
Manhattan-based Richard Price is well known for his urban crime novels like Clockers and Lush Life, but was also a contributing writer for The Wire and its hard-hitting social realism. While Lazarus Man – set in Harlem circa 2008 – is a different creation to Price’s previous crime-versus-police procedural tales, gang and drug violence bubbles away in the underbelly of these mean streets.
Lazarus Man focuses on characters who would have probably been given minor parts in his previous books, but Price cleverly takes the readers to the streets of Harlem and immerses them in the complex lives of Mary, a seasoned detective at the forefront of community liaison; Royal, owner of a struggling funeral home; Felix, who is starting to show promise as a photographer and video documenter; and Anthony, a middle-aged teacher and ex-addict battling past demons.
A Harlem tenement building collapses, burying Anthony under the rubble for days: he survives, and gains a new lease of life, making empowering speeches relating to his rebirth. Felix had captured the aftermath – and much more – on his camera, and Mary becomes hellbent on finding driver for hire Christopher Diaz, missing since the disaster. For Royal, this tragedy is good business, something that weighs on his integrity and conscience.
At a rally organised by anti-violence organisation PGD, our characters cross paths – and when Anthony meets Anne, there’s a magnetic attraction between two wounded souls, and the dialogue that unfolds between them is as moving as it is riveting. Lazarus Man is an engaging urban tale of belief, resilience and community with a twist that Price has woven together with philosophical grandeur.
Lazarus Man, Richard Price (Corsair)
Price: £22. Info: here
words DAVID NOBAKHT