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jmrkls1's review against another edition
4.0
Glad I won this copy thru goodreads. Good suspense novel entwined with family.
jakewritesbooks's review
5.0
For the life of me, I will never understand why Bill Loehfelm isn’t a bigger name in crime fiction.
I first came across his Staten Island trilogy by accident, having seen The Devil She Knows on some random list or another. There aren’t many crime novels set on the Island so I figured I’d try it. It was one of my favorite reads of the year. I didn’t know at the time that it was his third Staten Island-set book featuring characters that were loosely connected a la Pelecanos. It’s not a series you read in order.
Loehfelm took the protagonist of that one and created her own series, moving her to New Orleans and making her a cop. The first book was fine, good enough, if not as exciting as its prequel. But when I discovered he had written two other Staten Island novels prior to that series, I had to go back and read them.
Fresh Kills was good, a bumpy ride but a quality debut effort. Bloodroot, the follow up is excellent. A real moving tale of family, mental health, Staten Island history. It’s suspenseful in its own right but it never loses sight of the central relationship between Kevin and Danny, two brothers from this random spit of land tied together by forces they cannot possibly see or understand.
I loved everything about it except for the relationship angle (clunky and contrived) and the end (rushed and predictable). But I didn’t dislike these things enough to dock them a star. Loehfelm’s great and while I will continue with the Maureen Coughlin series, I hope he returns to his native Staten Island some day.
I first came across his Staten Island trilogy by accident, having seen The Devil She Knows on some random list or another. There aren’t many crime novels set on the Island so I figured I’d try it. It was one of my favorite reads of the year. I didn’t know at the time that it was his third Staten Island-set book featuring characters that were loosely connected a la Pelecanos. It’s not a series you read in order.
Loehfelm took the protagonist of that one and created her own series, moving her to New Orleans and making her a cop. The first book was fine, good enough, if not as exciting as its prequel. But when I discovered he had written two other Staten Island novels prior to that series, I had to go back and read them.
Fresh Kills was good, a bumpy ride but a quality debut effort. Bloodroot, the follow up is excellent. A real moving tale of family, mental health, Staten Island history. It’s suspenseful in its own right but it never loses sight of the central relationship between Kevin and Danny, two brothers from this random spit of land tied together by forces they cannot possibly see or understand.
I loved everything about it except for the relationship angle (clunky and contrived) and the end (rushed and predictable). But I didn’t dislike these things enough to dock them a star. Loehfelm’s great and while I will continue with the Maureen Coughlin series, I hope he returns to his native Staten Island some day.
playmysti4me's review against another edition
4.0
Won this as a giveaway and I am sure glad I did. This book held my attention from the very beginning and couldn't put it down. What would you do for your brother?
kdoyle's review against another edition
4.0
I will preface this with the fact that my one boss is the author's brother but, that being said, this was a very good book. Much, much better, in my humble opinion, then his first book: Fresh Kills (i.e. I didn't feel the need to kill the main character with my bare hands in this one). This book keeps you interested with interesting characters and plot. It's told from one brother's perspective but I think that if told from the other brother's, it would have been even better. While I have no doubt that I will read all of his books (gotta make sure I get good reviews at work...lol), I definately see Mr. Loehfelm's story storytelling abilities improving as he continues to write. Keep up the good work!
brettt's review
2.0
Bill Loehfelm may have been best-known so far as a contributor to a book of reporting and one of fiction from post-Katrina New Orleans, and his debut novel Fresh Kills won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for 2008. Bloodroot uses the same Staten Island location of Kills, Loehfelm's hometown.
Kevin Curran is a history instructor at a Staten Island college more or less stuck in a rut in life. His mother's developing Alzheimer's and his own growing professional burnout don't make anything easier. One day, he reunites with his brother Danny, a heroin user who had dropped out of sight several years earlier. Now clean, Danny would like to try to make amends with Kevin and their parents. But Kevin learns that "clean" doesn't necessarily mean Danny is living his life on the right side of the law, and is drawn into his brother's borderline activities, as well as several that cross that border.
Looming around the caper into which Danny enlists Kevin is the abandoned Bloodroot Children's Hospital, loosely based on the Willowbrook State School closed by authorities in 1987. Bloodroot is choppy and unfocused, kind of like listening to a song you like on a car radio at the edge of a station's range, when the signal "picket fences," or drops in and out very quickly. Kevin is alternately paralyzingly wistful, stupidly macho, street-savvy or clueless, depending on what the situation calls for. Other characters yo-yo similarly and don't maintain distinct personae long enough to establish themselves, and the ending relies on a series of coincidences that thrust minor characters into suddenly major roles with little or no warning or buildup. Maybe Bloodroot suffers from a sophomore slump, but it's definitely a step down from Fresh Kills.
Original available here.
Kevin Curran is a history instructor at a Staten Island college more or less stuck in a rut in life. His mother's developing Alzheimer's and his own growing professional burnout don't make anything easier. One day, he reunites with his brother Danny, a heroin user who had dropped out of sight several years earlier. Now clean, Danny would like to try to make amends with Kevin and their parents. But Kevin learns that "clean" doesn't necessarily mean Danny is living his life on the right side of the law, and is drawn into his brother's borderline activities, as well as several that cross that border.
Looming around the caper into which Danny enlists Kevin is the abandoned Bloodroot Children's Hospital, loosely based on the Willowbrook State School closed by authorities in 1987. Bloodroot is choppy and unfocused, kind of like listening to a song you like on a car radio at the edge of a station's range, when the signal "picket fences," or drops in and out very quickly. Kevin is alternately paralyzingly wistful, stupidly macho, street-savvy or clueless, depending on what the situation calls for. Other characters yo-yo similarly and don't maintain distinct personae long enough to establish themselves, and the ending relies on a series of coincidences that thrust minor characters into suddenly major roles with little or no warning or buildup. Maybe Bloodroot suffers from a sophomore slump, but it's definitely a step down from Fresh Kills.
Original available here.
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