Closing Time [Hardcover]

Jim Fusilli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2001

It's after midnight and a novice private investigator, out for a late-night run, discovers the battered body of a livery cab driver in downtown Manhattan's meatpacking district. Two days later, he witnesses a bloody explosion at a gala opening at a SoHo art gallery.

Unrelated incidents? Not to Terry Orr. A single father to a remarkable twelve-year-old daughter, Terry is still devoted to his beautiful Italian wife, a painter of immense talent, whose life ended abruptly during a brutal event that also took the life of their infant son. Sparked to action by violence and deception, he begins to understand that he's been given a chance to confront his tragic past by learning the skills of the PI trade, and finding the madman who forever changed his life. And, perhaps, to realize fully what it means to be the father of a young, loving daughter.

But the person who took the life of the cab driver isn't so easy to find, and Terry must chase the killer into the upper reaches of Harlem. Beating back his own demons in both his therapist's office and the basketball courts of Houston Street, he finds that redemption can come in the form of a game of horse with the daughter who views him as a hero. So focused is he on the world's injustices, he can barely see the girl who will do anything for her hurting, tormented father.

With brilliant characters and heartbreakingly raw emotions, Closing Time is a superb mystery from a writer to watch.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first novel by the Wall Street Journal music critic mixes a noirish, suspense-packed story and sharply defined characters, including Diddio, an affable, spacey music critic. Two years earlier, a lunatic pushed writer/researcher Terry Orr's acclaimed artist wife and their infant son beneath a subway train, leaving Terry and his precocious 10-year-old daughter, Bella, bereft. Impatient with the slow-moving official investigation, Terry took out a private detective's license so he could catch Raymond Montgomery Weisz, the elusive suspect. One strand of this often violent story follows guilt-ridden, obsessive Terry's fruitless search for Weisz. Another concerns his inquiry into the murder of a livery cab driver. When a bomb explodes at a SoHo art gallery and severely injures the owner, Terry takes on that case, too. The investigations lead from an academically challenging private school for African-American children in Harlem to the bars and studios of cutting-edge artists in lower Manhattan. Fusilli is an imaginative, daring writer, creating a pulsating, nightmarish Manhattan where position and appearance are deceptive. Terry and Bella are a closely knit father and daughter rebuilding their lives while exorcising the tragedy in their past. Fusilli contrasts this loving relationship with the horrors of disintegrating families and child prostitution Terry uncovers elsewhere. The separate cases don't so much combine as collide after Terry makes a few intuitive leaps. Readers will anxiously await the sequel to this outstanding debut. (Sept. 10)Forecast: Robert B. Parker, Thomas Perry, Harlan Coben and Nevada Barr supply advance praise, but this first novel will appeal, strongly, to the same readership as that for Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Fusilli, a music critic for the Wall Street Journal, writes engagingly about the current New York music and art scene, while skewering the pretensions of fellow critics and artsy types. His comic criticisms of the current urban scene, spinning from a domestic story of a father and daughter making life work for each other, give the novel a Jane Austen-like feel. The hero (and, in this novel, the hero actually lives up to the standard of growth and change), Terry Orr, is trying to put together a life for himself and his pre-adolescent (and irritatingly brilliant) daughter after the murders of his wife and infant son. He's arbitrarily plunged into an investigation when, within days, he stumbles on the body of a cab driver and then witnesses an explosion at a SoHo art gallery. The mystery here is secondary to the urban landscape and the compelling drama of a man working toward the light. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (September 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399147934
• ISBN-13: 978-0399147937
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,177,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Fusilli is an American writer. He serves as the rock and pop music critic of The Wall Street Journal and is the author of six novels. A native of Hoboken, NJ, he lives in New York City.

Fusilli's debut novel, the mystery "Closing Time," is the last work of fiction set in New York City published prior to the 9/11 attacks. The following year, Fusilli's mystery "A Well-Known Secret" addressed the impact of 9/11 on the residents of New York City. Two novels for adults followed: "Tribeca Blues" and "Hard, Hard City," which Mystery Ink magazine named its 2004 Novel of the Year.

In 2005, Fusilli wrote "Pet Sounds," his tribute to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys' classic album. Described as "an experiment in music journalism," the book combines the rhythm and emotional weight of his fiction with the often-unorthodox observations of his music criticism for the Journal, for whom he has written since 1983.

Fusilli served as the editor of, and contributed chapters to, the award-winning serial thrillers "The Chopin Manuscript" and "The Copper Bracelet." His novel for young adults "Marley Z and the Bloodstained Violin" was published in 2008.

Fusilli has written and published many short stories; in several, he developed Narrows Gate as the setting, depicting the city in different eras. "Chellini's Solution," which appeared in the 2007 edition of the Best American Mystery Stories, features Narrows Gate in the years following World War II. "Digby, Attorney at Law" portrays the fictional city in the early 1960s. "Digby" was nominated for the Edgar and Macavity awards in 2010.

Fusilli is married to the former Diane Holuk, a senior public relations executive. They have a daughter, Cara, a graduate of the New School.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great New York atmosphere - gritty, foul and charming, September 11, 2001

By 

David M. Scott "David Meerman Scott" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Closing Time (Hardcover)

An incredible portrait of contemporary Manhattan is the setting for this modern Noir debut. The novel's New York atmosphere -- reeking, overwhelming, charming, quaint and foul -- makes an unforgettable location for a thriller. Jim Fusilli's got New York down. Following Terry Orr from the book's opening death scene as a cabdriver is found slain in the city's downtown meatpacking district, a reader feels compelled to stop, look around and sniff. You're in New York and Fusilli's New York grabs you and forces you to pay attention.

Terry is a man haunted by an act of violence that took his wife and infant son. She was a beautiful, Italian artist and with her passing, Terry pours his love into his twelve-year-old daughter Bella. They do cool father-daughter things like go to rock concerts and gallery openings. After the cabdriver's death, Terry finds himself witnessing other seemingly isolated events including an explosion at a gallery that once displayed his late wife's work. He's on his way, honing the PI trade that he's adopted to rid himself of his demons. Terry tends to leave Bella with her Nanny as he moves from one part of Manhattan to another, searching for the people he's lost, but the daughter who loves him may quite possibly be his best hope for survival.

The gritty pulse of the city comes alive with scene after scene like a pick-up basketball game in a downtown "cage" court where perspiration from buffed basketball bodies splashes off the page. Terry studied Turn of the Century New York at St. Johns University and we're with him as he admires a converted bank building in Harlem or the newel post of a Brownstone. With a keen eye, ear and nose for modern New York, Jim Fusilli is a new mystery writer to watch.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary Debut, November 15, 2002

By 

Jim "terry12" (New York, NY, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Closing Time (Hardcover)

In reviews of his new book Fusilli has been compared with Robert Parker, Elmore Leonard and James Lee Burke, so he would not need me to defend him. But one of the reviews of Closing Time is so unfair that I just felt I had to speak my mind. This reviewer criticizes Fusilli's dialogue. I totally, totally disagree. I think it is so authentic. When Terry Orr is in a calm mood or when he is thinking about his wife he speaks like an educated man. When he loses his temper or is tired he talks like a street punk. (I think this would be a clue to his upbringing.) This is explained on the third page of the book. Also I love the music because Terry and his daughter can't even agree on that! (Terry 's music is sad. But Bella is trying to be happy. But why does she like old rock and roll?)

I encourage people to try this book. It's sad, or I would say melancholy but it feels just like real life. I would call it one of my favorite detective books, period. Fusilli is going places with this series!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Orr begins with style in "Closing Time", July 31, 2005

By 

Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Closing Time (Paperback)

One of the fun things about reviewing (and no, it's not the money) is finding new authors and series that one might not have known about otherwise. I was recently sent the forth book in this series, "Hard, Hard City" by Jim Fusilli for an upcoming review at another site. Having read and enjoyed "Hard, Hard City" so much, it seemed an excellent idea to look for the rest of the series. For once, my local library had them all.

The series opens with "Closing Time" and it is in this book we meet many of the principal characters. Terry Orr is mourning the violent passing of his wife Marina and their baby boy as well as dealing with thoughts of vengeance and retaliation against the man he believes is responsible. Since the police have been unable to help, Terry has put his successful writing career on the backburner and is aggressively learning how to be a private investigator. He believes by doing so he can achieve his goal of apprehending the man responsible for the virtual destruction of his family. Some would say he also put on the backburner his beautiful 12-year-old daughter, Gabriella (affectionately nicknamed "Bella"), but he would strongly disagree.

He would argue that he is dealing with things as best as he can. That is all he can do, day-to-day, as he adjusts but he sees Marina and the baby symbolically in everything around him. He certainly does when he sees Judith Henley Harper and their chance meeting on a New York City street is another dig into his soul. Harper used to be his wife's agent as Marina painted beautiful pictures that sold and sold very well. Thanks to her paintings and Terry's own book sales, money still isn't an issue in their home. The last thing he wants to do is to go to the old art gallery as he will be forced to confront memories of happier times and the sadness of today. But that is exactly what Harper wants Terry and Bella to do, as there will be a showing of a new artist in a few days. Bella who has been after her father to write again, to get out and live again, thinks it is a wonderful idea. Before long, commitments are made and they go to the showing.

Which almost proves fatal as a bomb explodes during the show seriously injuring Harper who is saved only by Terry's quick thinking in the aftermath. Harper unknowingly becomes a client for Terry as he launches a personal investigation into who did it and why. He also takes on another client, this time in the form of an elderly dead man, when he launches an investigation into the murder of Cabdriver Aubrey Brown. Like the Harper case, it became personal for entirely different reasons after finding the man dead in his livery cab. As he works two very divergent and difficult cases, he begins to see commonalities in both as well as links to himself while dealing with the challenges of moving on and being a good father.

This first novel lays an extensive foundation of the series with the introduction of so many of the continuing secondary characters. Told exclusively through Terry's viewpoint, the reader sees his world as he sees it and through judicious use of dialogue how others see him. Unlike so many novels today that shift through various points of view, a reader of this novel is immersed deeply into Terry's world and never once jarred out of it over the course of the 275-page book.

While the psychological component of the past and those issues as well as his resulting emotions are a major theme of the work, the author does not let that interfere with the twin case storylines. Instead, the thematic elements are balanced with the cases and current day life issues in such away to not only further round out the characters but to move the story forward. Not an easy task but one the author does seamlessly in page after page.

After you have had your fill of the summer beach books, take a look at this one for some mystery meat. I can guarantee you won't be disappointed.


Kevin R. Tipple © 2005