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Ken Bruen
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Tower: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Ken Bruen (Author), Reed Farrel Coleman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 72 ratings
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The author of Blitz and the author of the Jesse Stone novels collaborate on a “rough and profane read” about two childhood friends who become criminals (Daniel Woodrell).
 
Nick’s Irish-American father, a Brooklyn rent-a-cop working security in the World Trade Center’s North Tower, named him after a Hemingway hero. The old man must have been expecting a different kind of kid. Because, like the R&B song says, Nick was born under a bad sign. As aimless as a stray bullet, his only constants are ’Nam movies, pulp novels, and an unquestioning devotion to his childhood friend, Todd, a Jewish New York con artist with connections to the Boston mob.
 
When Todd inducts Nick into his world of petty crime, it starts with reckless fun—scoring weed, low-level stings, and burglary. But the deeper they sink into the world of the syndicate, the more they realize how unknowable a friend can be, and how unprepared they are to rescue themselves, and their souls, from the gutter.
 
Alternately telling this “brutally poetic” story from the perspectives of Nick and Todd, award-winning “noir masters” Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Colemen “shine, dropping in-jokes, experimenting and displaying all the literary chops that have made their novels such cult favorites among mystery fans” (Publishers Weekly).
   
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  1. Print length
    177 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
  5. Publication date
    March 12, 2013
  6. File size
    3903 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Divided into two halves, this short, brutally poetic tour of the underside of Brooklyn, Boston and Philadelphia marks the first collaboration between noir masters Bruen (The Guards) and Coleman (The James Deans). Drawing on the classic theme of childhood friends pulled toward different sides of the law, the coauthors tell the story of Nick and Todd in quick concise scenes, sketching backstories and love lives, flipping time and incidents like Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Running errands under the cold eyes of an enforcer, Griffin, for the Bible-quoting gangster Boyle, the heroes learn fast enough that you live in the rain forest, you get wet. And looming symbolically over their narrow, violent world is the north tower of the World Trade Center. Bruen and Coleman shine, dropping in-jokes, experimenting and displaying all the literary chops that have made their novels such cult favorites among mystery fans. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Short, brutally poetic. . . . Bruen and Coleman shine.” —Publishers Weekly “Tower goes off like a slo-mo explosion, a raging blast of white-heat light.” —Declan Burke, author of The Big O

“Tower is spare, powerful, surprisingly tender. And as seamless a piece of two-author writing as you'll ever find.” —S. J. Rozan, author of The Shanghai Moon 

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00BI9VZY2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ MysteriousPress.com/Open Road (March 12, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 12, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3903 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 177 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 72 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Ken Bruen

    Ken Bruen

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    KEN BRUEN was born in Galway, Ireland in 1951. The award-winning author of sixteen novels, he is the editor of Dublin Noir, and spent twenty-five years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, Southeast Asia and South America. He now lives in Galway City.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Reed Farrel Coleman

    Reed Farrel Coleman

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the noir poet laureate in the Huffington Post, Reed Farrel Coleman is the New York Times-bestselling author of thirty-one novels—including six in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series—short stories, poetry, and essays.

    In addition to his acclaimed series characters, Moe Prager and Gus Murphy, he has written the stand-alone novel Gun Church and collaborated with decorated Irish crime writer Ken Bruen on the novel Tower.

    Reed is a four time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories: Best Novel, Best Paperback Original, and Best Short Story. He is a four-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year. He has also won the Audie, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards.

    With their kids moved away to far off Brooklyn, Reed, his wife Rosanne, and their cats live in the wilds of Suffolk County on Long Island.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
72 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

H. Davidson
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Collaboration
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2010
Verified Purchase
Both Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman are cult heroes in the world of crime and noir literature, and TOWER demonstrates why they are giants of the genre. TOWER is, as many of the reviewers point out, divided into two main parts, though the very last section is written in a different voice and is a perfect coda to the story. The novel is raw and gritty, yet also touched with moments of breathtaking grace. Highly recommended.
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ReadsALot
4.0 out of 5 stars A Different and Intriguing Book
Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2011
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I've read most books by Reed Farrel Coleman and many by Ken Bruen but could not "connect" with how they would collaborate on one. I could guess which author wrote which sections of the book. In any event, it truly "played well". (I noticed one reviewer knew which section had been written by which author ... don't know where that was indicated ......?).

Without ruining the story, per a short summary of a relatively short book, it covers a brief period in the early adult life of two guys raised in Brooklyn when they both were getting into some illegal activities. To even discuss the approach the authors took in writing the book could spoil some of the subtle twists in it.

I've had difficulty getting into almost every book I've read written by Ken Bruen. This was no exception; however, as with the others, that changes quickly. Once I got into it, the story moved very quickly and I had difficulty putting it down. My reading enjoyment had one major exception which was the graphic detail about a murder (something I try to avoid in selecting novels). That was a very minor part of the book and it may well have added to the importance of the events that followed . My tendency also is to avoid prologues, but for some reason I read this one and it did add to the intrigue.

If you enjoy books by either of these authors and/or if you enjoy "crime novels" in general, I'd recommend this one. I must conclude here by saying that every time I read a book by one of these two guys, I am left with the thought: " there are those with true talent; then, there's the rest of us"...
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Marianne McDonald
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating novel.
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2019
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Good copy and wonderful product!
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Jimbo
4.0 out of 5 stars Lower your expectations
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2014
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It was an enjoyable read although, unlike Bruen's collaboration with Jason Starr, the final product did not exceed their individual contributions.
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HE Grant
5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Terrific
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2013
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I have long been a huge fan of Bruen but Coleman was an unknown to me. No more. What a terrific read. Highly recommended.
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Martin J. Friedman
2.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy, humorless and sophomoric.
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2020
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I have enjoyed every Ken Bruen book and Reed Coleman as well. Maybe they don’t like each other I see as the only excuse for this mess.
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Chris La Tray
4.0 out of 5 stars Dark Story, Rich Characters, Excellent and Unique Collaboration
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2009
Tower (Busted Flush Press, 2009) is a story that caught me unaware. At the time I read it, I knew of the collaborating writers -- multi-award winners Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman -- but I had not read any of their work. As a result I had no expectations, but I was still taken by surprise by the emotional depth of this powerful little book. It's not just a guns-blazing crime book; it's that and much more.

Tower is the story of two friends, Nick and Todd. At its root is an examination of the bonds of friendship, loyalty, and trust, with a healthy does of love and loss to further muck things up. The two men grow up together on the streets of New York City (almost a character itself), where, for poor kids of questionable education, working for the local low rent crime boss may seem like the only way to earn any kind of meaningful living. The boys make their choices, and then try to live with them. What I enjoyed is the way these authors chose to collaborate. Each of them takes a character and we see their experiences framed by the writer's voice, an interesting, and effective, technique.

Nick, the Irish-American kid with an abusive father who drinks too much, is handled by Bruen, while Todd, the boy from a home where the father never got over the mother's suicide, is written by Coleman. The significantly different writing styles of each author lends a legitimacy to the story, because we see each perspective as truly different in every sense of the word. Certain events are viewed from the lense of each character, which makes for interesting reading.

Both men start down similar paths working for Boyle and Griffin, the local wiseguys, but their paths separate when Todd, unknown to Nick, is recruited by the cops to become an undercover agent for them. We see the troubles they face, their struggles with love and loss, and their inability to deal with both; Nick remains in New York City, while Todd faces hardships in Philly and Boston before returning home an undercover policeman charged with bringing down Nick's boss. Each struggles to learn who they really are, and seek redemption almost in spite of themselves. Somehow, through it all, they remain loyal to one another while facing terrible choices each has to make regarding the other.

This isn't a happy book, though it is fun in moments. Both writers bring a biting humor to their writing, and it pops up in almost inappropriate places. The authors do an excellent job of making us care for the characters, even secondary players that are on stage only briefly, but still make us care about the demons they face and what happens to them. There is a lot of pathos packed into this slim little book, and I enjoyed it immensely.

I was a little disappointed by the ending, but to say why would spoil the book. It is probably just me, because the end totally works . . . I just didn't care for it. Even so, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a dark story with rich characters packed into a quick read that barely lets you take a breath, delivered in unique fashion by two excellent writers.
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jthubb
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2015
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Gripping tale with many twists and the characters are so real I felt them to be friends of mine.
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Top reviews from other countries

Paul Bk
5.0 out of 5 stars Towering
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2011
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I confess to being a Ken Bruen fan having read everything I can get my hands on. Lately I have been reading the books he co-authors, such as this 'Tower' with Reed Farrel Coleman (Brookly Rabbi,poet and award winning crime writer). This is noir territory but with a modern feel, snappy dialogue and sharp action with a few twists. Nick and Todd are at the heart of the novel - we find out if a friendship can survive the test of divided loyalties through drugs, betrayal and murderous mayhem. Oddball characters, cops, snitches, wiseguys and girls, oddball situations. It's not so much the plot as the clever drawing to gether of events and characters, the style and the wit, not a word out of place. Easy and quick to read. Two masters of their trade at work.
There is a different tone to the books Bruen writes with others and I haven't been disappointed yet.
Bruen also led me to Jason Starr and Wayne Swiercynski among others. Highly recommended for the noir fan.
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