City Of Margins | William Boyd | Review

Blurb

In City of Margins, the lives of several lost souls intersect in Southern Brooklyn in the early 1990s. There's Donnie Parascandolo, a disgraced ex-cop with blood on his hands; Ava Bifulco, a widow whose daily work grind is her whole life; Nick, Ava's son, a grubby high school teacher who dreams of a shortcut to success; Mikey Baldini, a college dropout who's returned to the old neighborhood, purposeless and drifting; Donna Rotante, Donnie's ex-wife, still reeling from the suicide of their teenage son; Mikey's mother, Rosemarie, also a widow, who hopes Mikey won't fall into the trap of strong arm work; and Antonina Divino, a high school girl with designs on breaking free from Brooklyn. Uniting them are the dead: Mikey's old man, killed over a gambling debt, and Donnie and Donna's poor son, Gabe.

These characters cross paths in unexpected ways, guided by coincidence and the pull of blood. There are new things to be found in the rubble of their lives, too. The promise of something different beyond the barriers that have been set out for them. This is a story of revenge and retribution, of facing down the ghosts of the past, of untold desires, of yearning and forgiveness and synchronicity, of the great distance of lives lived in dangerous proximity to each other. City of Margins is a Technicolor noir melodrama pieced together in broken glass.

Review

If you loved Pulp Fiction then you would love this novel! It's dark and intense, sprinkled with some very funny moments. 

Boyle has created an authentic world of tough guys, mean streets, and dark humour. The details of place, people, and actions transport you to Brooklyn. The New York slang weaved throughout is fabulous. 

I enjoyed the structure of this novel, each chapter is narrated by a different character with all the threads joining them together is slowly revealed as you read.

It missed out on 5⭐ because there isn't a single likable character in there and I personally like at least one to root for. 

Overall, a great example of crime noir, not for the faint-hearted. I will be looking out for his previous books.

A huge thanks to Anne Cater & No Exit Press for gifting me a copy in return for an open & honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐