Gravesend

Shortlisted for CWA John Creasey Debut Dagger 2018

Ray Boy Calabrese is back in Gravesend: some people worship him, some want him dead. . . but none more so than the ex-con himself.

Ray Boy Calabrese is released from prison 16 years after his actions led to the death of a young man. The victim's brother, Conway D'Innocenzio, is a 29-year-old Brooklynite wasting away at a local Rite Aid, stuck in the past and still howling for Ray Boy's blood. When the chips are down and the gun is drawn, Conway finds that he doesn't have murder in him. Thus begins a spiral of self-loathing and soul-searching into which he is joined by Alessandra, a failed actress caring for her widowed father, and Eugene, Ray Boy's hellbound nephew.



William Boyle is from Brooklyn, New York. His debut novel, Gravesend, was published as #1,000 in the Rivages/Noir collection in France, shortlisted for the Prix Polar SNCF, nominated for the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere and shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger. Boyle is also the author of the Hammett Prize-nominated The Lonely Witness (No Exit Press), a book of short stories, Death Don't Have No Mercy and another novel, Tout est Brise, released in France by Gallmeister. A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself was published to enormous praise, it was an Amazon Best Book in 2019. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi.



'Gravesend is a dark and gritty novel which delves deep into the soul, examining the spiralling nature of revenge, anger and excess. I wholeheartedly recommend it to all literary crime fans'



'Gravesend is a book that hits you in the guts the same wayDavid Goodis or Charles Willeford's books do. Boyle'smining that dark edge of America where no one is safe, noteven from themselves. A dark ride but a seriously great ride'



William Boyle's Gravesend is a bruiser and a heartbreaker of a debut. With echoes of Lehane and Pelecanos but with a rhythm and poignancy all its own, it's a gripping tale of family, revenge, the strains of the past and the losses that never leave us



'Boyle drives the novel with much local colour and energy... he delivers a gripping good story that has you eagerly turning the pages'



'Boyle's writing is raw, poetic, unflinching, nostalgic, and perverse. Urgency inhabits his pages, and the characters live on weeks after you put the book down. GRAVESEND is a novel read in a day, and then again, slowly'