THE YEAR BY
Los Angeles Times • The Guardian • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Kansas City Star
“Reminiscent of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, the novel takes us into a dark world where goodness is smothered and villainy thrives. . . . I was completely riveted.”—The Boston Globe
“A dense and satisfying novel of crime and retribution . . . [Landay has] been touted as the natural successor to George V. Higgins.”—The Independent
“A gripping, atmospheric saga.”—The Wall Street Journal
“An impressive and satisfying performance.”—The Washington Post
“Smart and surprising.”—Esquire
Editorials
Patrick Anderson
This is, finally, genre fiction, but of a high order. In the end, one of the brothers must perform some Rambo-style heroics to put things right, and a dying man must stay alive just long enough to gasp out a much-needed confession. Because Landay is writing about crime in working-class Boston, some reviewers have compared him to Dennis Lehane. That calls for clarification. The Strangler is superior to Lehane's early Kenzie-Gennaro novels, but it does not equal the rich prose and intense characterization of his Mystic River. Still, it's an impressive and satisfying performance, and Landay is a writer to watch.— The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Set in Boston in 1963, Landay's engrossing crime novel is less about the titular strangler than the three Irish-American Daley brothers: Ricky, a thief; Michael, a lawyer; and Joe, a bent cop. A year earlier, the Daleys' father, also a cop, was fatally shot on the job, and the killer has never been caught. The father's partner on the force, Brendan Conroy, has insinuated himself into the family to the point that he's now sleeping with the brothers' mother, Margaret, and is a permanent fixture at Sunday dinner, much to the disgust of Michael and Ricky. Landay (Mission Flats) movingly explores the bonds of family and basic questions of honesty and loyalty. While the novel suggests another killer than the historical Boston Strangler, the emphasis remains on such themes as crime and punishment, love and honor, truth and justice. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.Library Journal
In 1963, when Boston is jolted by the Kennedy assassination, the city is already on edge from the murders attributed to the Boston Strangler. Albert DeSalvo confesses, but the police have misgivings. The three sons of murdered detective Joe Daley alternate as protagonists in this suspenseful tale, which mingles real characters with fictional ones. Joe Daley Jr., assigned to the case, is a cop plagued by gambling debts and increasing mob ties. Brother Michael, also on the case, is an assistant district attorney obsessed with his father's death and the possible involvement of his partner. And youngest brother Rickey is a cat burglar whose girlfriend has just been strangled. Landay makes good use of his own experience as a prosecutor, but the real tension is in the moral ambiguities. Framed by the larger story of the Strangler, the inner tale masterfully portrays the insidiousness of greed, even within the Daley family. Good may triumph, but not at all clearly, and the many twists are truly shocking in the hands of this masterly plotter, whose first novel, Mission Flats, was highly praised. Recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ10/1/06; Brian McGrory's forthcoming Strangled(Atria, Feb. 2007) also takes a look at the Boston Strangler case.—Ed.]—Roland Person