Customer Reviews

Closing Time

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!!

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

Very few mystery writers, especially new ones, have a gift for establishing a sense of place and developing sympathetic characters as well as Jim Fusilli does in this book. I was so blown away by his concise style in the first few pages, I could hardly believe that this was his first book. (Considering his background in journalism, I shouldn't have been surprised.)

His depiction of downtown New York City (made all the more poignant by recent events) and its denizens, has the feel of a 1940's detective movie fast forwarded 50 years. But unlike the hardened private eyes of that era, Fusilli's protagonist Terry Orr, is a modern man, alternately caring and detached. He's a damaged soul who, only by the support of his quirky,loyal friends and the love of his daughter, can still function after the horrible death of his artist wife and infant son at the hands of a psychopath. The daughter in question, the precocious Bella, in light of the events around her, seems a little too cheery and confident. (However, I do believe she is poised to shatter a bit in her therapist's office.)

I eagerly await the next installment.

This first novel by Jim Fusilli is riveting all the way. The characters of Terry Orr and his daughter Bella are totally human and riveting in all aspects. I don't want to give away the ingenious plot, but it'll keep you glued to this book!This is a great read!No doubt about it ! The cliche of Run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore has never been more applicable. In a word, terrific!

Terry Ott's obsession with the shocking death of his beautiful and talented artist wife and his baby son continue in this entry of Jim Fusilli's series. As he tries to deal with his grief and desire for revenge, a mystery involving a murdered taxi driver, and an explosion in the gallery of his dead wife's agent, he risks his relationship with his surviving precocious pre-teen daughter Bella.

There are many good things in this book, most of which have to do with the wonderfully conveyed atmosphere of the great city of New York--just as much a character as Ott himself. And he knows his noir. But Ott's overwrought relationship with his dead wife is just too much, and his daughter Bella is too cool to be real. Ott's suffering is just too self-conscious and posturing as it continues from novel to novel. Whether Fusilli's PI can continue to interest if he doesn't break away from his love/death fantasy is a question that only time can answer.

To those who don't live there, New York can seem a dangerous place. Its inhabitants *know* it is, but they also know how to deal with it. Sometimes. In the case of Terry Orr, respected writer of popular history and husband of a highly-regarded Italian artist, the death two years ago of his wife and infant son on a subway platform at the hands of a crazed derelict has changed his entire world, even in ways he hasn't yet realized. Now, having given up writing for a PI's license, he tries to learn how to find and (perhaps) take revenge on the killer. Rather than explaining all of that, though, this first in the series begins "in media res", revealing the back-story bit by bit, through Terry's letters to his late wife, through his largely hostile sessions with a psychiatrist, and through the words and actions of his circle of supportive friends. The two cases he undertakes here involve the murder of a black hack driver whose body he discovers while jogging, and the bombing of the art gallery owned by his wife's agent. The two plots are uncomplicated but realistic, the sort of thing that happens all the time in the Big City, but the real story centers on Terry's inner turmoil and on his relationship with his very bright twelve-year-old daughter, Bella. Fusilli is a music critic (like Terry's close friend, Diddio the pothead), but this is his first novel. He shows great talent in delineating his vividly three-dimensional characters: Automatic Slim, the ex-con basketball artist; Montana, a street kid on the way even farther down; Sol Beck, derivative artist with nowhere to go; Jimmy Mango, general hustler, and his brother, Tommy the Cop; Luther Addison, homicide lieutenant with thinly-stretched tolerance; and perhaps the most important character of all -- New York City.

Not many writers capture the atmosphere, the rhythm, and the attitude of Manhattan, particularly lower Manhattan, the way that Jim Fusilli does in Closing Time. The physical details are nearly perfect, and the complex ethnic relations that are such a large part of New York City life are candidly drawn without the typical generalizations and stereotypes. But Closing Time's biggest selling points are the strong character developments that cover the full range of human emotions. In addition, the book contains some of the most interesting adult/child interactions that I've read in a while. If there is a flaw here it would be the way that the central character, Terry Orr, arrives at certain key conclusions while pursuing his cases. He manages to zero in on the culprits seemingly without much deductive reasoning, process of elimination, or even basic forensics, relying instead on hunches and instincts that always prove correct. That aside, it's really not fair to nitpick when just about everything else in the book is done so well. I look forward to the next book in this series, which is already waiting in my pile.

THis book was one of the best , well rounded books I have read in a long time. The relationships in the book are complex but real, there are no elaborate story lines , no deciet by the author , just a great story with some action and believable characters. It is a refreshing change of pace from all the witty banter that takes place in most other murder mysteries. The characters are not superhuman , they are just people.It describes NYC very well, the streets and the nuances.
The highest praise I can give it is well rounded and realistic , it may not seem like praise but it is.

Closing time is beautifully written. Feel this author has a major novel in him. Liked the Manhattan background for the plot. The author obviously had a intimate knowledge of New York that he shared with the reader in a special way. The main character's relationship with his daughter is special. Note that the author dedicates the book to two women. Sure one is his wife and one his daughter. One has to have had a real Father/Daughter relationship to write about one like Mr Fusilli did. Would recommend the book highly to anyone who enjoys great descriptive writing.