Raw and gritty… a must read for lovers of dark crime drama.
Davis makes his debut with this spectacular crime drama that finds a young boxer haunted by the consequences of his corrupt choices. When Salvador Purelli, the notorious mobster in Ridgemont Cove, offered nineteen-year-old Richie Frezza, a young boxer, his underworld’s sponsorship to fight in the ring, the latter didn’t have much choice but to say yes to the mobster. But as the riches, the power, the shot to prove himself in the ring consume Richie, a new reality sets in: the commitment to the Purelli family is more about sin and less about boxing, and the path that leads to realization of his dreams is full of nightmares. Davis not only delves deeper into the nitty-gritty of underworld work but also his characters’ psyche: Richie as an ambitious nineteen-year-old with boundless hunger for achieving greater things evokes readers’ disdain and sympathy at once. The despondent residents of “the Vault” are introduced in parallel narrative, their trauma described with stomach-churning clarity. The consistent, darkly terse narration for their voices gives the story a dark, ominous tone. The dialogue is sharp, and the conclusion wholly satisfying. Davis handles the sport detail (Boxing), the description of Purelli’s hold on the decrepit town, the emotional quotient of the story, and the complicated subject matter of the challenges of making difficult choices and enduring the consequences with ingenuity and skill, crafting a gritty, satisfying crime drama. This is a remarkable work of fiction.
