Fresh Kills [Paperback]

Bill Loehfelm (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: PENGUIN PUTNAM TRADE (2008)
• ASIN: B001OLVGIO
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Bill Loehfelm is the author of three novels, most recently, THE DEVIL SHE KNOWS, out May 2011 from Sarah Crichton Books/FSG. His first two novels are, FRESH KILLS, winner of the 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and BLOODROOT (2009). Born in Brooklyn and raised on Staten Island, he moved to New Orleans in 1997 where he now lives with his wife, the writer AC Lambeth. Loehfelm's work has also appeared in the NOLAfugees Press anthologies YEAR ZERO, LIFE IN THE WAKE, and SOUL IS BULLETPROOF. Find out more at www.billloehfelm.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Review of Fresh Kills, September 19, 2008

By 

C. Baker "cbaker" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fresh Kills (Hardcover)

Fresh Kills is marketed as a murder mystery, but it really isn't. It's really about an abused son coming to grips with the damage his father has done to him, with the father's death the critical juncture in the life of John Sanders, Jr.

The story opens with John Sanders, Junior being informed that his father has been murdered in what looks like a gang hit on the streets of New York. From that point on we learn about the physical and mental abuse John Sanders, Senior put his son through, as well as his mother. Most of the novel we find a rather unlikable, volatile, young man careening aimlessly from one aggressive, angry encounter to another. Ostensibly he tells himself his motivation for his confrontations with friends, family, high school enemies, ex-girlfriends, and his aggressive demeanor toward strangers is all an attempt to find the murderer of his father and find some kind of justice for him, even though he hated him. In fact, Sanders is a loser, a loner, and has a very negative outlook on life and people, mostly as a result of the abuse he suffered as a child. His sister Julia, who escaped but was a witness to this abuse, acts as a ballast to him throughout the novel, keeping him from going over the edge. The novel culminates at the father's funeral, where John Sander's, Junior eulogizes his father and has to make a choice between continuing a life of bitter internal acrimony or something better.

This novel is very well written and I really enjoyed the acerbic wit the author displays throughout. The novel draws you in very quickly and as a character sketch it works quite well. The problem is the novel gets very tedious about half way through, as all we see is Sanders is drinking, smoking, fighting, and moving from one bad move after another. His hyper negative attitude and frentic actions become very, very tiresome for the reader, very quickly. In fact, about two-thirds of the way through the book his sister Julia tells him his antics are getting "very tiresome." I laughed out loud at this because she was right!

While this novel has a lot of strong points I found it at least one-third of it boring and unnecessary. The same story could have been told in 200 pages instead of 300. I'm not sure I would recommend it but it does have some very strong qualities that make it a worthwhile read.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed every minute of this well-written novel, August 27, 2008

By 

Laura "Bookworm" (New York USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fresh Kills (Kindle Edition)

This book starts out as an almost run-of-the-mill "tough guy out to find the truth about his father's violent murder" thriller, in which the protagonist (who we learn to admire) will wreak revenge in a satisfying ending that leaves us with no doubt that justice was somehow served. Nothing wrong with that; but that is not what this book is. The story quickly takes a surprising turn to become an amazing psychological drama centered upon two siblings who are desperately trying to survive their father's murder: one with love and compassion and the other with hatred and self-destructiveness.

John Sanders, Jr. thinks he doesn't care that his father was executed, "gangland style"; he even says that it saved him the trouble of doing it himself. Feeling that the police are botching the investigation, he engages in his own half-hearted, alcohol-fueled inquiries, telling himself he needs to find justice for his sister, Julia, who has returned from art school in Boston to try to re-connect with her brother and to show respect for her deceased mother. We learn that the Sanders family was a deeply dysfunctional family on many levels, with no one left unscarred. John's childhood was marred by the terrible physical abuse he suffered at the hands of his violent father, as well as having to witness the beatings his father ministered to his mother. Julia escaped the beatings for the most part, but she is also deeply affected by growing up amidst the violence. While John and his mother (deceased some years before), were grateful that Julia was not the subject of her father's wrath, this fact only convinced the young John that he was truly a "bad" child. You feel John's pain when, as he recalls the one tiime his father hit his sister, his mother screamed "not my baby!" As John reflected, he had never heard his mother scream "not my son!" The troubled relationship between father and son continued on into John's young adulthood, leaving him with obvious and at times soul-shattering wounds. It is central to all that happens in this tale of survival.

The author goes on to explore the psychological and emotional process John stumbles through as he struggles to make sense of his world without his father. It makes for wonderful reading, but it is not for the faint of heart. The characters are compelling; for the most part, whether you love or hate them, they are very real and understandable. The struggles of each one help to illustrate what seems to become a theme for John: we don't get to decide everything about our lives, but we need to own and be careful with the decisions we are able to make.

The descriptions of growing up and living on Staten Island seem uncannily accurate. The tribute to the World Trade Center disaster and its victims was incorporated beautifully into the main story line. You just want to thank the author for marking that event and doing it in a way that illustrates how so many lives have been changed forever.

It is hard to believe that we have only been taken through a few days in the lives of these remarkable people. Through the device of John's reminiscences we are taken through a lifetime. It is a wonderfully moving, if sometimes painful, journey. I am quite happy to have taken it, and look forward to more of Mr. Loehfelm's novels.

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars this is a break-out?, November 19, 2008

By 

Avery Wade - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh Kills (Hardcover)

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about with this book, particularly since one of my favorite writers (John Sandford) has given such a glowing endorsement. To be succinct, this book tired me out almost immediately. I think that's because this writer seems to believe that spewing obscenities and venom from just about word one is a synonym for deep introspection and psychological insight. Nothing could be further from the truth. Granted, this book has a great first line, terrific first couple of paragraphs, but it wears out its welcome very quickly. I found myself bored after the first fifty pages and have since put this book down with no desire to pick it up again.
Do yourself a favor. Check this out of the library first before shelling out money. I'm glad I did.