The Angel of Montague Street: A Novel [Paperback]

Norman Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 2004

In the fall of '73, Brooklyn, New York, is home to worn-down hotels, wiseguys, immigrants, the disturbed, the disenfranchised, and a few people just trying to make an honest buck. When Silvano Iurata's troubled brother, Noonie, rumored to be living in Brooklyn Heights, goes missing, Silvano returns to a place he swore he'd never set foot in again.

Silvano left Brooklyn a long time ago -- wanting to leave behind his family and their seedy mob connections, and a past that just won't stay buried. The jungles of Viet Nam felt more hospitable to him than his own hometown; now that he's back, he doesn't intend to stay for long. His cousin Domenic has harbored a deadly grudge against him for something that happened when they were teenagers, but they aren't kids anymore, and his cousin has some dangerous friends. Silvano needs to find out what happened to his brother and get out -- fast.

A tale of revenge and redemption, The Angel of Montague Street has the same vivid characters, razor-sharp detail, and dead-on dialogue that made Norman Green's debut novel, Shooting Dr. Jack, an unforgettable snapshot of life on the streets of Brooklyn. With its perceptive, poignant heart and gripping plot, this is literary suspense at its best.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a fresh face in the hard-boiled crime fiction sweepstakes, Green (Shooting Dr. Jack) is carving out a niche for himself with his piercing portraits of men trapped by their tainted pasts. Green's new hero, Silvano Iurata, is a Vietnam vet and a Buddhist who has returned to his native Brooklyn. He knows that he should not have come back home, since his mob-connected family has it in for him, but he has to find his brother, Noonie, who has mysteriously disappeared. He haunts the seedy hotels, dark alleys, dives and flophouses of the borough, drifting from one false lead to the next, deciphering double-crosses and dodging bullets, fists and romance. His relatives hold a number of grudges, both real and imagined, against him. Uncle Angelo, a genuine mobster out of central casting, believes Silvano is untrustworthy and spills family secrets. Little Dom, Silvano's cousin, wants him dead for a series of slights going back to their teen years. While Green lacks the clever wordplay of Elmore Leonard or the brooding explosiveness of Joe Connelly and George Pelacanos, he gets off some hilarious bits of dialogue, sudden bursts of manic action and sharp tongue-in-cheek descriptions. The mystery of his brother's disappearance loses some of its urgency, but Silvano's journey is no less gripping. At first glance, he may seem like the usual noir hero at war with himself, but Green taps into something larger with his subtle pronouncements about family curses, bad choices, lost souls, mindless violence and redemption. This sophomore effort cements his place in the upper echelons of neo-noir.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Norman Green reports this about himself: "I have always been careful, as Mark Twain advised, not to let schooling interfere with my education. Too careful, maybe. I have been, at various times, a truck driver, a construction worker, a project engineer, a factory rep, and a plant engineer, but never, until now, a writer." He lives in Emerson, New Jersey, with his wife, and is hard at work on his second novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (May 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060934115
• ISBN-13: 978-0060934118
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,500,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Helluva Writer, September 5, 2006

By 

Patrick Picciarelli "Author: THE POP LINE (Ha... (Pittsburgh. PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Angel of Montague Street: A Novel (Paperback)

An excellent writer who captures Brookyln and makes it a character in the story. I grew up in the area, have known similar street people, and Norman Green is right on the money. One quibble, a personal thing that always annoys the hell out of me from otherwise competent writers: revolvers DO NOT have safeties. Makes me wonder if Mr. Green took Tough Guy 101 before writing this story. Amatuerish mistake, usually committed by a rank beginner. That said, this book is fantastic.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Well-Written Noirish (Semi) Thriller!, September 3, 2005

By 

bobbewig (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Angel of Montague Street: A Novel (Paperback)

Norman Green is a very good writer and reminds me of Richard Price. In The Angel of Montague Street Greens tells the story of Silvana Iurata, who returns to Brooklyn after many years to find out what happened to his missing brother. He is well aware of the danger of his return, as his mob-connected cousin, who has held a grudge against Silvana from when they were teenagers, is planning to find and kill him. Green is a real pro in developing very "real", three-dimensional characters and in capturing the language and nuances of those from the seedier side of Brooklyn in the 1970's. If you enjoy books that are driven more by character development that plot, this is definitely a book I think you'll enjoy. If plot development and action-oriented thrillers, however, are your thing, then maybe you would be better off with a different book. While the plot is interesting and holds your attention, it moves at a pretty slow pace. So be prepared if you decide to take on this book. Having read and enjoyed The Angel of Montague Street, Green's second book, I bought his two other books.

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Story, October 25, 2010

By 

Hugh C McGinley - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Angel of Montague Street : A Novel (Paperback)

Norman Green writes about a seedier segment of life in Brooklyn and an area that has seen better days. His characters come across as real but not people you'd want to know. The Angel of Montague Street is an interesting story, probably not as good as Shooting Dr. Jack, Dead Cat Bounce and The Last Gig, and his ending is possibly too simple to believe, but it doesn't diminish the book as a whole.