Lazarus Man

An engrossing readMail on Sunday
An atmospheric novelwith the trappings of crime fictionSpectator
Both a hymn to community, and a love letter to the cityThe i paper

In this electrifying novel, Richard Price, the author of Clockers and a writer on The Wire, gives us razor-sharp anatomy of an ever-changing Harlem.

Harlem, 2008. In an instant, a five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, crushing the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the citys rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighbourhood descends into chaos. At days end, six bodies are recovered, and many more tenants are still missing.

Anthony Carter--whose miraculous survival, after being buried for days beneath tons of brick and stone, transforms him into a man with a message and a passionate sense of mission.

Felix Pearl--a young transplant to the city, whose photography and film work that day provokes in this previously unformed soul a sharp sense of personal destiny.

Royal Davis--owner of a failing Harlem funeral home, whose desperate trolling of the scene for potential "customers" triggers a quest to find another path in life.

And Mary Roe--a veteran city detective who, driven in part by her own familys brutal history, becomes obsessed with finding Christopher Diaz, one of the buildings missing.

Powerful and gripping, Lazarus Man depicts intertwining portraits of a group of compelling characters whose lives are permanently impacted by the disaster, from one of the greatest chroniclers of life in urban America.