Nick and Todd grew up together in Brooklyn, working for an Irish thug named Boyle. Nick can’t believe how ruthless Todd has become. Todd tries to reign in Nick’s blind rage. Most shocking of all, Todd’s actually a cop. And Boyle wants Nick to kill him.
Does it happen?
The opening scene depicting Todd dumping Boyle’s right-hand man, an ex-IRA shooter named Griffin, into the East River, suggests no. What happens leading up to that final confrontation is pure Bruen-driven rage laced with Coleman’s poetic lines about sorrow and loss.
The tower in the title is the North Tower of the World Trade Center, where Nick’s father is a security guard. The tower looms over the story the way it once loomed over Manhattan, its end marking the end of the story as well. The climax is a classic Bruen punch in the gut rivaling the ending to The Dramatist. The denouement echoes Coleman’s reflections on loss and carrying on after the fact.
Jim-
You should know how to spell my name by now. Farrel, one l! Can you make the change please. Thanks for the nice write up.
Reed
Fixed, Reed. I think it’s muscle memory by now, or I wouldn’t keep making that mistake.
Thanks, Jim!! Great write up. Are you going to NoirCon??
Next conference will be Bcon in San Fran. We’ll see what else after that.