Monsters of Gramercy Park [Paperback]

Danny Leigh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2005

Danny Leigh's new novel brings together two disparate characters: Wilson Velez, a gang lord in solitary confinement, slowly losing his mind and Lizbeth Greene, a celebrated crime novelist, whose inspiration is beginning to run dry. When Lizbeth decides that writing a book about Velez could revivify her ailing career, she begins to visit him in prison. Gradually, she becomes drawn into Wilson's dark world and the pair engage in a complex and fascinating dance of attraction and rejection: Lizbeth needs Wilson to kick-start her career; Wilson needs Lizbeth to get out of solitary confinement. Laced through the narrative is a children's book - called 'The Monsters of Gramercy Park' - which mirrors the increasingly intimate and dangerous relationship between Lizbeth and Velez. With material reminiscent of the literary true-crime classics such as Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song. Danny Leigh has created a dark and compelling novel that is also a tender love story.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although slow at first, the debut novel of 33-year-old Brit Leigh soon reveals itself to be a taut psychological thriller mostly worthy of its Kate Atkinson blurb. Popular crime novelist Lizbeth Greene is on the skids: secretly hooked on junk, she's pregnant by an indifferent boyfriend, and her new book is (surprise) a dud. Desperate to jump-start her declining career, Greene senses a hot story in Wilson Velez, the leader of New York's ultraviolent Sacred Incan Royals gang, who is serving a life sentence and has just finished five years in solitary confinement. Wilson plays a pitiful, demented wreck who still manages to advocate prison reform, write children's stories and claim his innocence; Lizbeth sees only a meal ticket. As the Silence of the Lambs–like interviews progress, Lizbeth learns the graphic and brutal details of prison life and of Wilson's rise as gang leader, and he learns how to subtly blackmail her. The elements are familiar, but Leigh's depictions of prison life are unusually intense, and the smarmy lawyer, clever priest and cynical federal gang task force he introduces add who-are-the-good-guys depth. The ending feels a bit strained, playing on Lizbeth's fiction writer's sense of what's real and what's invented, but it nicely incorporates the title's monsters, who are threaded in menacingly throughout. (Sept. 5)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This thought-provoking thriller follows burned-out crime writer Lizbeth Greene, who has been roundly derided for her tired last novel. Looking for some real-life inspiration, she arranges to interview notorious gang leader Wilson "Three Vee" Velez, who has just finished serving five years in isolation. Lizbeth is shocked to discover that the notorious criminal has devolved into a stammering, withdrawn hypochondriac. But it doesn't take long before he begins to assert his old charisma, brokering a deal in which he will trade his life story for a publishing contract. It seems he is an accomplished if unpublished writer, and he hands over a gruesome children's story about gargoyles that contains eerie parallels to real-life events. Lizbeth suddenly finds herself revealing to Three Vee past crimes and deceptions, and it becomes unclear whose agenda holds sway in their interactions. Leigh's fresh characterizations--especially the lisping, well-read Three Vee--are the strong suit here. Although his plot suffers from too many complications, he consistently seeds his material with intriguing commentary, especially on the mercenary interplay between the publishing industry and the criminal world. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber (February 17, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571220878
• ISBN-13: 978-0571220878
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,926,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this before Hollywood bastardizes it, August 18, 2005

By 

Happy Wilner (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Monsters of Gramercy Park: A Novel (Hardcover)

I'm not sure whether to describe Monsters of Gramercy Park as a thriller with the style of a literary novel, or a literary novel with the momentum of a thriller. All I can say is that you'll want to buy two copies: one to keep and one to gift. It's that good.

On the surface Monster's a thriller, but really it's the tale of the codependent relationship and power play that develops between a failing writer (Lizbeth) and Latino gang lord (Velez). Leigh's keen ear for dialogue and deft prose kept me guessing until the very end.

Monsters takes its name from an eponymous story-within-the-story, which could easily stand on its own as a Gothic children's book.

Leigh recently shared a Time Out London cover with Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan, among others. Well, if he keeps going at this rate, Zadie and Ian best watch their backs. Leigh's talents are undeniable. Read this before Hollywood gets its grubby hands on it, then you're stuck buying the version with the "NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE" cover.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a WOW!, October 12, 2005

By 

ellen "ellen in atlanta" (Atlanta, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Monsters of Gramercy Park: A Novel (Hardcover)

The idea of this book was fascinating and does bring back intensity of the 'Silence of the Lambs' interaction - and it is as effective in this wonderful read.
Wilson Velez is a prisoner who formed an ultra-violent gang who is in a high security prison and has a given a new court review to moderate his life at the prison - Lisbeth was a popular serial writer, whose subject has gotten worn, and failing sales - She decides to interview Wilson and maybe get herself writing again.
The 'dance' between writer Lisbeth and Wilson is mesmerizing - and soon you get so caught up you wonder who is really telling the true story - who is the manipulator - is Wilson a visionary or is he still the ultra-violent gang leader still operating in this high security prison?
The ending and its events that proceed it are thought provoking and will haunt you after you close the book.
Well worth the hardback price.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A psychological thriller that turns your perceptions on their head!, August 7, 2005

By 

Janelle Martin "member of RIO, Reviewers Inte... (Waterloo, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monsters of Gramercy Park (Paperback)

The Monsters of Gramercy Park by Danny Leigh draws the reader into a haunting tale of need and a struggle for power between two determined personalities. Wilson Velez, the convicted felon and leader of the Sacred Incan Royals, needs a reason to live after years of the harshest segregation known in the American prison system. Lizbeth Greene, the celebrated novelist known for the extreme violence that has haunted her life, is looking for her next book. The coming together of these two to create a true recounting of Wilson's life sets in motion a train of events leading to a truly horrific outcome.

While not your typical blood and gore thriller, this book is perfect for the reader who likes to be kept guessing. Throughout, manipulation and tension keep shifting the foundation upon which the novel is set. Many time I felt the rug pulled out from under my feet as what I believed to be true was ripped away.

Leigh does a great job in fleshing out his characters. Just when you think you know who they are, knowledge is turned on its head and you are left scrambling for a foothold. While Wilson and Lizbeth were not characters I liked, I was compelled to keep reading their story. Several times I found myself ranting out loud at Lizbeth, something I haven't been caused to do by a book in years.

This is a novel that will leaving the reader thinking and second-guessing for days to come. Highly recommended for readers who don't want their endings tied up in a box with a pretty bow.