Absent Friends [Paperback]

S. J Rozan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2004

A suspenseful story of 7 friends, whose friendship is strong & whose futures are bright until one shattering night that will change everything forever. Two of the friends will die young. The others are left to pick up the pieces in the shadow of a past that still echoes with hopes and regrets. And for one friend, Jimmy, a firefighter he will die tragically 20 years later when the Twin Towers fall on 9/11. But it is the suicide of a reporter and a colleague's search for answers in the aftermath of this horrifying tragedy that will finally penetrate their silence and a tangle of secret relationships and personal demons are exposed forcing the hidden truth to erupt with stunning force. A riveting, love song to a great city and a meditation on love, loss and enduring friendship as unforgettable and as unsettling as "Mystic River". Truly a book that you will not be able to put down.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Delacorte; Advance Reader's Copy edition (2004)
• ISBN-10: 0385338031
• ISBN-13: 978-0385338035
• ASIN: B001794L5I
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,686,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

SJ Rozan was born and raised in the Bronx and is proud of it. She spent over twenty years as an architect in New York City and is kind of proud of that, too. Now she writes and teaches. She's done 10 books in the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series (the newest, ON THE LINE, comes out Sept. 28, 2010) and two standalones. She's also published three dozen short stories. A collection of her stories, A TALE ABOUT A TIGER, is available, and a second volume is coming.

SJ's work has won the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Nero and Macavity Awards, and she's a recipient of the Japanese Maltese Falcon. She's served on the National Boards of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She's a past President of the Private Eye Writers of America. She's been Guest of Honor at Left Coast Crime (El Paso, 2003), Toastmaster at Bouchercon (Indianapolis, 2009), an invited speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (2003) and as if that weren't enough, she has the key to the city of Fort Worth, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A novel that transcends the limitations of a genre, October 15, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Absent Friends (Hardcover)

S.J. Rozan is best known as a mystery writer, having garnered just about every award possible for her traditional mystery series featuring the unlikely P.I. team of Bill Smith and Lydia Chin. ABSENT FRIENDS is not part of this series but is instead a stand-alone book, in every sense of the word. It is funny, tender, romantic, sad, hopeful and tragic, often within the same paragraph. It goes beyond the premise of great literature, that good people can do bad things and bad people can do good; rather, it explores that area where good works, no matter how nobly or well-intended, result in tragedy. It is also one of the best books from any genre that I have read this year.

James McCaffery, the protagonist of ABSENT FRIENDS, is dead as the novel commences. Jim is one of New York City's bravest, a fire captain who loses his life during a rescue mission in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks upon the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. He is initially spotlighted in a newspaper article as a hero, one whose motto was "first in, last out" and who lived that motto right up until the moment when he drew his last breath.

Harry Randall, a reporter whose best stories are years behind him, stumbles across a lead that causes him to believe that McCaffery may have been involved in a criminal enterprise with a known mobster, a man he had known since childhood. The story, implausible as it seems to the shell-shocked citizenry, is given a bizarre credence when Randall is found dead, the victim of an apparent but suspicious suicide.

The story is picked up by Laura Stone, Randall's protégé and lover, who is determined to not only unravel the mystery of Randall's sudden death, but also to finish the story he was working on. Rozan tells the story from several viewpoints, moving back and forth in time as she describes McCaffery and the circle of friends he had kept since childhood, friends whom he had loved and protected in life and who attempt in turn to protect him in death.

Rozan is perfect here, creating an atmosphere of foreboding, of doom, almost from the first sentence, even though it begins with an account of childhood joy and discovery. The atmospheric tension is sustained throughout and is so strong that one is almost afraid to turn the page, to discover what is to be revealed. That it will end badly is a foregone conclusion, if subtlety so; the only question is one of degree.

ABSENT FRIENDS is one of those rare novels that transcends the limitations of a genre and stands on its own as a novel for the ages. This is a story that, once read, will not be forgotten. Highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth, March 25, 2005

By 

Susie Sharon (Orleans, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Absent Friends (Hardcover)

This book what a wonderul look at friendship, mistakes and truth. In the beginning of the book, I wanted to find out the truth just as much as reporter Laura. In the end, I felt the same as she did : empty & sad. The truth does not always set you free.

I loved the setting of this book, a few weeks after September 11, in New York City. Although the events of that day have nothing to do per se with the events, it does set them in motion. It's my first book by this author and I was left marvelling at the beautiful prose, the wordly expressions and the images it all brought up for me.

This book deserves a lot more press then it has had so far. Pick it up, you won't regret it.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong look at the immediate post 9/11 Manhattan, September 29, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Absent Friends (Hardcover)

NYC firefighter Captain James McCaffrey is one of the fallen heroes who died trying to save lives during the tragic collapse of the Twin Towers. James had a heroic history with the department before his death; however reporter Harry Randall paints a darker side of the fallen hero. He insists that two decades ago 9/11, James and his six Staten Island compatriots were involved and probably killed a stepson of a mob kingpin; one of them Mark went to prison.

The four survivors of the magnificent seven, two including Mark having died years ago, rally to protect their deceased childhood leader's reputation. The final foursome look back at what happened, but soon begin to wonder why James consistently and anonymously gave money to the family of Mark. Could James be paying off blackmail, guilt or could he be simply taking care of a friend?

The multiple perspectives, which include flashbacks and the thoughts when alive of individuals now dead, adds complexity, but makes it difficult to keep track of who thinks what of James. Still the backdrop of the aftermath of 9/11 on the City provides a fantastic thriller as the James-Mark relationship is shown up as a minor nothingness in comparison to the humongous tragedy. S.J. Rozan keeps the two outlooks apart so that the audience admires a heroic fallen first responder in a city reeling but already beginning to recover by 9/12. His allegedly dark past seems minuscule with his actions when people needed him. This is a strong look at the immediate post 9/11 Manhattan.

Harriet Klausner