City Of Lies - Softcover

R.J. Ellory is the author of twelve novels, including the bestselling A Quiet Belief in Angels, which was Strand Magazine’s Thriller of the Year, shortlisted for the Barry Award, and a finalist for the SIBA Award. He is also the author of City of Lies, Candlemoth, A Quiet Vendetta, The Anniversary Man, A Simple Act of Violence, and the e-book original series Three Days in Chicagoland.

Until the day his aunt summoned him back to New York to visit his father’s deathbed, John Harper believed he was an orphan. Now, a robbery has left his father critically wounded, and John is being fed new versions of his life story. Was John’s father merely a successful businessman, as his former partner attests, or was he someone less reputable, as John’s aunt and the detective lurking around the hospital suggest. Did John’s mother and his uncle commit suicide, or were they victims of his father’s alleged gangster empire? Determined to find the truth, John summons his own powers of duplicity and delves into New York’s underworld. Ellory (Candlemoth, 2013) layers symbolism and allegory into the airtight crime narrative, constructing a foundation that holds literary weight. Atmosphere and sense of place beg a match with authors known for summoning old-school Mob mojo and manipulating settings—James Ellroy, for example, or Andrew Vachss in Two Trains Running (2005). --Christine Tran