Tabloid City: A Novel [Hardcover]

My first encounter with the hero Sam Briscoe was in the 70's with Flesh & Blood. I have missed out on his other adventures, but recently read Tabloid City. Hamill loves NYC, loves the newspaper business and has an eye for creating interesting portraits. Sadly he forgot how to construct a reason for all of this to exist- I spent the last pages wishing for a reason to want to read more- it never happened. Still this work merits a read if you have a hankering for the days of the New York World or Herald Tribune. Not sure if this a a farewell or the work that was promised on an existing contract .
Save for a train or plane trip & you will not be disappointed.

Pete Hamill is a man in love. In love with the city of New York and the dying art of newspaper journalism. He know both with all their flaws and writes about both with lyrical prose, verging on poetry. I slowed down in reading this to savor the words and stay with the characters as long as I could.

A violent crime draws together a cast of characters that find themselves interconnected in other ways. The crime, the intertwined social network, and these unusual characters give us an unsentimental picture of New York during the recession. We meet:

* Lew Forrest of the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, an aging and successful painter who has lost his sight. His closest companion is Camus, a black labrador;
* Cynthia Harding of Greenwich Village, a socialite particularly committed to the New York City libraries and literacy. Her longtime lover is Sam Briscoe of the New York World;
* Sandra Gordon, whose precociousness at a dinner party in Jamaica drew the attention, sympathy, and mentorship of Cynthia Harding. From children's books to a passport and education, Cynthia helped Sandra find her place;
* Sam Briscoe, the editor of New York World, the last afternoon newspaper in New York and a fixture in journalism circles;
* Bobby Fonseca, a young journalist, who lives and breathes his work;
* Ali Watson of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, a New York City homicide detective;
* Malik Shahid, a young New Yorker turned religious fanatic/fundamentalist;
* Josh Thompson, a veteran from the wars in the Middle East who has lost his home and his family and is on the streets of New York;
* Beverly Starr, an artist from Gowanus, Brooklyn;
* Consuelo Mendoza, an illegal immigrant from Mexico living in Sunset Park, Brooklyn; and
* Myles Compton, a hedgefund manager whose bad investments and shady dealings lead him to abscond in the night.

While each of the personalities are carefully constructed, I was particularly drawn to the women who are given central roles in the novel. Sandra Gordon is a secondary character but her strength, independence and vulnerability all come across so clearly. The interaction between the aging and nearly blind painter Lew Forrest and his long lost muse, Consuelo Mendoza is particularly touching. Even the socialite Cynthia Harding who only appears briefly is complex and fleshed out. Through a high profile murder and its aftermath, Tabloid City gives a fascinating and unsentimental glimpse of today's New York.

ISBN-10: 0316020753 - Hardcover
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (May 5, 2011), 288 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.